scholarly journals Using Rubrics for an Evaluation: A National Research Council Pilot

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghislaine Hélène Tremblay ◽  
Frédéric Bertrand ◽  
Melissa Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Program Evaluation ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Research Council ◽  
National Research Council ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Education Sector ◽  
Evaluation Practice

Rubrics are commonly used in the education sector to assess performance, products, or processes of student learning. Rubrics are gaining importance in or-ganizational performance and program evaluation practice. According to several evaluation practitioners, rubrics can elucidate how excellence and value are defined and applied to evaluation questions or indicators in a given context. This practice note summarizes a pilot project of the National Research Council Canada (NRC) using evaluative rubrics for characterizing relevance and generating conclusions in an evaluation.En pédagogie, on se sert souvent de rubriques pour évaluer la perfor-mance, les résultats ou la démarche d’apprentissage de l’étudiant. De plus en plus, les rubriques sont utilisées en analyse de la performance organisationnelle et dans la pratique évaluative. Selon certains évaluateurs, les rubriques peuvent contribuer à éclairer la façon dont l’excellence et le rendement sont définies et intégrées aux ques-tions d’évaluation ou aux indicateurs dans un contexte donné. Cette note de pratique résume un projet pilote du Conseil national de recherches du Canada (CNRC) dans lequel on a utilisé des rubriques pour caractériser la pertinence d’un programme et générer les conclusions de l’évaluation.

scholarly journals Instructor formative assessment practices in virtual learning environments : a posthumanist sociomaterial perspective

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Shannon Marie Burcks
Keyword(s):  
Formative Assessment ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Science Learning ◽  
Research Council ◽  
Course Design ◽  
National Research Council ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Undergraduate Science ◽  
K 12

The importance of undergraduate science learning for the workforce and scientific literacy is consistently emphasized by prominent organizations and influential publications such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (1993, 2013), the National Research Council (NRC) (2010, 2011, 2012a, 2012b, 2013) and the Coalition for Reform of Undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Education (CRUSE) (2014). Moreover, important undergraduate and K-12 reform policy documents including the National Research Council (NRC) (2012) and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (Achieve Inc., 2013) set lofty goals aimed at improving science education. At the same time, science curricula content and assessment are shifting to virtual formats (Smetana and Bell, 2012), and enabling learning and assessment to be depicted in more dynamic and interactive ways. Furthermore, assessment scholarship offers opportunities to make instructional decisions with the aim to aid student learning (e.g. Bell, 2007; Black and Wiliam, 1998, NRC, 2012; Shepard, 2000). Nonetheless, harnessing the full potential of virtual formats to reach these goals for science learning and assessment has proven challenging. Therefore, in this research study, I explored how the technology in one online undergraduate biological science course can impact how an instructor can aid student learning. ... The findings have implications for instruction and research and suggest that learning communities may want to consider that student centered learning theories and student-centered course design for online education could be incomplete. The primary implication includes ways to support formative assessment practices for science instructors in virtual environments by looping instructor formative assessment opportunities throughout a course. Finally, these findings can help others develop assessments that fully support student learning by including the instructor's assessment needs and abilities. The conclusions I present cannot be considered a solution to all courses. However, I encourage other researchers to consider alternative explanation(s) by thinking with theory.

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