CEL facilitates multi-institutional research on engaged learning topics. Participants from institutions around the world collaborate over three years, producing scholarship that shapes research and practice globally.
CEL is home to two book series. In addition, CEL research seminars and other initiatives have produced 100+ publications (to date).
CEL’s concise guides offer research-informed practices for engaged learning.
CEL’s concise guides offer practical strategies for studying engaged learning.
CEL brings together international leaders in higher education to develop, synthesize, and share rigorous research on central questions about student learning.
The CEL Scholar role and CEL Student Scholars program enable Elon faculty and students to deepen their understanding of and professional development in scholarly activity on engaged learning.
Barbeau, Lauren, and Claudia Cornejo Happel. 2023. Critical Teaching Behaviors: Defining, Documenting, and Discussing Good Teaching. Stylus Publishing.
This book addresses characteristics of quality teaching from a research-informed perspective. The Critical Teaching Behaviors Framework presented demonstrates how technology, inclusion, engagement, and assessment overlap and should align to produce critical teaching behaviors and advance student learning. The chapter on assessment summarizes research on assessment and feedback to offer faculty guidance on how to enact these within their teaching. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Black, Paul, and Dylan Wiliam. 1998. "Assessment and Classroom Learning." Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy, & Practice 5 (1 &2): 7-74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0969595980050102.
The literature review included in this article supports innovative and frequent feedback for yielding substantial learning gains. After a theoretical analysis of the nature of feedback, the article treats formative assessment and models that may improve feedback practices. Student perceptions regarding self-assessment practices are also addressed. The article may assist faculty with creating or revising formative and student self-assessment practices. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Boud, David. 2000. "Sustainable Assessment: Rethinking Assessment for the Learning Society." Studies in Continuing Education 22 (2): 151-167. https://doi.org/10.1080/713695728.
Models of assessment that students experience in higher education do not reflect modes of assessment experienced after college in a learning society. Boud recommends sustainable assessment practices that address learning goals of higher education courses along with preparing students for their own assessment needs in the future. This two–pronged approach to assessment will assist faculty in reconsidering the models traditionally employed. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Boud, David, Phillip Dawson, Margaret Bearman, Sue Bennett, Gordon Joughin, and Elizabeth Molloy. 2018. "Reframing Assessment Research: Through a Practice Perspective." Studies in Higher Education 43 (7): 1107-1118. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2016.1202913.
In higher education, the measurement perspective of assessment has historically been assumed and used to guide practice. The authors advocate for a new practice perspective of assessment that extends ideas from practice theory. Benefits of this practice perspective include infusing assessment into teaching and learning as opposed to separating assessment from teaching and learning. The recommendation of assessments for learning can work to reposition assessment within teaching and learning practices. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Boud, David, and Elizabeth Molloy. 2013. "Rethinking Models of Feedback for Learning: The Challenge of Design." Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 38 (6): 698-712. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2012.691462.
This article explores the educative potential and challenges around producing student feedback. Two models of feedback are addressed and contrasted. In the first model, the instructor drives the feedback, but in the second model, students and instructors are integral to the feedback production process. The authors explain the benefits of the latter model, which include making students reflective assessors of their own learning. This feedback practice may help students sustain reflective assessment practice in subsequent learning. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
BYU-Idaho Learning and Teaching Community, . n.d. "Formative and Summative Assessments." Accessed July 7, 2023. https://learningandteaching.byui.edu/guides/assessments/guides/formative-and-summative-assessments.
This resource page from Brigham Young University contains research-based recommendations for conducting formative and summative assessment in higher education. It serves as an excellent entryway for faculty who desire to improve their assessment practices. Strategies for formative assessment include encouraging teacher and peer dialogue, and strategies for summative assessment include using a rubric or table of specifications. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Carless, David. 2007. "Learning‐Oriented Assessment: Conceptual Bases and Practical Implications." Innovations in Education and Teaching International 44: 57-66.
