MMY Teaching Module: Undergraduate Course - Psychology

Buros Center for Testing Author

08/11/2020 Added

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Mental Measurements Yearbook (MMY), Teaching Module by Nina Ventresco, M.Ed., The College of New Jersey

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[00:00:00.000]Hi, my name is Nina Vantresco.
[00:00:02.508]I am a school psychologist and an adjunct professor
[00:00:05.547]in the Psychology Department at the College of New Jersey.
[00:00:08.819]Also known as TCNJ.
[00:00:10.142]Several years back, I actually graduated from TCNJ myself with my
[00:00:14.822]bachelor's degree. When I was at TCNJ in the
[00:00:17.387]Psychology Department, I took a really wonderful
[00:00:20.798]course called Psychological Testing Seminar,
[00:00:23.943]and it was there where I was first introduced to the
[00:00:27.041]Buros Center for Testing's Mental Measurements Yearbook or MMY.
[00:00:31.041]We used that all throughout the semester as an objective source
[00:00:35.041]of information about published test instruments. Ever since that initial
[00:00:39.041]introduction, I personally have been relying on the MMY within my career as a
[00:00:45.111]school psychologist. I am also lucky enough to be back at TCNJ teaching
[00:00:50.441]that very same course that I took as an undergraduate so the MMY
[00:00:54.441]is still an integral part of the course.
[00:00:58.441]I assign some tests and several test reviews throughout the semester to
[00:01:02.441]illustrate certain concepts. For example, when we discuss reliability and validity,
[00:01:06.441]we read example test reviews and students also have
[00:01:12.661]to use the MMY to complete their final project for the course.
[00:01:18.081]So essentially they're tasked with selecting a test instrument that's of
[00:01:22.901]interest to them. They read the corresponding MMY reviews as well as
[00:01:27.221]some, what I call, less objective information about the test
[00:01:31.221]such as advertisements or brochures put out by the test publisher.
[00:01:35.221]Then they ultimately produce their own comprehensive review of
[00:01:39.221]the test instrument and on the very last classes for the semester
[00:01:43.588]they present their findings to the class. Some additional information about this
[00:01:49.296]assignment can be found at the link below. I have found that the students
[00:01:53.296]really enjoy reading the MMY reviews and completing the final project.
[00:01:57.312]I think they really benefit from the reviews, given that they're so concise,
[00:02:02.554]but also really information dense. I think it's helpful for the students
[00:02:07.592]to see that whereas the reviewers generally tend to agree, they sometimes
[00:02:11.592]have differing opinions about a test, technical properties, practicality, or
[00:02:16.944]overall utility. So everything's not always so black and white.
[00:02:20.643]I also think that exposing them to the MMY reviews is really helpful and it helps
[00:02:26.910]to reinforce one of the major takeaways that I have for the course,
[00:02:31.065]which is that a given test instrument may be valid for use with a
[00:02:36.778]given a certain population or for a certain purpose.
[00:02:40.134]It's really important to avoid overgeneralizing those findings.
[00:02:44.673]My general advice, if you are interested in assigning a similar
[00:02:48.990]module at least at the undergraduate level, would be to encourage students
[00:02:53.206]to work on their projects as early as possible in the semester.
[00:02:57.489]Just because it can be challenging to take in a lot of information, some of
[00:03:03.114]which is technical, and then summarize it clearly and succinctly.
[00:03:07.778]I would also encourage instructors to be mindful of students
[00:03:11.290]prerequisite level of statistics. Again, especially at the undergraduate level.
[00:03:15.378]In some cases I have found it helpful to sit down with students during office
[00:03:19.741]hours and help them to interpret statistics that they may come across in
[00:03:23.951]MMY reviews. So for example, a confirmatory factor analysis,
[00:03:28.083]I helped the students interpret those data and understand what they really mean
[00:03:33.912]as far as the validity of the test goes.
[00:03:36.843]I hope you enjoy checking out my instructional module. Thank you.

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MMY Teaching Module: Undergraduate Course - Psychology

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