2,524 research outputs found

    Embedded Assessment and Evidence-Based Curriculum Mapping: The Promise of Learning Analytics

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    At Wegmans School of Pharmacy, we have adopted an embedded assessment approach to curriculum mapping and data collection on student learning outcomes achievement. In essence, we capture the data from the course level exams that our faculty members craft to measure student learning

    Student Success Tracking Pilot Program

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    Objective: The purpose of study is to pilot a program in which all P1 students input their exam grades for each course in the fall semester into E*Value. Alongside their grades they record reflections on their performance. This information, visible only to the individual students and their advisors, is used to promote meaningful dialog during advising sessions. Method: A form was created in E*Value for students to input their exam grades and reflections on those grades. Faculty advisors were asked to use this data during advising sessions. Feedback was collected through Qualtrics surveys for faculty and students as well as from a personal meeting with the P1 students. Data from the surveys and meeting were used to evaluate the program. Results: 100% of students recorded exam grades; 94% of students recorded reflections. Faculty survey results (77% response rate) indicate that 90% used the program data to offer advice to students. On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being extremely valuable, faculty rated the program value with a mean score was 3.54. 68% of students responded to the survey and when rating the program as part of their advising session, they rated it 3.11 on a scale of 1-5. During a meeting with the students, they requested automation of grade input. Implications: Program implementation would enable faculty to offer more specific recommendations to students during their advising sessions. It would provide students a personal record to track their success across courses and years

    Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment (PCOA) as Predictor of Performance on NAPLEX

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    Objectives: The purpose of the study was to respond to students’ inquiry regarding the relationship between student performance on the PCOA administered in early spring of the P3 year and performance on the NAPLEX administered post-graduation. Method: PCOA scores for two of the four content areas, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Clinical Sciences, resulting from administration of the assessment for P3 students in 2012 and 2013 were compared to the same student scores for the 2013 and 2014 NAPLEX taken post-graduation. A Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was calculated to measure the linear correlation between the two sets of exam scores. Additionally, a linear regression was used to explain the predictor, PCOA, variability on the NAPLEX Score. Results: The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient for the combined PCOA content areas, Pharmaceutical Science and Clinical Science scores, was r=.572. A linear regression established that PCOA Pharmaceutical Science and Clinical Science scores could statistically significantly predict NAPLEX scores, p Implications: Students taking the PCOA exam in the P3 year of their PharmD program may find value in using their performance on the assessment in the areas of Pharmaceutical Science and Clinical Science to predict their performance on the NAPLEX which is blueprinted to these areas of study

    Shared Leadership Experiences of Women Community College Presidents

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    According to the American Council on Education study The American College President: 2007 Edition only 23% of college presidencies were held by women as late as 2006. While the number of female executive officers has doubled since 1986, progress in achieving the presidency has been undeniably slow for women. To better understand a woman\u27s road to the presidency, a collective case study was conducted to explore the career paths of six community college women presidents. Data collected revealed commonalities in their experiences. The results ofthe study provided key information for women seeking presiden- tial positions in community colleges

    Course-Level Curriculum Map Pilot Program

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    Objective: To pilot a newly developed course level curriculum map that documents course learning outcomes, corresponding teaching activities, assessments, student achievement on assessments, and evidence-based changes made subsequently at the course level. Method: The newly developed course level curriculum map was piloted in twelve courses involving nine faculty members. Faculty either retroactively recorded data or utilized the map during the semester. At the conclusion of the pilot period, a focus group was conducted during which seven of the faculty members shared experiences and recommendations. Focus group comments were recorded by three people. Recorders’ notes were compared for accuracy and completeness. Notes were analyzed using ATLAS.ti, a qualitative research program. Results: Qualitative analysis of focus group notes yielded four principal comment codes: learning outcomes, changing activities, documenting changes, and changing assessments. These four main codes document that faculty believe work is needed on writing better course learning outcomes, creating more appropriately matched course activities, better documenting data-driven changes that occur at the course level, and developing appropriate assessments. Implications: Faculty comments support school-wide adoption of course level curriculum mapping. They also suggest a need to provide faculty development on writing precise learning outcomes and mapping them to specific classroom activities to support outcomes achievement. Additionally, curricular changes made at the course level need to be carefully documented and linked to appropriate evidence derived from assessments. The value of the map for inclusion in the dossier for promotion and tenure was also noted

