Using formative assessments to improve critical thinking and writing skills

Faculty know writing improves critical thinking and that writing skills are essential for future success, but find giving feedback on and grading long written work, such as term papers, to be prohibitively time consumptive. In this seminar session, we will look at four assessment techniques making use of short written work that improve high-level learning such as analytic thinking and synthesis, but which also improve writing skills and give faculty keen insight into students’ understanding of course concepts.