Methods of Student Assessment

To assess NOCE students, the following assessments are available in eLumen:

Behavior Observation - Performance based-designed to evaluate interaction into real life
Combination Test - Teacher made or from textbook test bank
Lab Work - Hypothesis, Question, Observation, Test, Evaluate, Emerging Hypothesis
Objective Test - (based on hard facts) Teacher-made or from textbook test bank
Other - Other method which does not correlate with one of the methods listed
Physical Activity - Exercise, Team Competition, Endurance, Strength, Flexibility, etc.
Project or Porfolio - Learning activity with more than one component or integrated collection
Self-Report or Survey - Measures student attitudes, beliefs, or opinions
Standardized Test - Norm-referenced, commercial (Examples: CASAS, TABE, CAHSEE, etc.)
Subjective Test - (based on personal perspectives, feelings or opinions) Teacher-made or from textbook test bank
Writing Assignment - Informal and formal writing in response to reading, discussion, or lecture

Things To Keep In Mind About Exams

Exams can make significant demands on students’ factual knowledge and can have the side-effect of encouraging cramming and surface learning. On the other hand, they can also facilitate student demonstration of deep learning if essay questions or topics are appropriately selected. Different formats include in-class tests, open-book, take-home exams and the like.
In the process of designing an exam, instructors should consider the following questions. What are the learning objectives that the exam seeks to evaluate? Have students been adequately prepared to meet exam expectations? What are the skills and abilities that students need to do well? How will this exam be utilized to enhance the student learning process?

Assessment Is More Then Grading

It must be understood that student assessment is more than just grading. Remember that assessment links student performance to specific learning objectives in order to provide useful information to instructors and students about student achievement. Traditional grading on the other hand does not provide the level of detailed and specific information essential to link student performance with improvement. Because grades don’t tell you about student performance on individual (or specific) learning goals or outcomes, they provide little information on the overall success of your course in helping students to attain the specific and distinct learning objectives of interest. Instructors, therefore, must always remember that grading is an aspect of student assessment but does not constitute its totality.