Dr. Bowen tackled assessing critical thinking in a large enrollment class, MUS 135, Jazz: Its History and Context.  Because this class typically enrolls over 200 students, most of the assessment was limited to online and multiple-choice exams.  His goal was to create questions and assignments that required more critical thinking.  He found that he also began to change what was done in class focusing more on supporting arguments and drawing conclusions.  By the end of the semester, he felt that his exam questions did encourage more critical thinking, but that they were still too broad to clearly identify which aspect of critical thinking was giving students trouble.  He also had students do a Calibrated Peer Review assignment.

Assignment

Concentrating on categories 4, 5, and 6, new questions were crafted for two exams.  Practice exams were provided to the students.  A Calibrated Peer Review assignment was created using the rubric.  Please contact Dr. Bowen for additional information on these exams and assignments.

Rubric

Bowen Rubric