Assessment in First Courses of Statistics: Today and

Tomorrow

Ann OomsUniversity of Minnesota

GAISE Recommendation 6

Use assessments to improve and evaluate student learning

GAISE Recommendation 6

Assessments: aligned with learning goals

Focus Assessments: on understanding key ideas not just on skills, procedures, and

computed answers.

GAISE Recommendation 6

Formative assessments to provide feedback to students e.g., quizzes, midterm exams, small

projects Summative evaluations to

determine what they learned course grades

GAISE Recommendation 6 Useful and timely feedback is

essential for assessments to lead to learning

Types of assessment may be more or less practical in different types of courses

However, it is possible, even in large classes, to implement good assessments

Assessment Today

Two surveys conducted online Goal surveys: evaluate ARTIST project

Assessment Resource Tools for Improving Statistical Thinking

NSF funded project PI: Joan Garfield, Bob delMas, Beth

Chance RA: Ann Ooms

Assessment Today

Introductory Statistics Educators: n=194 December 2004: ARTIST users: n = 99

Statistics Educators who use ARTIST item database

June 2005: non ARTIST users: n = 95 Used stat ed list serves

Combined data of 2 surveys

Demographics

Years teaching experience: Mean: 14.99 (SD: 10.85) Range: 1 to 48 years

Number of intro stats courses per year: Mean: 2.88 (SD: 2.06) Range: 0 to 17 courses

Demographics: Institution

University 56.3%

4-year College 31.1%

2-year College 5.3%

Technical College .5%

Other 6.8%

Demographics: Department

Mathematics 54.0%

Statistics 17.6%

Business 7.0%

Educational Psychology 7.0%

Psychology 2.1%

Other 12.3%

Types of Assessment GAISE Recommendation:

This should be done with formative assessments used during a course (e.g., quizzes and midterm exams and small projects) as well as with summative evaluations (course grades).

Survey Question: Which of the following types of

assessment do you use in your course?

Types and Use of Assessment

Type Yes Info Grade

Exams 97.9% 2.1% 97.9%

Homework 87.5% 17.9% 82.1%

Projects 73.0% 8.6% 91.4%

Quizzes 71.9% 10.1% 89.9%

Participation 58.3% 42.9% 57.1%

Presentation 16.6% 50.0% 50.0%

Assessment: Focus

GAISE Recommendation: Assessments need to focus on

understanding key ideas and not just on skills, procedures, and computed answers.

Survey question: What percent of items on your in-class

tests are primarily computational?

Percent of in-class tests items that are primarily computational

Use of Computational Items

34.2% 35.3%

21.4%

9.1%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

0-25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-100%

Assessment: Feedback

GAISE recommendation: Useful and timely feedback is essential

for assessments to lead to learning. Survey question:

For which of the following purposes have you used assessment results?

Which of the following actions have you taken based on assessment information?

Assessment: Purposes

Identify misconceptions 86.1%

Provide diagnostic feedback 73.7%

Identify struggling students 51.0%

Assessment: Actions

Modified classroom activity 85.6%

Provided additional resources 71.6%

Developed a new classroom activity

68.0%

Modified assessment tools 53.1%

Modified assessment plan 26.3%

Level of satisfaction with assessment methods

Satisfaction Assessment Methods

0.53%

12.77%

76.06%

10.64%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%

verydissatisfied

somewhatdissatisfied

somewhatsatisfied

verysatisfied

Confidence with writing good assessment items

Confidence Writing Items

3.70%

29.30%

53.20%

13.80%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

notconfident

somewhatconfident

confident veryconfident

Assessment Resources ARTIST: http://www.gen.umn.edu/artist/

Database of over 1100 items focusing on assessment of

Statistical literacy Statistical reasoning Statistical thinking

11 Topic scales: online tests for formative evaluation CAOS scale: online tests for summative evaluation Projects Resources, examples, articles.

Contact Information

For more information, please contact Ann Ooms: ooms0001@umn.edu