INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / JANUARY 16, 1990

 

the use of “feedback devices” to help
tell them how students are respond-
ing to classroom procedures. We
have gathered a collection of such
devices into a single sourcebook
entitled Classroom Assessment Tech-
miques: A Handbook for Faculty (Cross
and Angelo, 1988). Such devices
could help an instructor discover
whether a “review session” prior to
the mid-term helps in long-term
retention or is only useful for imme-
diate test score gains. Or perhaps
the teacher is interested in knowing
whether a field trip is worth the ef-
fort in changing attitudes about a
particular social problem—or would
reading about it or discussing it or
seeing a dramatization or videotape
work as well or better? The devices
include such simpleideas as focused
listing, the one-minute paper, and
the teacher-student electronic mail
system.

Alternatively, small groups of
faculty might band together within
or between departments to research
such things as what activities pro-
mote cross-course integration. Fac-
ulty meetings might well be planned
around classroom research projects
to share data, perceptions, and pos-
sible solutions. The emphasis in
faculty meetings would be on the
use of data and systematic observa-
tion; discussion might appropriately
range from sharing useful and crea-
tive approaches to gathering data, to
data analysis, to recommendations
for possible changes in policies and
practices within the department.

While the examples I have pre-
sented do not generally call for
complicated methodologies or
analyses, there is nothing to prevent
interested teachers from studying
very complex problems. The proj-
ects for classroom research are lim-
ited only by the teachers’ imagina-

tion. The procedure of the class-
room researcher is to formulate the
question, collect data, reflect on class-
room practice, try a solution and
evaluate the results. There is noth-
ing especially new about those meth-
ods; they are frequently recom-
mended for huge, well-funded “R
and D.” Thedifferenceis that teacher
motivation is enhanced through
classroom research because the
question for study is framed by the
teacher, and implementation is fa-
cilitated because there is no gap
between “researcher” and “practi-
tioner”.

In conclusion, I think it is time
for classroom teachers to become
directly involved in the study of
teaching and learning. They should
be intellectually curious about it as
well as professionally involved in
theimprovementof their own teach-
ing practices. It is these teacher-
driven changes in the every day life
of undergraduate classes which hold
the greatest promise for long-term
educational reform.

K. Patricia Cross
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA- BERKELEY

References

_K. Patricia Cross and Thomas A.

Angelo. Classroom Assessment
Techniques: A Handbook for Fac-
ulty. Technical Report No. 88-A-
004.0. Ann Arbor, Michigan:
National Center for Research to
Improve Postsecondary Teaching
and Learning, The University of
Michigan,1988.

For further information, contact the
author at the Classroom Research
Project, University of California-
Berkeley, Berkeley,CA 94720. (415)
642-0709.

 

 

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