1996 · 10 citations · 1 references
EducationComputer ScienceEducational AssessmentAssessment DesignPerformance AssessmentPortfolio AssessmentPortfolio ScoringStudent AssessmentComputer Science PedagogyPortfolio Assessment CriteriaPortfolio GradingPortfolio Scoring CriteriaStudent Evaluation Of TeachingStudent Perceptions Of AssessmentStudent Performance AssessmentStudent Surveys Of Teaching
How good is your teaching of Computer Science (CS)? If you asked this question of your Computer Science colleagues in an anonymous questionnaire. it would be quite common for most. if not all. to answer “average’”, “above average” or “excellent.” In questionnaires of this sort, it is typical for no one to identify themselves as “below average.”’ This cannot. of course, be true. So the question remains: How good is your teaching of Computer Science? A common answer to this question is obtained through student course evaluations The average response to a question like “HOW do you rate this professor’s teaching as compared to all others that you have had at this university?” is taken as the ultimate answer to this question. Student course evaluations do provide one perspective on our teaching abilities. The astute teacher realizes that this is just one perspective and that these numbers can be manipulated. Students frequently rate professors higher If they present “entertaining” lectures without regard to the amount of learning that may have occurred, Factors like the number of tests per semester can inordinately affect these judgments. There are other assessment techniques that provide different perspectives: peer evaluations, surveys of alumni satisfaction. questionnaires assessing employers’ satisfactions, etc Each of these has its own limitations: peer evaluations generally are the result of a few class visits, alumni satisfaction levels are difficult to ascribe to a particular faculty member, etc. The search for a more comprehensive, and hopefully more accurate, assessment methods has led us to an investigation and application ofteachinz v ortfolios. In this report we describe this effort that M now m Its third year. We will examine it from the perspective of five faculty members teaching computer science: a first year teacher. a teacher nearing tenure, two tenured faculty at the main campus. and a tenured teacher at a regional (two year) campus.
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