Senior wins iPad for participating in assessment study
Jeremy Pedersen

ADVERTISEMENT

UDaily is produced by Communications and Marketing
The Academy Building
105 East Main Street
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716 • USA
Phone: (302) 831-2792
email: ocm@udel.edu
www.udel.edu/ocm

2:53 p.m., March 25, 2011----During the fall semester, the University of Delaware Office of Educational Assessment (OEA) offered freshmen and senior students the opportunity to volunteer to take a 40-minute Educational Testing Services Educational Proficiency Profile (EPP) test of the general education skills of writing, quantitative reasoning and critical thinking to have a chance to win an iPad2.

THIS STORY
Email E-mail
Delicious Print
Twitter

To qualify to win, students had to complete the standardized test and upload coursework.

Senior Jeremy Pedersen won the iPad2 by attending a 9 a.m. test session during fall finals week. He completed the EPP and uploaded documents he felt indicated his writing, quantitative reasoning, and critical thinking competencies.

Pedersen said he was excited to help out the OEA with this study, even if it meant getting out of bed early on a December morning. He said, “I think Ben Franklin must have been right at least about the 'wealthy' part of early rising making a man 'healthy, wealthy and wise.'”

Through his participation in the study, Pedersen said he learned about the benefits of assessment, saying he hoped “improved assessment will help the University allocate its resources appropriate to the areas where students need the most help.”

The results of this study will inform UD about students' competency with the Faculty Senate-approved general education goals.

OEA will compare students' EPP scores with the Association of American Colleges and Universities Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education (VALUE) rubric assessment scores assigned by faculty to see if assignments completed in a course provide a better indicator of students competencies than the standardized EPP test.

The OEA currently is waiting for the results from ETS and then will spend some time analyzing the data. Reports about the state of general education can be found by visiting OEA's website for further information.

close