The learning-oriented assessment project worked to develop and promote assessment practices that promote student learning. In learning-oriented assessment, formative and summative assessment combine and treat assessment tasks as learning tasks; promote student involvement in assessment; and utilize closed feedback loops. Barriers include accountability and distrust and need to be addressed while promoting learning-oriented assessment. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Clark, David, and Robert Talbert. 2023. Grading for Growth: A Guide to Alternative Grading Practices that Promote Authentic Learning and Student Engagement in Higher Education. Stylus Publishing.
Grading for Growth presents a need for alternative grading through the sharing of the authors’ stories and perspectives on the shortcomings of traditional grading practices. After addressing some history on grading practices, they present a framework for alternative grading that includes four pillars. Examples of alternative grading and their implementations are described with an emphasis of how each promotes authentic learning. Examples include standards-based grading and specifications gradings. Contexts such as large classes and lab classes are addressed along with practical guidance on how to adopt alternative grading practices. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Driscoll, Amy, Swarup Wood, Dan Shapiro, and Nelson Graff. 2021. Advancing Assessment for Student Success: Supporting Learning by Creating Connections Across Assessment, Teaching, Curriculum, and Cocurriculum in Collaboration with Our Colleagues and Our Students. Routledge.
This book examines ways that assessment practices promote student success. It begins with an overview of the field of assessment, which can help faculty understand where we have been,what has worked, and opportunities for refining assessment practices. An invaluable takeaway is Wood’s distinction between learning goals and learning outcomes, with the latter being specific to students’ actions based on operational verbs. The SMART framework for developing learning outcomes is a powerful tool and stands for the following criteria: (1) Specific; (2) Measurable; (3) Action-oriented; (4) Reasonable; and (5) Time-bound. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Eyler, Joshua R. 2024. Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Students, and What We Can Do about It. Johns Hopkins University Press.
In this book, Eyler critiques the educational system’s obsession with grades and identifies many negative effects grades have on learning. He makes a case that grades cause students to experience learning as a competition rather than discovery and that grades impede the learning process. The latter part of the book shares examples of grading reform efforts and recommendations for systemic change. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Feldman, Joe. 2018. Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms. Corwin Press.
Feldman’s book, Grading for Equity, maps the landscape of grading practices related to all levels of learning. Grading practices affect teaching and learning and can have negative impacts on students. The reader is introduced to grading practices that are more accurate, bias-resistant, and motivational for both teachers and students. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Forsyth, Rachel. 2023. Confident Assessment in Higher Education. SAGE Publications, Inc. .
Although assessment is integral to teaching and learning in higher education, many faculty members are not confident in discussing or changing their assessment practices. Assessment in higher education is complicated and involves multiple stakeholders. The model for wicked problem management can be used to address these complexities and consider the lifecycle of assessment. Multiple approaches for making assessment work are addressed with an emphasis on assessment tasks and giving meaningful feedback. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Long, Duri, Takeria Blunt, and Brian Magerko. 2021. "Co-designing AI Literacy Exhibits for Informal Learning Spaces." Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 5 (CSCW2): 1-35. https://doi.org/10.1145/3476034.
This proceeding addresses the design of informal learning spaces and how these might be adapted to promote a “casual” understanding of the emerging technology of artificial intelligence (AI). This work contains an early definition of AI-literacy, the ability to understand, use, monitor, and critically reflect on AI applications, and is helpful to assess the role of AI in teaching and learning. This working definition assists stakeholders in higher education with how to best integrate AI applications such as chatbots into models of assessment and feedback. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Manor, Christopher, Stephen Bloch-Shulman, Kelly Flannery, and Peter Felten. 2010. "Foundations of Student-Faculty Partnerships in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning." In Engaging Students Voices in the Study of Teaching and Learning, edited by Carmen Werder and Megan Otis, 3-15. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
The authors begin by outlining some of the shortcomings of the traditional instructional model in higher education, arguing that in this model students feel powerless, as if decisions were made for them instead of by them. Professors are viewed as the only experts in the room, developing in students a fundamental misconception about teaching and learning as a process through which knowledge is transferred from one to another, rather than a process during which meaning is co-constructed. Such misconception also devalues the opinions and the input of their peers, whose thoughts are dismissed as irrelevant and unimportant. All of this in the end translates into student disengagement with the process of learning, with the material and with their peers.
