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Efficacy of criterion-referenced assessment (CRA) in a first year, transition science unit
Dr Andrew Baker
Lecturer | School of Natural Resource Sciences | Faculty of Science
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Dr Andrew Baker is Lecturer in Environmental Science and Ecology. He teaches at all levels of the undergraduate program and has held an ongoing appointment since 2004. In 2005, Andrew was awarded the QUT Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award for sustained excellence in teaching and outstanding teaching practice.
He currently holds the position of Chair of the School Learning and Teaching Committee and is School Representative on the Faculty Learning and Teaching Committee. In 2006, he was awarded the position of QUT representative at the Australian Technology Network of Universities Early Career Academic Learning and Teaching Forum.
Andrew is actively involved in postgraduate mentoring and research, currently supervising 12 postgraduate students (Doctorate, Masters and Honours). His research interests are: biodiversity management,population genetics, systematics and taxonomy, palaeontology, scholarship of teaching and philosophy of science. |
Project Summary
This project examines the utility of a criteria sheet in tutorial activities in a first year science unit. A short video was made of a mock-up tutorial scenario in NRB100 Environmental Science. Postgraduate students were used as actors who role-played scenarios that illustrated undergraduate students’ different standards of participation in tutorial activities.
The video:
- demonstrated how students could best participate in tutorials
- helped students to easily identify, and hopefully avoid, inadequate participation in tutorials
A questionnaire was developed for NRB100 students for semester 1, 2006 and embedded into an activity involving the tutorial video. Students were required to match the descriptors in the criteria sheet to the participation portrayed by particular actors and grade them accordingly.
Another questionnaire was presented to postgraduate students involved in grading these tutorial activities, to gain further insight into the utility of CRA, from an assessor’s perspective.
Download the project presentation.
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