Research, Evaluation and Assessment Services

Service Policies

Our services are available to:

• UT Austin faculty, staff, and administrators
• UT system researchers

whose focus is on research, assessment, or evaluation related to classroom instruction.

Instructional Assessment

We provide consulting services to help UT Austin faculty systemically examine particular aspects of classroom instruction (e.g., content delivery method, testing approach, technological innovation), helping to:

• identify research goals and hypotheses
• design data collection methods and statistical analyses
• interpret results
• disseminate findings

Instructional Evaluation

We provide consulting services to help UT Austin faculty, staff, and administrators holistically examine instructional projects, helping to:

• identify project environment and client needs
• design data collection procedures and analyses
• determine instructional outcomes
• interpret results
• disseminate findings

Instructional Technology Evaluation

We provide consulting services to help UT Austin faculty, staff, and administrators examine how to use, implement, or improve instructional technology, helping to

• determine user needs
• conduct usability studies
• design data collection procedures and analyses
• interpret results
• disseminate findings
  

Outcomes Assessment

We provide consulting services to help UT Austin faculty, staff, and administrators identify and measure student learning outcomes for academic programs, helping to:

• identify what students should know, think, or be able to do when they have completed a program
• determine whether program activities have produced the desired outcomes
• identify the impact the program has had or what results it has achieved
  

Educational Measurement Research

We provide consulting services to help UT Austin faculty, staff, and administrators conduct educational measurement research to address issues not directly related to classroom instruction (e.g., relationship of national standardized test scores to other variables, impact of credit by examination on performance in college, identifying variables to predict success in college), helping to:

• identify research goals and hypotheses
• design data collection methods and statistical analyses
• interpret results
• disseminate findings

Workshops & Training

We offer a variety of on-demand workshops on topics such as instructional assessment, test and survey design, and instructional evaluation. Click on the workshop names for more information or view a summary of all the workshops.

• Developing Rubrics to Grade Student Performance
• Embedded Assessment
• Test Item Analysis and Decision Making
• Using Course Surveys to Improve Instruction
• Writing Effective Examinations
• Writing Good Multiple-Choice Exams

Contact us if you are interested in having us present to your group.

CBE and Placement Studies

For tests used as a basis for credit by examination and course placement, faculty select the tests, set the qualifying scores, and set eligibility policies. We assist the department by conducting a standard-setting study, which typically occurs in three phases.

To review previous studies, go to our library of online reports. For more information about the credit by examination program go to CBE Test Descriptions.

Contact us to learn more about developing a credit by examination or placement study for your department.

Faculty Consultation

We consult with UT Austin faculty, staff, and administrators on:

• needs assessment
• course goals and objectives
• construction of tests and survey instruments
• review of classroom teaching and assessment materials
• focus groups
• student assessment and grading
• outcomes assessment
• instructional technology effectiveness
• Course Instructor Survey (CIS) use and interpretation
• research design
• sampling
• data collection methods
• data analysis (quantitative and qualitative)
• interpretation of assessment and evaluation results

Contact Information

Services by appointment only.
Dawn Zimmaro
(512) 232-2639
rea@lists.cc.utexas.edu