This traditional model of education is challenged by student-faculty partnership on the scholarship of teaching and learning. Through partnership, students acquire voice and with it, a greater responsibility for their education. Simultaneously, faculty is prompted to listen to student voices and accommodate them, relinquishing the authority that was previously assumed and unquestioned. Hence, partnership causes decentralization and disaggregation of the classroom as power is now shared between the instructor and the students, which in itself, fosters a more democratic model of teaching and learning.
From the SoTL perspective, student-faculty partnerships shift the focus from teaching (faculty) to learning (students) and allow students to ask questions related to SoTL research. [Annotation by Ketevan Kupatadze]
This book challenges the traditional model of education where students are left out of decision-making processes and left feeling powerless. The chapter authors advocate student-faculty partnerships where student voice is honored, power is decentralized, and participation in democratic models is encouraged. Student-faculty partnerships can be utilized to design assessments that include student input and choice to promote ownership of learning. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
O'Neill, Geraldine, and Lisa Padden. 2021. "Diversifying Assessment Methods: Barriers, Benefits and Enablers." Innovations in Education and Teaching International 59 (4): 398-409. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2021.1880462.
This article reports on a survey of higher education faculty regarding barriers and enablers to diversifying assessment practices. Faculty perceptions regarding student choice in assessment are emphasized. Faculty perceived student choice as leading to empowering students and accommodating the learning of diverse students. Barriers to diversifying assessment practices are discussed along with recommendations for further research. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Ramsden, Paul. 2003. Learning to Teach in Higher Education. 2nd ed. Routledge.
In addition to treating the numerous demands inherent to quality teaching and learning in higher education, this book offers a detailed account of the complexities of assessment. It describes the multiple purposes of assessment, including evaluating student achievement, improving teaching, addressing standards, and making comparisons among students. The complexities of assessment are addressed within larger purposes of higher education. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Rawlusyk, Patricia. 2018. "Assessment in Higher Education and Student Learning." Journal of Instructional Pedagogies 21.
This article shares research on higher education faculties’ beliefs and perceptions about assessment. Surveys were used to along three criteria of learning-oriented assessment, authentic learning tasks, and self- and peer assessment. Results revealed that authentic learning tasks occurred at a low rate, teachers have conflicting views about the use of feedback, and that students have limited involvement in assessment strategies. The author gives recommendations for professional leaning towards authentic assessment. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Stommel, Jesse. 2020. "Ungrading: A Bibliography." Jesse Stommel (blog), March 3, 2020. https://www.jessestommel.com/ungrading-a-bibliography/.
This blog post gives an informative introduction to those interested in ungrading. It uses the intriguing question, “What if we didn’t grade?”, to explore literature about ungrading and alternate grading approaches. A theme of questioning all the choices educators make emerges in the blog’s annotations. Information in this post rewards those interested in the topic of ungrading. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Winstone, Naomi, and David Carless. 2019. Designing Effective Feedback Processes in Higher Education: A Learning-Focused Approach. Routledge.
This book highlights the importance and influence feedback has on student achievement. After addressing the many challenges to feedback practices, the authors describe feedback practices and introduce the construct of student feedback literacy. Feedback literacy involves calibrating evaluative judgement to inform future study behavior. Feedback literacy is an essential life skill and is important to one’s professions and relationships. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
Wlodkowski, Raymond J., and Margery B. Ginsberg. 2018. Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn: A Comprehensive Guide for Teaching All Adults (4th ed). Jossey Bass.
This book contains a thorough treatment of what quality teaching and learning looks like in higher education. It draws from a plethora of leaning theories. Its treatment of culturally responsive teaching (CRT) has direct implications for faculty desiring to improve their assessment and feedback practices. To apply the CRT model to assessment, faculty need to create an inclusive learning environment to connect the learning goals to larger interests, contexts, and concerns of students. Actionable strategies are provided to incorporate CRT in higher education classrooms. [Annotation contributed by Aaron Trocki]
