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Assessment Technology >> Choose One From Column B

3/1/2007

By Matt Villano

"Educational assessment is driven by the standards and culture specific to the discipline and school; one size does not fit all," he says. "The Blackboard Outcomes System is a flexible, customizable solution with tools that can be tailored to meet the needs of each individual course, program, department, college, system, or administrator."

Pilot programs of the new Blackboard technology were ongoing at press time. Seton Hall University (NJ) is one of these pilot schools, and though the institution has not had enough experience with the technology to discuss results, Paul Fisher, director of the school’s Teaching, Learning and Technology Center, says early indicators are promising in seven participating departments that include Education, Math, Diplomacy, and English.

In particular, Fisher appreciates the system’s ability to customize assessments. Sure, he says, Seton Hall is using the technology for traditional assessments, in order to gauge student knowledge. But the school also has developed student surveys about faculty performance, and has set up the system to quickly deliver responses to individual departments. This fast turnaround has enabled educators to modify their curricula and teaching styles on the fly, ultimately making the entire educational environment more responsive.

"If a faculty member is teaching a course again in the spring, he or she can make course corrections," Fisher says. "Being able to collect data, and having the opportunity to use that data to make changes to our processes more quickly than usual, has been invaluable."

Initially, the new system was rolledout to existing freshmen, but each coming year, says Willis, incoming students will be setting up ePortfolios of their own. Under this schedule, every student will have a portfolio by 2010. Willis notes that for students who are accustomed to being assessed via traditional measures such as periodic exams, the new technology forces them to master practices and procedures as they are covered in class—not in cram fashion, right before an announced test. In this way, she says, there’s no chance for a student to "fudge" something he or she doesn’t know.

"The portfolio has helped students ‘thread’ their knowledge and prove they can do hands-on stuff before they learn how to assist someone [as part of a corporate help desk]," she says. "It’s like when you learn to bake a cake—you can’t do anything unless you prove that you understand what all the measurement tools are."

Willis notes that budget limitations prevented IUP from investing in a commercial product; instead, the school was able to utilize faculty members’ web development capabilities to build the system, using Adobe’s Dreamweaver. Willis estimates that she spent a few days’ worth of time building, modifying, and implementing the system, but no actual money was spent putting it together.



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