Assessment: UIC Assistant Professor addresses the challenges posed by various assessment types in her MESA course

Assessment serves as a powerful tool that not only measures knowledge and skills but also acts as a compass guiding individuals and institutions towards improvement.

In the online Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics and Assessment (MESA) programs at UIC, students are introduced to assessment in the course, EPSY 561: Assessment for Measurement Professionals. The course instructor, Dr. Ting Dai,is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and teaches students how to craft different types of assessment instruments to measure a variety of learning outcomes.

Addressing the challenges posed by various assessment types, Dr. Dai wants to make sure her students develop the correct understanding of assessment. Recognizing that assessment can be an intimidating subject, she believes that developing an early understanding of fundamental concepts will help the perceived intimidation surrounding assessment fade away.

Learn more about Dr. Dai’s course, EPSY 561, Assessment for Measurement Professionals.

What are the valuable skills and/or knowledge students will learn in EPSY 561: Assessment for Measurement Professionals?

In the first half of the semester, students will develop the correct conceptualization about the three key issues in assessment and measurement, which are reliability, test bias and validity issues. We have in-depth discussions about these issues which are often misunderstood or not accurately presented or reported. In the second half of the semester, we take this conceptualization into the application of assessment, or the development of an assessment. We also discuss what formative and summative assessments are.

Since students may not have written their own items before this class, we also dive into phrasing issues such as how multiple-choice questions could lead to potential bias or problems of reliability. However, if students have experience writing items, they have a chance to learn about the different principles and theories behind why items should be written a certain way or how they could improve.

Why do you recommend students take the course, EPSY 561?

I think it is important for MESA students to develop the correct understanding of assessment early on and not spread that wrong ideology or bias toward assessment. When you hear the word ‘assessment,’ many people begin to panic and begin thinking about what they will be getting tested on, or what they should be testing others on. However, if we can develop that early understanding and correct understanding of the key concepts of assessment, then it will no longer be such a scary or sensitive topic in the field of education.

Are there any real-world examples or projects students can look forward to in this MESA class?

In EPSY 561, we assume students have minimum assessment skills but a basic understanding of statistics and measurement. The course includes student-motivated projects which are broken into multiple assignments. In the first assignment, students will develop a lesson plan or a course that they are going to teach, and they can either pretend they are teaching an undergraduate or graduate course, a K-12 level course, or a professional training program or workshop. This way we have all the areas of education covered.

MESA students will then create learning objectives and a test blueprint. All the course assignments will then eventually lead them to designing an assessment that was developed on a topic or course of their choosing. I teach them that it is not just about writing five random questions, but their questions must fit into their overall blueprint.

How can students apply their assessment skills from 561: Assessment for Measurement Professionals to a future job role?

The materials developed in this course, such as the syllabus, the course plan, the test blueprints and the actual development of the test itself, are something that my students could use immediately if they work in education.

Otherwise, it is going to be the larger conceptualization issues that are discussed earlier in the semester, such as less of a focus on how to write specific types of items, but more focused on the larger issues of reliability, test bias and validity. These topics are going to be directly applicable to anyone who is in the assessment and measurement fields for their job. An understanding of these topics will help them on a day-to-day basis, providing a solid foundation for informed decision-making and effective practice within the realm of assessment.

Why is assessment an important skill to learn?

Assessment is a major topic in education and psychology. Assessment is a common topic, and for good reason, because we are trying to understand when we educate, when we learn, when we study, when we teach, as well as how things are going in terms of our learning, our teaching, and any other educational purposes. In psychology, assessments play a crucial role in gauging an individual’s emotional well-being, cognitive activity, and skill proficiency.

From a professional perspective, it is important for us to have a correct understanding of assessments because we can then design, validate, and improve on assessment. A formal education will help us have the correct mindset and the correct understanding of how and when we should use assessment tools. These tools help us understand progress, achievement, make diagnoses, and so on and so forth. On top of understanding how to use these tools, we need to understand how to not misuse them, or collect misleading information.