1
Abstract:
Faculty have been concerned about the effectiveness of their teaching and have worked to assess the quality of student
learning, since teachers began thinking about pedagogy. Over the last thirty years, the development of such student-
centered pedagogies as service learning, role-playing and simulations, discussions, internships, and civic engagement
programs demonstrate our concern that students are invested in their own education. Simultaneously, political
science departments have responded very negatively to assessment requirements and externally mandated program
review, often seeing it as intrusive and pointless.
Effective forms of student evaluation can be used to develop departmental assessment programs in a manner that most
faculty can endorse. Using a peer-review approach to demonstrate the connections between classroom outcomes and
departmental objectives, this presentation will provide practical advice and concrete tools that can be widely adapted.
The two specific tools presented enable the professor to 1) assess student learning in simulations and discussion in a
particular class; 2) teach students how to be more sophisticated participants in a discussion or role players in a
simulation; 3) help students become more accountable for their own learning; 4) provide regular feedback to students
during the semester, allowing for skill improvement; 5) communicate expectations for classroom performance; and 6)
evaluate student improvement in targeted skills over time. Many faculty regularly use similar forms of evaluation,
albeit in a less formal manner.
What faculty do not realize is that these kinds of simple course assessment devices can easily become the core of a
comprehensive departmental assessment plan. Professors know what outcomes (knowledge, skills, and values) they
wish to foster in their students. Outcomes that have the widest applicability can become the first objectives that the
department evaluates. By asking similar questions of students at different points in their career (first methods course,
upper-division content courses, senior seminar), comparing responses, and making changes, faculty can begin
assessing departmental progress toward goals while improving student learning.
Convention