Including Student Ability to Assess Learning with Other Assessment Tools

• Activity Number: 528
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 3, 2011 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
• Author(s): Julia Anne Norton*+ and Zachariah Espe Dietz and John Lovell
• Companies: California State University at East Bay and Hamilton University and California State University at East Bay
• Keywords: assessment ; learning ; teaching ; introductory statistics ; Departments of Statistics

Abstract

Retrospective look at ten years of assessing introductory statistics courses over quarters, grades, and the introduction of a "how sure are you of this answer" question. Since Fall Quarter 1999, the authorsa have collected data from a required a common final in introductory statistic courses. After ten years we wonder whether there is some relationship between correct response and an individual student assessment of their ability to answer a particular question correctly. Our study considers continuity in exams and the usefulness of asking students to assess their own problem solving ability. For each of twenty questions on a common final in an introductory statistics course, students are asked to rate their personal ability to answer that particular question correctly. Responses are studied on a number of scales. One set of scales is designed to study particular topics in introductory c