    Using Embedded Assessments to Track Accreditation Standards and Generate Evidence-Based Curriculum Maps

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    St. John Fisher College mined existing course-level assessments to address accreditation standards at the course, curricular, and student levels. This presentation demonstrated a strategy for coding existing test bank items to correspond to learning outcomes and accreditation standards and then using the data for multiple audiences. It also exemplified how an existing rich data source can simultaneously track student longitudinal progress, test bank item performance, and density of curriculum coverage. Strategies are offered to implement this embedded assessment approach to evidence-based curriculum mapping

    Universal Assessment Challenges in Healthcare Related Education

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    Webinar Description: Whether you are accountable to the American Council on Pharmacy Education, the Standards for Accreditation of Medical Education Programs Leading to the MD Degree, the World Federal Medical Education Standards, or any other accrediting agency, you have no doubt seen the increased emphasis on the use of student outcomes data. The call to articulate formal program objectives and track assessment of student achievement on those objectives is universal. This webinar will demonstrate how the learning analytics capabilities of ExamSoft can be used to address both didactic and experiential objectives to serve multiple purposes including remediation, curriculum development, and documentation for accreditation

    Test Question Editing Workshop - Improve Your Test Item Writing Skills Through Editing

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    This workshop will be 75% hands-on editing of test questions. After an overview of learning objectives for the session and instruction on identifying common errors, participants will be provided a list of test questions containing errors frequently found in exams. They will be asked to edit the questions to improve the overall quality of the test items. Edited questions will be shared with all attendees. Through this process, participants will hone their skills at both writing and editing items

    Using the NILOA Transparency Framework: It\u27s All About the Process

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    When the St. John Fisher College Educational Assessment Leadership Team set out to make assessment information readily accessible, they looked to the NILOA Transparency Framework to serve as a guiding template. Recognizing its use nationally to clearly communicate the six assessment components with hexagons, they saw the NILOA model as the ideal format for the design of the institutional assessment website. Assessment results could be organized with the comprehensive, straightforward NILOA graphic. What they did not expect, however, was that the process of adopting the framework would transform not just how assessment “looked”, but how they saw it as well

    Long-term exposure to elevated CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e enhances plant community stability by suppressing dominant plant species in a mixed-grass prairie

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    Climate controls vegetation distribution across the globe, and some vegetation types are more vulnerable to climate change, whereas others are more resistant. Because resistance and resilience can influence ecosystem stability and determine how communities and ecosystems respond to climate change, we need to evaluate the potential for resistance as we predict future ecosystem function. In a mixed-grass prairie in the northern Great Plains, we used a large field experiment to test the effects of elevated CO2, warming, and summer irrigation on plant community structure and productivity, linking changes in both to stability in plant community composition and biomass production. We show that the independent effects of CO2 and warming on community composition and productivity depend on interannual variation in precipitation and that the effects of elevated CO2 are not limited to water saving because they differ from those of irrigation. We also show that production in this mixed-grass prairie ecosystem is not only relatively resistant to interannual variation in precipitation, but also rendered more stable under elevated CO2 conditions. This increase in production stability is the result of altered community dominance patterns: Community evenness increases as dominant species decrease in biomass under elevated CO2. In many grasslands that serve as rangelands, the economic value of the ecosystem is largely dependent on plant community composition and the relative abundance of key forage species. Thus, our results have implications for how we manage native grasslands in the face of changing climate
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