Embedded Assignments

The survey tool that is the least intrusive to both faculty and students is the Embedded Assignment. For students, embedded assignments are an expected part of a course experience. They range from projects, presentations, essays, exercises, and tests. These course assignments can be used for assessment as long as they are tied to one or more of the learning goals set out for the course, the department, or the College.

In assessment, there is often an admonition not to use course grades as an assessment tool. End of term grades reflect a student's entire experience in the course and are usually not tied to specific learning goals. Although valuable in providing feedback for students on how they did in a specific course, course grades are not as valuable in providing feedback to the instructor as to whether a specific goal is met.  

If, however, a specific test, or assignment, or even a specific question on a test, is tied to a learning goal, then the grade on that test or assignment can be used as direct evidence that a learning goal has been met. If the grade reflects both the learning goal and the quality of the writing, then those two aspects must be separated from each other before they can be used as an assessment tool.