Good Assessment

In the book, "Teaching and Learning at a Distance," the authors state that one of the characteristics of a good assessment tool is that it matches the objectives. In my lab course, occasionally, I have assigned a lab that does not meet the course objectives. This usually happens when we have a new textbook, and I assign consecutive exercises in the textbook. Usually, working on each consecutive exercise is a good idea since each new lab builds on the previous one. For instance, in my Excel lab class, one of the course objectives is that students demonstrate their knowledge of formulas by completing a payroll spreadsheet. Working on an exercise that emphasizes the creation of unnecessary formatting features does not meet the course objectives. I have learned that to skip over a few exercises like this that really do not meet the course objectives and focus on those exercises that will help the students learn how to create formulas.

The authors of “Teaching and Learning at a Distance” also state that a useful assessment reflects the learner’s progress and understanding as well as the transferability of skills and knowledge. One of the learning outcomes of my computer applications course is that the students will use the software programs they learned in my course to complete assignments in their other courses. For instance, after learning how to create charts in Excel, the students should be able to use the data they have collected in a science lab and create an Excel chart showing the data.