We present statistical evidence that when students voluntarily write reflective "journal entry" essays on assigned reading, their performance on multiple-choice quizzes on the reading is improved compared to students who do not complete such essays. A Smirnov non-parametric test and a pair-wise comparison analysis were used to establish the validity of the hypotheses.

Traditional grading of student work has several inherent problems including a granularity in grades which is too fine, passive student involvement, and a questionable connection between the grade and the learning objectives. We have developed and refined a quality based assessment process that addresses some of these problems. The quality assessment process has three, closely integrated aspects: 1) a three level assessment outcome (Meets Expectations, Exceeds Expectations, Needs Improvement), 2) the use of checklists to define expectations, and 3) the active involvement of students. The three levels of assessment are based on a three level customer needs model developed by Kano. In the context of the Kano model, faculty are viewed as customers and student work is the product. Three part checklists consistent with this model are used; these checklists facilitate the assessment of technical correctness, other course standards, student readiness, as well as the level and quality of the effort. The students are expected to use the checklists to determine how to Meet or Exceed Expectations on the assignment.

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Evaluating theDespite restricted budgets, most colleges and universities continue to experience a rise in demand for computing resources for instructional purposes.The cost of such service and its educational importance are becoming matters of critical concern both on and off campus. Although periodic efforts have been made to survey colleges and universities about expenditures and hardware resources, no serious effort to establish a normative standard has taken place since the initial effort of the President's Science Advisory Board in 1967. No effort at all has been made to establish standards of quality independent of cost. An NSF project began with a survey of representative institutions in an effort to determine what kinds of measures are now in use, as a basis for the design of criteria that would De aceeptaSle and meaningful to a large range of institutions. A second effort was to develop procedures and standards in terms of which these measures can be evaluated. Findingsof the project will be reported in this session. A lively panel discussion will follow the presentation.