• American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)

Designing Assessments to Measure Student Outcomes

Design assessment instruments that use rubrics and surveys to measure student outcomes. Join AACTE’s free online course.

7,865 enrolled on this course

Designing and planning assessments
  • Duration

    3 weeks
  • Weekly study

    3 hours

This free online course will help you to design assessment instruments to measure student outcomes. It focusses on rubrics and surveys.

Each week will explore a different aspect of assessment, and mix theory and practice. You will build your own assessments, and share and test them with other learners.

Skip to 0 minutes and 7 seconds Is your training program producing fantastic results? How are you measuring and assessing the outcomes of your project? Would you like to learn how to design a quality assessment that will give you reliable data to analyse? Hi, I’m Linda McKee from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. I’m the Senior Director of Quality Support Initiatives and I’ll be your lead educator for this free online course. I collaborate with national and international teacher training organisations to design professional learning. My expertise is in the areas of performance assessment, quality assurance, and the continuous improvement of teacher education.

Skip to 0 minutes and 52 seconds In the course, we’ll start by looking at some assessment strategies before gaining an understanding of the importance of validity, reliability and fairness in building quality assessments. In the second and third weeks, you’ll explore how you can develop rubrics and surveys as part of an assessment framework, and you’ll get the opportunity to create your own by following our simple five-step process. This is a collaborative course where you can discuss best practice and get feedback on your work from your peers. So, if you’re interested in measuring and improving the quality of your program or project, this is the course for you. Join our global collective of professionals, take part in the discussions, and let’s learn together about designing quality assessments.

What topics will you cover?

Week 1 – Building quality assessments

  • The importance of validity, reliability and fairness in developing assessments
  • National assessment instruments in use worldwide
  • Developing local assessments
  • The impact of technology on measurement

Week 2 – Rubrics

  • The role of rubrics in assessment
  • How to design effective rubrics to evaluate performance
  • How to test rubric calibration

Week 3 – Surveys

  • The role of surveys in assessment
  • The steps in writing surveys
  • How to design effective surveys for use with a selected audience

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Summarise the importance of validity, reliability, and fairness in building quality assessments.
  • Discuss the role of rubrics within quality assessments.
  • Design effective rubrics for use in evaluating performance.
  • Discuss the role of surveys within quality assessments.
  • Design effective surveys for use with a selected audience.

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for professional educators and aimed at those interested in the planning and administration of locally-produced assessments.

All levels of experience are welcomed, including assessment coordinators, student teachers, school and college educators, university academics and edtech professionals. If you are skilled in the area of assessment, you will be most interested in the discussions among colleagues. If you are new to assessment, you will find the course helpful in getting you up to speed. You are also encouraged to join in the discussions, where you can learn from the more experienced participants.

Who will you learn with?

I collaborate with universities, national, and international partners to design professional learning in the areas of performance assessments, quality assurance, and continuous improvement.

Educational systems and processes fascinate me. I have worked in diverse institutions as a researcher, faculty member, and administrator, and also in quality assurance. And I love Old Norse sagas.

Who developed the course?

American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)

Founded in 1948, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) is a national alliance of educator preparation dedicated to offering high-quality, evidence-based programs

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn

Do you know someone who'd love this course? Tell them about it...

You can use the hashtag #FLassessments to talk about this course on social media.