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The New Cycle: Self-Assessment

With the introduction of WebCT, the instructional cycle was redesigned to introduce new activities (Figure 2). Using the quiz tool, Holt developed a series of self-assessment tests and quizzes for each chapter. Students were required to complete the self-assessment test by logging on to the web site typically 24-48 hours prior to attending class.

Each self-assessment question consisted of a topic or concept associated to a key term in the text. The number of key terms ranged from 15 to 25 across the twelve chapters. All key terms were listed for each question in the format of a very large "multiple choice" question. Functionally, however, the response to the self assessment items was more similar to matching the topic or concept with the associated key term. In this process, some key terms were associated with more than one topic or concept while other key terms did not have any associated material.

To decrease evaluation anxiety, the self-assessment had no time limit and students were given two attempts to increase their scores if they so desired. Immediate, detailed feedback on which items the student answered correctly and incorrectly was provided after each self-assessment. The self-assessment scores did not, however, directly impact the students' cumulative total scores for the class. Rather, students were given five points for completing the self-assessment for a chapter and zero if they did not attempt the self-assessment at all. Thus, the grade points for self-assessments ranged from a possible minimum of 0 to a maximum of 60 points for completing self-assessments for all 12 chapters.

As an additional incentive for completing the self-assessment, students could gain a set of class notes in PowerPoint form after completing the self-assessment. For the first two sections of the course (the first eight chapters), the student could obtain the PowerPoint slides for the class discussions if he or she answered at least one self-assessment item correctly. With this low criterion, some students reported taking the self assessment without thoroughly reading the chapter in the hope of getting at least one correct. To counteract this tendency, for the last section of the class the criterion for obtaining the PowerPoint slides was raised to answering 25% of the self-assessment items correctly.

The Case Study: Undergraduate Psychology

Text, Lecture and Quiz