This study describes high school students' use of smart technology to enhance leisure-time physical activity. Participants included 109 students who completed an informational survey comprised of questions examining non-school sport and physical activity hours, daily video game hours, and use of Kinect active video games and smartphone apps.…

This refreshingly frank handbook shows teachers how to close the achievement gap in their classrooms by teaching students innovative paths to academic success. Drawing on over 20 years' experience, Kelley presents straightforward strategies for helping learners improve their grades and test scores and experience greater school engagement--all…

The evaluation process is complex and extremely important in the teaching/learning process. Evaluations are constantly employed in the classroom to assist students in the learning process and to help teachers improve the teaching process. The use of active methodologies encourages students to participate in the learning process, encourages…

A vital aspect of an answer is the confidence that goes along with it. Misstating the level of confidence one has in the answer can have devastating outcomes. However, confidence assessment is rarely emphasized during typical engineering education. The confidence-based scoring method described in this study encourages students to both think about…

In 2010, second-year physiology (n = 165) had a traditional single 3-h end-of-semester exam. To provide diagnostic feedback earlier, for students enrolled in 2011 (n = 128), we incorporated an in-class exam at 3 wk in addition to the final exam. Based on initial analysis and positive student comments, for the 2012 cohort (n = 148), we expanded…

In this article, the author proposes an innovative, exam-based homework grading method to facilitate both collaboration among students and individual accountability while learning a complex theory and applying it to solve a problem. Results from this novel approach to grading a "comparative advantage theory" homework assignment, using an…

These days, a growing chorus of parents, educators, and policymakers is voicing frustration and anger with top-down accountability and high-stakes testing. As members of two not-for-profit education organizations--one focused on assessment and the other on research and instructional practices--the authors find nothing wrong with testing itself;…

With increasing interest in the assessment of learning outcomes in higher education, stakeholders are demanding concrete evidence of student learning. This applies no less to information literacy outcomes, which have been adopted by many colleges and universities around the world. This article describes the experience of a university library in…

While the literature emphasizes the importance of teaching political science students methods skills, there currently exists little guidance for how to assess student learning over the course of their time in the major. To address this gap, we develop a model set of assessment tools that may be adopted and adapted by political science departments…

Although anecdotal evidence and research alike espouse the benefits of service learning, some researchers have suggested that more rigorous testing is required in order to determine its true effect on students. This is particularly true in the case of academic development, which has been inconsistently linked to service learning. It has been…

Although feedback is often seen as a critical component of the learning process, many open questions about how specific feedback features contribute to the effectiveness of feedback remain--especially in regards to peer feedback of writing. Nelson and Schunn (2009) identified several important features of peer feedback in their nature of feedback…

While problem solving as an instructional technique is widely advocated, educators are often challenged in effectively assessing student skill in this area. Students failing to solve a problem might fail in any of several aspects of the effort. The purpose of this research was to validate a scaffolded technique for assessing problem solving in…

This study aimed to determine and interpret norms of the Preschool Social Skills Rating Scale (PSSRS) teacher form. The sample included 224 independent preschools and 169 primary schools. The schools are distributed among 48 provinces and 3324 children were included. Data were obtained from the PSSRS teacher form. The validity and reliability…

This quasi-experimental study reports on the effectiveness of three assessment strategies for students' performance. The primary goal was to determine whether there are any improvements in students' conceptual learning when a frequent (weekly) quiz is used for grading purposes compared to using midterm and final examinations only. Another goal was…

Assurance of learning (AOL) is a quality enhancement and quality assurance process used in higher education. It involves a process of determining programme learning outcomes and standards, and systematically gathering evidence to measure students' performance on these. The systematic assessment of whole-of-programme outcomes provides a basis for…