DIGITAL LIBRARY
ASSESSMENT METHODS ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Complutense University of Madrid (SPAIN)
About this paper:
Appears in: ICERI2011 Proceedings
Publication year: 2011
Page: 6066 (abstract only)
ISBN: 978-84-615-3324-4
ISSN: 2340-1095
Conference name: 4th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation
Dates: 14-16 November, 2011
Location: Madrid, Spain
Abstract:
The interest in the improvement of the university teaching has increased rapidly in recent years fundamentally with the establishment of the European Convergence Plan on higher Education. Universities are focusing the importance of teaching on taking concerted actions and sustained efforts to improve programs. Faculty and administrators flock to teaching conferences; government agencies and private foundations offer financial support, and there are new books about the subject. The concept of improving teaching is being hardly discussed in last years. Now, the new concept is trying based on three assumptions: first, professional activity of professors is teaching; second, instructional behaviour is not inborn, it might set several goals, skills and attitudes and third, how to improve their classroom performance, which is reached with deep knowledge of the subject, an ability to communicate with and motivate students, enthusiasm for the subject and for teaching and clarity of presentation. In order to ensure the teaching improvement should be considered the assessment.

Assessment is a process or series of activities concerning the planned activities carried out in a formal manner, for the purpose of reaching a judgment based on research, data processing and the interpretation of verifiable information and communication between the organizational structures involved in the process. The assessment of university teaching should be a process lead in the management of:
- systems of planning and monitoring: evaluation of the efficient use of the resources assigned to the organizational units in relation to management objectives laid down in advance;
- systems for the assessment of individual performance: evaluation of the achievement of individual objectives laid down in advance.

A plan should be made for assessing the degree whose objectives are being set. The assessment plan should specify who is responsible for each part of the assessment, when the assessment will be performed, and who will receive the results. We use some assessment tools as students surveys, individual and focus group interviews, assignments, reports and tests in the design course, standardized tests, written tests or test items clearly linked to learning objectives, self-analyses and self-evaluations.