Group items tagged

n some educational settings, the cost of textbooks approaches or even exceeds the cost of tuition. Given limited resources, it is important to better understand the impacts of free open educational resources (OER) on student outcomes. Utilizing digital resources such as OER can substantially reduce costs for students. The purpose of this study was to analyze whether the adoption of no-cost open digital textbooks significantly predicted students' completion of courses, class achievement, and enrollment intensity during and after semesters in which OER were used. This study utilized a quantitative quasi-experimental design with propensity-score matched groups to examine differences in outcomes between students that used OER and those who did not. The demographics of the initial sample of 16,727 included 4909 students in the treatment condition with a pool of 11,818 in the control condition. There were statistically significant differences between groups, with most favoring students utilizing OER.

An interesting resource for assessing outcomes in HE

"Missouri State University (MSU) has implemented a flipped classroom model for its Introductory Psychology course, resulting in dramatic improvements in student learning outcomes and course completion rates."

Open Resources including Rubrics in and easily searchable database based on the AACU Essential Learning Outcomes

Concise look at writing learning outcomes based on Blooms Taxonomy.

"The SOLO taxonomy stands for: Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes It was developed by Biggs and Collis (1982), and is well described in Biggs and Tang (2007) It describes level of increasing complexity in a student's understanding of a subject, through five stages, and it is claimed to be applicable to any subject area. Not all students get through all five stages, of course, and indeed not all teaching (and even less "training" is designed to take them all the way)."

The recent report from the Council of Ontraio Universities on Degree Level Expectations

From the American Psychological Association, this online resource and guide covers how to assess student learning outcomes for program review based on stated learning goals. "We have organized this Cyberguide into four parts that will assist departments in developing assessment plans: A. Understanding Assessment: Departmental, Institutional, Educational, and Societal Perspectives B. Designing Viable Assessment Plans C. Sustaining an Assessment Culture D. Applying Assessment Strategies in Psychology"

"As educators, we know when students tune in -- and we know when they tune out. The more elusive question is why. There is emerging consensus that the 20th-century approach to education, which favors methods such as lectures and rote learning, is standing in the way of making school relevant to more students."

"A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives*" From Iowa State University Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching.

Good list of action verbs to use in writing learning objectives.

Bloom's Taxonomy of Measurable Verbs