District Designed Programs for Educators from CMU Off-Campus Programs

DDPD Information Sheet for Evaluation Section of Course Syllabus

This information is provided as a way to orient school district clients about designing appropriate evaluation criteria for courses submitted to Central Michigan University (CMU) for review and approval. Evaluation criteria should equal 100%.

EVALUATION MUST BE TIED TO THE COURSE GOALS AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES.

CMU Course Principles

A course should change a person somehow
An intervention occurs and a measurable change should result
Evaluation is about the learners behavior and change in behavior
Evaluation needs to be quantifiable and defined
Evaluation should demonstrate that the learners are able to apply the new ideas and concepts in a real world setting

CMU Evaluation Criteria Guidelines

Design course to insure that meaningful change has occurred among students.
Define how you will evaluate that change.
Participation is permitted as evaluation criteria as long as it is quantified/spelled-out. You may wish to use a rubric to quantify participation by defining what is expected and how it will be evaluated and assessed. Do students need to be able to discuss knowledgably an issue or problem? Does their participation need to be evaluated by peers because they are engaged in a cooperative task? Can the instructor assess whether or not in their discussions the students are able to use and apply the theory?
Non-participation can be deducted from the total. At the graduate level there is an expectation that participation is going to happen. If it doesn’t happen, it can be penalized.
Attendance is expected and should be necessary for success in the class; however, attendance is not appropriate to list as an evaluation criteria, but can be factored into deductions from grades. You can deduct points from the final point total or percentages from the final percentage total and reduce the grade by a ½ step or full step.
Authentic assessments are highly recommended as evaluation criteria (lesson plans, articles, unit plans and activity designs).

Listed below are some examples of criteria acceptable to be assigned a percentage weight in the evaluation section of a syllabus.

Projects (You would need to list in the Course Outline the suggested projects and the evaluation criteria for each.)
Written Exam (either quizzes, midterm and/or final)
Presentations
Class participation in discussions and work group (use rubric to quantify participation - see participation guidelines below)
Teacher Action Research
Learning Log
Classroom Simulation
Position Paper
Self-Evaluation
Independent Reading Reports
Individualized Course Projects
Thematic Unit
Mini-Teaching

Guidelines for Course Evaluations that include “Participation” as a Measurement

Central Michigan University's Teacher Education and Professional Development (TEPD) Department defines “Participation” to include class discussions, group participation, attendance, reflections, BB threaded discussions and other active participation in any other relevant classroom or cyber activities.

Guidelines:

Participation should include some form of qualitative and/or quantitative measure.
Participation should clearly measure course goals and/or objectives (outcomes).
For qualitative measures, participation should be defined and expectations should be clear. For example a rubric that clearly defines what elements of participation will be assessed and how it will be evaluated. A professor could write qualitative descriptors for acceptable and unacceptable measures of participation (see example below).
Participation should not exceed forty percent (40%) of a course grade.
Other course evaluation should include products that students produce including, but not limited to, exams, portfolios, case studies, lesson plans, research papers, research presentations, and other authentic products that clearly link to the course goals and objectives.

Element of Participation and Essential Questions