Evaluation Research

Digitally evaluating written work

There are a number of tools that facilitate and streamline the process of collecting, evaluating, and returning student writing. Remember, though, that you will still need to determine appropriate objectives for your student population, design meaningful assignments, and establish fair yet challenging performance criteria.

The Eberly Center supports faculty with using Blackboard, SafeAssign (available in Blackboard), and Turnitin (available in Blackboard and as a stand-alone). Reference the grid below to determine which tools include the functionality to support your teaching goals. Contact us if you would like to try a tool or get more information.

These tools have features that can help you...

Goal SafeAssign Turnitin Blackboard

Collect ungraded assignments easily

While some faculty like to collect hard copies of student work, others prefer to collect and grade student assignments digitally. Digital collection mitigates the need to carry and manage stacks of student work, saves paper (unless faculty opt to print out student work) and permits faculty to set submission deadlines outside of class time.

Keep track of multiple drafts of an assignment

Managing multiple drafts of student papers can be cumbersome. If instructors establish and enforce a logical and consistent system for naming files (e.g., Studentname.assignment#.version#), digital collection can simplify the process, and make it easier for instructors to compare early and later drafts side-by-side.

Return graded assignments securely

Handing back graded student work can consume valuable class time, and methods for returning them outside of class time (e.g., by leaving graded papers in a box outside your office) can be contrary to FERPA regulations protecting student privacy. Collecting and returning student work digitally allows you to streamline the process of returning graded work while also ensuring that it is secure.

Provide readable feedback

Students cannot benefit from instructor feedback if they can't read it. Tools like TurnItIn's GradeMark feature make it possible for instructors to insert pre-written margin comments digitally or to type in their own margin or end comments. This ensures that the comments are legible, while reducing the time it takes instructors to write the same comment over and over on multiple papers. (Instructors should keep in mind, however, that "global" end comments with concrete suggestions for improvement are generally more helpful to students than a large number of "correction-oriented" margin comments.)

Returns a system-generated report only.

Returns both a system report and provides instructors with ability to enter feedback directly into document.

Provides a feedback window attached to the assignment, not integrated into the document.

Explain feedback

TurnItIn's GradeMark has pre-written comments that explain common instructor feedback (what it means to say the paper needs more supporting evidence or clearer topic sentences, what subject/pronoun agreement is, etc.) These explanations can help students understand the feedback they're receiving better, while not requiring instructors to write extensively.

Identify possible plagiarism

Tools like TurnItIn's Originality Check and SafeAssign can automatically check students' written work against a database of student papers and/or web resources. These tools can identify whether there is a high percentage of unoriginal material in a student paper, and (depending on the tool) locate the original source. If students know you are using plagiarism detection tools, that can by itself deter plagiarism, though this can also be accomplished by designing assignments that require original thought and cannot be easily copied or bought.

Help students learn to use sources responsibly

Students often do not know how to paraphrase without appropriating another author's language. Instructors can help students learn the difference between appropriate paraphrasing and plagiarism by asking students to run their work through a plagiarism detection software (e.g., TurnItIn or SafeAssign) to assess its originality for themselves. Doing so can alert students to problems with paraphrasing and citation and help them correct (and, hopefully, learn from) their mistakes before they submit their work to the instructor.

Facilitate peer evaluation

If the exercise is properly structured, students can benefit from reading and critiquing one another's work. Peer review (also called peer evaluation or reader response) allows the writer to get feedback from multiple readers. It also encourages peer reviewers to become more reflective about their own writing. Digital tools like TurnItIn's PeerMark can help instructors manage the peer review process by helping them designate student evaluators and enable the sharing of papers, rubrics, and other evaluative tools.

PeerMark tool.

Peer Assessment tool.

Educational technology, sometimes termed EdTech, is the study and ethical practice of facilitating e-learning, which is the learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.[1] The term educational technology is often associated with, and encompasses, instructional theory and learning theory. While instructional technology is "the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning," according to the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Definitions and Terminology Committee,[2] educational technology includes other systems used in the process of developing human capability. Educational technology includes, but is not limited to, software, hardware, as well as Internet applications, such as wikis and blogs, and activities. But there is still debate on what these terms mean.[3]

Technology in education is most simply and comfortably defined as an array of tools that might prove helpful in advancing student learning and may be measured in how and why individuals behave. Educational Technology relies on a broad definition of the word "technology." Technology can refer to material objects of use to humanity, such as machines or hardware, but it can also encompass broader themes, including systems, methods of organization, and techniques. Some modern tools include but are not limited to overhead projectors, laptop computers, and calculators. Newer tools such as smartphones and games (both online and offline) are beginning to draw serious attention for their learning potential. Media psychology is the field of study that applies theories of human behavior to educational technology.

Consider the Handbook of Human Performance Technology.[4] The word technology for the sister fields of Educational and Human Performance Technology means "applied science." In other words, any valid and reliable process or procedure that is derived from basic research using the "scientific method" is considered a "technology." Educational or Human Performance Technology may be based purely on algorithmic or heuristic processes, but neither necessarily implies physical technology. The word technology comes from the Greek "techne" which means craft or art. Another word, "technique," with the same origin, also may be used when considering the field Educational Technology. So Educational Technology may be extended to include the techniques of the educator.[citation needed]

A classic example of an Educational Psychology text is Bloom's 1956 book, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.[5] Bloom's Taxonomy is helpful when designing learning activities to keep in mind what is expected of—and what are the learning goals for—learners. However, Bloom's work does not explicitly deal with educational technology per se and is more concerned with pedagogical strategies.

According to some, an Educational Technologist is someone who transforms basic educational and psychological research into an evidence-based applied science (or a technology) of learning or instruction. Educational Technologists typically have a graduate degree (Master's, Doctorate, Ph.D., or D.Phil.) in a field related to educational psychology, educational media, experimental psychology, cognitive psychology or, more purely, in the fields of Educational, Instructional or Human Performance Technology or Instructional Systems Design. But few of those listed below as theorists would ever use the term "educational technologist" as a term to describe themselves, preferring terms such as "educator."[citation needed] The transformation of educational technology from a cottage industry to a profession is discussed by Shurville, Browne, and Whitaker.[6]

Educational technology could be traced back to the emergence of very early tools, e.g., paintings on cave walls. But usually its history starts with the introduction of educational films (1900s) or Sidney Pressey's mechanical teaching machines in the 1920s.

The first large scale usage of new technologies can be traced to US WWII training of soldiers through training films and other mediated materials. Today, presentation-based technology, based on the idea that people can learn through aural and visual reception, exists in many forms, e.g., streaming audio and video, or PowerPoint presentations with voice-over. Another interesting invention of the 1940s was hypertext, i.e., V. Bush's memex.

The 1950s led to two major, still popular

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