Formative Assessment Activities Research Articles

Cultural imagination in public relations education

Public relations (PR) academics can sometimes experience difficulty in applying interdisciplinary and critical cultural pedagogy within the classroom; while critical cultural approaches are regarded as appealing in theory, the transition to praxis can be challenging. One reason for this is that few published case studies of best practice exist. In this article, I draw on my own experiences within a UK university to explore the value of teaching culture within PR degree programmes before critically evaluating curricular developments in multicultural/intercultural communication and their value for PR theory and practice. I then discuss a framework for (1) teaching a final year undergraduate optional module in ‘multi(inter)cultural communication’ grounded in ethnography and critical pedagogy and (2) designing formative and summative assessment activity that encourages students to develop ‘cultural imagination’ – self-reflection drawn from the study of others’ stories/experiences, and the ethnographic knowledge, skills and competences necessary to embrace their professional practice as culturally sensitive, reflective practitioners.

Engaging StudentsinClinical Reasoning When CaringforOlder Adults

ONE HEALTH CARE SETTING FRAUGHT WITH RISKS FOR ERROR AND INJURY TO THE OLDER POPULATION IS THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT (ED). Older adults experience more adverse events while in the ED, and after discharge, when compared with other age groups (Aminzadeh & Dalziel, 2002). Tang, Stein, Hsia, Maselli, and Gonzales (2010) reported 17.5 million visits by older adults to EDs in 2007. The distinct physiological and psychosocial developmental changes that older adults experience profoundly affect the provision of safe, competent, and holistic nursing care. (See Figure 1.) When physiologic and psychosocial changes are not appropriately addressed, errors in management and poor outcomes may ensue. New graduate nurses tend to struggle when managing elderly patients, especially if they have not received appropriate training while in nursing school. In response to the need to include older adult-focused content in a baccalaureate nursing curriculum, a faculty member at Tennessee Technological University Whitson-Hester School of Nursing collaborated with an adult health/gerontology nurse practitioner to design a Legacy Cycle that engages students in challenge-based learning. The Legacy Cycle approach is a product of the National Research Council and a multi-institutional biomedical engineering education initiative funded by the National Science Foundation (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000). A strong research foundation for the application of Legacy Cycle modules exists in other disciplines. Biomedical engineering educators have found Legacy Cycles to be effective tools for training students to think efficiently and creatively (Brophy, 2003; Martin, Rivale, & Diller, 2007; Pandy, Petrosino, Austin, & Barr, 2004). The Legacy Cycle approach is easily adapted for educating nursing students as they develop critical thinking, collaboration, and communication skills. Modules on topics such as emergent care of myocardial infarction, acid-base balance, and transitioning clients from parenteral to oral anticoagulant therapy were designed by the author and have been implemented as both graded assignments and as formative assessment tools. This Legacy Cycle is not currently graded. Rather, it serves as a formative assessment by providing ongoing evaluation of nursing students' ability to synthesize multiple pieces of data and prioritize findings concerning the care of older adults. Since the implementation of Legacy Cycles and other guided instructional design strategies (Bransford et al., 2000), the nursing program has achieved an NCLEX-RN[R] pass rate consistently greater than 95 percent. Anecdotally, students and employers report superior clinical reasoning and safe decision-making when compared with new graduates from comparable programs. The Legacy Cycle Design A Legacy Cycle makes use of a contextually based challenge followed by a sequence of instruction where the students offer initial predictions (Generate Ideas), gather information from multiple sources (Multiple Perspectives), integrate the knowledge gathered and extend this knowledge (Research and Revise), and formalize their solutions in formative and summative assessment activities (Test Your Mettle and Go Public) (Pandy et al., 2004). The learning goals are contextualized in a realistic scenario; for example, Figure 2 presents the case of a 72year-old woman who visits the ED after becoming dizzy and falling at home. Figure I. Physiological and Psychosocial Developmental Changes Faced by Older Adults Neurological Impaired cognitive function affects nearly one quarter of the older adult population presenting to the emergency department, and 7 percent to 10 percent will present with some form of acute delirium with or without dementia (Milbrandt, Eldadah, Nayfield, Hadley, & Angus, 2010). Terrell et al. (2009) identified cognitive assessment as the most important step an emergency room provider can complete to ensure quality medical and nursing care. …

