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ERIC Number: ED239560
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1982
Pages: 69
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Validating Assessment Techniques in an Outcome-Centered Liberal Arts Curriculum: Integrated Competence Seminar. Final Report, Research Report Number Four.
Mentkowski, Marcia; Doherty, Austin
The Integrated Competence Seminar (ICS), An Alverno College assessment technique used in the outcome-centered liberal arts curriculum, is discussed. The ICS technique allows students to demonstrate integration and transfer of learning in three situations: oral presentation, group discussion, and the In-Basket exercise (decision-making problems). Assessors observe and evaluate performance criteria, and provide students with feedback. In the 1970s, the In-Basket exercise was the most difficult and the most valid in terms of correlation with measures of students' cognitive development and other generic ability. Oral presentation showed mixed results, and the group discussion correlated with other measures in opposite to the expected directions. When age, background, and college program were controlled, there were no significant relationships between the three ICS tasks and other college performance measures. Generally, it was found that the In-Basket exercise most accurately measured abilities of analysis and problem-solving. The results point to the importance of nontraditional assessment techniques, such as In-Basket, and to revision of the measure with attention to the links between group discussion criteria and the social interaction ability it represents. (Author/SW)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Inst. of Education (ED), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Alverno Coll., Milwaukee, WI.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A