CEDAM to host epert in helping academics teach
By Shelly Simonds University teachers are often frustrated, when marking an exam paper, to discover students did not learn what they were meant to. To avoid this situation teachers need to develop ways to monitor learning in their classrooms, said Kathleen Quinlan of the ANU's Centre for Educational Development and Academic Methods (CEDAM). A process called Classroom Assessment can help teachers gather useful information on what, how much and how well students learn. Next week, CEDAM will host a visit by Dr Tom Angelo, an expert in helping academics use experimental classroom methods to improve their teaching. "Through practice in Classroom Assessment, faculty become better able to understand and promote learning and increase their ability to help the students themselves become more effective, self-assessing, self-directed learners," Dr Angelo wrote in a 1993 handbook Classroom Assessment Techniques, co-authored by Professor Patricia Cross. "Simply put, the central purpose of Classroom Assessment is to empower both teacher and their students to improve the quality of learning in the classroom." Associate Professor of Educational and Psychological Studies and coordinator of the Higher Education Program at the University of Miami in the US, Dr Angelo has conducted workshops for over 15,000 university teachers and academic administrators worldwide. Dr Angelo is on a two-month tour of Australia and New Zealand, as the 1998 Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia Visiting Scholar. He will introduce his Classroom Assessment techniques in an address at the University of Canberra on May 26. The adress is intended to help academics gather feedback on student learning and use this information to improve the teaching and learning in classes. An informal, interactive presentation examining the use of instructional technologies in the US, including distance education, will be presented by Dr Angelo at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA)on May 25. Dr Angelo will also give two talks at the ANU. On May 25 at CEDAM, the discussion will concentrate on the future of academic culture in universities and propose changes that could help universities become better learning com­ munities. The following day his focus will move to a program, departmental and institutional level. Over the past dozen years, Dr Angelo has pursued several overlapping careers as academic, instructional developer, researcher, public speaker, consultant, and academic administrator. In all of these roles, his work focuses on developing practical ways to assess and improve the quality of teaching and learning in US higher education. Dr Angelo has an international reputation in the fields of improving teaching and learning; assessment of student learning; the scholarship of teaching; and academic development. In early 1998, his two newest projects will be published: an edited volume on advances in Classroom Research and a co-authored book on improving grading to improve learning. Reciprocal arrangements have been made with the University of Canberra and ADFA, enabling ANU staff members to attend any of the sessions. Details of contacts for the non-ANU addresses are available from Dr Quinlan at CEDAM. For additional information about Tom's six-week Australia and New Zealand itinerary visit the national web site at http://sunsite.anu.edu.au/education/herdsa. For details about Dr Angelo's visit to Canberra visit http://www. ge.adfa.oz.au/~rnv/HERDSA_ACT/nextevnt.html