Not to make a mountain out of a mole hill, but if understanding is not
"...so difficult to define ...," then define it. We don't do that directly.
What we do is to finesse it by writing assessment criteria which comes close
to what we think understanding is. What must a student do to demonstrate an
understanding of, say, probability? Or, better yet (if you like the
affective domain), how does one assess, as understanding, an appreciation of
music?
We write assessment items which demonstrate facets of understanding, and
that's as close as we get.
reg
----- Original Message -----
From: "dennis roberts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Reg Jordan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2000 5:06 PM
Subject: Re: Measuring student learning?
> At 02:50 PM 11/27/00 -0500, Reg Jordan wrote:
> >Instructional technologists and designers will tell you that you cannot
> >measure *understanding*. Understanding, at least your sense of it, should
be
> >laid out in the course syllabus in the section on goals and objectives,
and
> >should be stated in terms of some form of expected student performance.
>
> i don't think educational psychologists would be so pessimistic ... what
> does it mean to understand something? i don't think this is so difficult
to
> define ... and, given that, i don't think it would be that hard to assess
> it either ...
>
> for example, using the current election mess ... what would it mean to
> "understand" what error means in the context of votes cast and whether or
> not the figures given by election officials are "accurate" or not?
>
> i think we could enumerate various conditions of this and then create test
> items (of a variety of item formats) that would tap this "understanding"
> ==============================================================
> dennis roberts, penn state university
> educational psychology, 8148632401
> http://roberts.ed.psu.edu/users/droberts/drober~1.htm
>
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