I heard someone mentioning doing a pre-and post evaluation for a course. Using some questions from the final exam as a pre-test, while making sure they address the course learning outcomes, and then comparing the student's responses with the final exam...might be an easy and free way to accomplish the goal of course evaluation.

Hi, Camille!

I think the best evaluation tool is the one that you build, which perfectly fits in the process that you are studying. Of course, there are many tech tools that may help us in this way.

Let me suggest you the use of "Moodle Platform". It's a free digital learning environment that you can use with your students. Moodle's use is quite intuitive, since it looks like an ordinary website. With this platform you can build learning objects, surveys, tests, etc. in an easy way.

I've written a paper where I show how to diagnose the level of the literacy of undergraduate students: "Observação do letramento no ensino superior". It's in portuguese and you can find it in my papers here in RG.

You may use Moodle to implement the idea proposed above by Ann Kerlin.

Cheers!

Tarcisio.

Most of medical educators doing pre and post exam with the same questions that cover the whole course. The pre-exam is to test their knowledge before taking the course and the post exam is to test their knowledge after taking the course. If there is a significant different between two tests you succeed  in your course.

@Jose: Your paper cited is of interest, inter alia, because you test the incoming students' ability to determine meaning from the context. Even Google Translate, which I used to translate your paper, could not decode "becada"!

Hi, Ian!

Please allow me to explain the meaning of "becada".

This is a cross reference to someone that uses a "black gown", such as lawyers, "doctors of knowledge", etc. and that black bird "vulture".

Also, allow me to recommend you the reading of "Urubus e Sabiás" from the brazilian author Rubem Alves. The "moral of this story" is: in a land of vultures we do not hear the singing of canaries ("sabiá").

Cheers!

Tarcisio.

If you want to check cognition level improvement during higher education. you need to develop you tool of data collection and go for pe and post test data collection. You can apply paired t test to see the possibility of significant change in the learning or not. The pre and post course grades average can also be used an  indicator of learning.

This first depends whether your course or unit is theoretical or practical, then it depends on the course objectives(learning outcome domains ),Knowledge, cognitive,skill etc.

So it acceptable to use pre knowledge exam of the course then continues exam and final at the end of the course ensuring that students received feedback about their exams and rseults

but for the skill domain one need to run formal assessment  (halfway through) which measure the students level and for learning purposes feedback will be provided for area to be improved  then summative assessment at the end which will measure the progress of their skill this at course or unit level but at program level for example when students completed their study level there is different measurement tools

Pre and post measures is likely to get you what you are looking for. You can then compare those against knwon benchmarks if any.

So has anyone ever used the LASSI tool?  I would really be interested to know what are the feelings of those who have used it for evaluative purposes.   The LASSI is a one-step method compared to a Pre and Post test which is a two-step method.

Hi Camille, it's not clear what functions or aspect of LASSI you are looking to replace. You can, as suggested, make your own tool, Google Forms is a free and useful tool. LASSI provides you with a tool that has been demonstrated to produce valid and reliable results, that's why you are asked to pay.  Unless you are willing to go through some significant effort, the tools that you make may not be valid or reliable. If this is a low-stakes project - an instructor who wants to get a better handle on what is going on in the classroom - go ahead and roll your own tools. There's much to learn.  If employment decisions or corrective actions are based on the data from this effort then spending the money on professional tools that are proven reliable and valid is the only way to go.

@Jim  you are on the mark.  The cost is the challenge - we want the results without the cost...:/ 

 Dear Prof. Josse

can you please put your article in English about busing moodle in education..

You mean pupil achievement?

Our corporate learning and development team gets great results from pre- and post-learning surveys and tests using Survey Monkey.  We're customizing based on the course.  It's not free, but very cost-effective.

Just make sure that you both pre and post test as well as that you have a control group otherwise the entire study will be invalid