Indirect Measures of Student Learning
Indirect measures of student learning may be used to supplement direct measures,
but should not be the focus of a student outcomes assessment program. These
tools ask students or others for opinions relating to the students' learning.
Examples of indirect measures may include:
- Student, alumni and employer surveys
- Exit interview of graduates and focus groups
- Graduate follow-up studies
- Retention and transfer studies
- Length of time to degree
- SAT scores
- Graduation rates and transfer rates
- Job placement data
A special note regarding alumni, employer and student surveys: Affective learning (attitudinal development) is difficult to measure. Often, alumni, employer and student surveys are the primary tools used to measure such development. Lopez (1996) states that Consultant-Evaluators suggest that such student measures are most effective when student surveys include pre and post data to demonstrate growth, when alumni surveys are taken over time to demonstrate long-term affects, and when employer surveys provide evidence that such attitudinal development appeared to carry over into the working environment.
Course Assessment Options
The assessment options offered here are derived from the book
Classroom Assessment Techniques by Thomas A. Angelo and K. Patricia Cross.
Such techniques as classroom research surveys (along with exit interviews,
enrollment trends and transcript analysis) are considered
indirect measures of student learning. They contrast with the holistic
scoring of student writing and locally developed diagnostic tests, which are the
direct measures of student learning used in our ENG071/077, ENG101/107 and
ENG102/108 classes.
BASIC OPTION
This basic option is an adaptation of the Group Instructional Feedback
Technique found in the text by Angelo and Cross. This technique conducts
an end-of-semester, student survey to ascertain what works, what doesn't, and
what can be done to improve instruction and student learning in a particular
course. The information may be collected in the presence of an outside
"information gatherer" (logically another instructor of the course) or by
instructors themselves who build the climate by encouraging students to take
more responsibility in the process of instruction and learning.
To facilitate the development of this feedback technique, some sample survey questions are available online. Instructors of a given course need to agree on what questions to use, determine when the survey will be conducted, how much time it will take for students to write helpful answers, and whether someone besides the instructor will conduct the survey. Some useful information may be gained from doing an opening day survey of the students (see sample opening day survey).
BASIC OPTION PLUS
This second option includes the basic option survey at the end of the course,
but it also incorporates other assessment techniques throughout the course.
Instructors of a given course should meet to agree on which technique(s) to use
and to discuss and evaluate the results.
Available online are Suggestions for Activity Based Assessment Options with brief descriptions that are offered in the text by Angelo and Cross. If any seem appropriate to a particular course, Trish Hofer will furnish copies of the complete explanations found in the text upon request. Additionally, a sample unit assessment is available that may be adapted for any course.