Effective formative e-assessment of student learning: a study on a statistics course

The process of formative assessment in universities has the potential to engage students in reflection and to take greater ownership of their learning. We report on a study involving 104 students taking a statistics course in a degree programme in rehabilitation science in Hong Kong. The assessment strategy was redesigned to include a weekly online formative assessment activity for 10 weeks. In this case, it was observed that there was a high participation rate across weeks. An end-of-course online survey was conducted to explore the learning experiences during formative assessment of the cohort, and students reported high satisfaction with the process, particularly how this contributed to a change in their learning approach. Students not only showed regular commitment of time on tasks but also took active steps to find answers for themselves and with their peers.

Promotion of Physical Activity Among Mexican-Origin Women in Texas and South Carolina: An Examination of Social, Cultural, Economic, and Environmental Factors

Interventions to improve physical activity levels among Latinos must take into consideration the social, cultural, economic, and environmental contexts of Latino communities. We report findings of formative assessments related to Mexicanorigin women's levels of readiness, willingness, and ability to participate in regular leisure time physical activity in two diverse locations, the Texas Lower Rio Grande Valley and the South Carolina Midlands. The ENLACE project employed a Community-Based Participatory Research approach. Formative assessment activities focused on identification of community assets and resources and exploration of community members' experiences, opinions, values, preferences, and perceived needs related to physical activity. Data sources included windshield tours, walkability assessments of local neighborhoods; community inventory exercises, focus groups, and individual interviews. Barriers to regular physical activity included the dominance of work and family responsibilities, social norms, lack of social support, social isolation, environmental constraints, economics, and low levels of personal knowledge and motivation.

Group-Based Formative Summative Assessment Relates to Improved Student Performance and Satisfaction

In this study, I examined the effectiveness of a group exam review activity on students' long-term retention of concepts and satisfaction. As part of a formative summative assessment activity (FSA; Wininger, 2005), students worked either individually or collaboratively on an exam review activity in the class periods following the 2 unit exams. Students indicated that both activities were useful and enjoyable; however, the group activity had a more positive effect on retention of concepts and student satisfaction. At the 5-week posttest, students who completed the group activity scored 10% higher (on average) than their original exam scores, whereas the students who completed the individual activity scored only 1.2% higher. I discuss these results with regard to a multidimensional FSA framework.

Formative assessment can be fun as well as educational

An understanding of the hormonal basis of normal growth and development, including the changes occurring at puberty, is important foundation knowledge for contemporary medical practice in most fields of medicine. A quiz, testing the important physiological concepts of growth and puberty, was designed using the format of the well-known television game "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." An evaluation of this formative assessment activity revealed that a cohort of first-year undergraduate medical students valued learning with peers in an enjoyable, interactive environment, where they were able to admit to uncertainties and clarify answers. It also showed that making an educational activity fun need not detract from the focus of giving feedback on learning. Formative assessment, known to produce learning gains in a range of educational settings, is an important activity in contemporary medical education. With a greater emphasis on self-directed learning and less well-defined curriculum boundaries, feedback helps students to understand and apply the important physiological concepts that underpin the practice of medicine.

Assessing-To-Learn: Formative Assessment in Physics Instruction

Assessment designed to enhance teaching and learning is called “formative assessment.” During formative assessment, teachers and students seek information about the state of student learning and then use the acquired information to adapt teaching and learning to meet student needs. “Classroom formative assessment” (CFA) requires that teachers explicitly engage in formative assessment during classroom learning activities. At a basic level, CFA occurs naturally and is a common part of most instructional settings. Nevertheless, the systematic practice of CFA is rare in secondary and post-secondary science education. Here we provide suggestions for those interested in formative assessment for use in teaching introductory physics. A simple model of classroom formative assessment is presented. Included are examples of formative assessment activities and suggestions for implementation.