Instruments and Measures
"I know it when I see it". It is easy to assess if a student knows the facts about a community in need. It is not as easy to assess a students' display of self-agency or innovative thinking while working with a community in need. How do we capture the transformative learning experiences of our students?
Students' development of the 5 engaged learning competencies can seem obvious to their instructors, but capturing that development in ways that can be articulated for those not involved can be challenging. Below are resources to help you plan and implement an assessment.
| Sort descending | Measure | Measure type | Learning Goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| AAC&U VALUE Rubric – Teamwork Performance descriptors include:
Cost: Free" |
Teamwork behavior | Direct | Communication |
| Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) Validated for university students. Using a computerized tool, participants are asked to inflate a balloon on the computer screen. Each click that inflates the balloon accrues $0.05 in a bank visible on the screen. Participants are free to “collect the money” at any point, until the balloon pops, at which point all money accrued goes back to $0.00 and a new balloon appears. Participants get 10 balloons, and the total amount of money collected is reported at the end. |
Risk behavior | Indirect | Self-Agency |
| Career Decision Making Survey – Self-Authorship (CDMS-SA) Validated 18-item instrument for university students, but not yet validated for pretest/posttest outcomes, using a 4-point scale (Disagree—Agree). Sample items include:
|
Self-agency | Indirect | Self-Agency |
| Civic Attitudes and Skills Questionnaire 65-item self-report scale regarding students’ self-reported civic skills, attitudes and action plans. |
Multidimensional | Indirect | Responsibilty |
| Civic Literacy Test 33-item test on concepts of significance in United States government and history |
Knowledge | Direct | Responsibilty |
| Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness (CATME) – Peer Assessment Full version: 87 items
Cost: Free; must request free account |
Teamwork | Direct | Communication |
| Creative Achievement Questionnaire This is a self-report measure of the frequency and scope of one’s creative achievement in 11 domains (e.g., visual arts, scientific discovery, inventions, creative writing). Sample items include, “My work has been reviewed in national |
Product | Direct | Creativity |
| Creative Self-Efficacy Scale Validated 8-item instrument for undergraduate students, using a 5-point scale (Strongly Disagree—Strongly Agree). Sample items include:
|
Creative self-efficacy | Indirect | Self-Agency |
| Creative Thinking VALUE Rubric Score 0-4 given by a reviewer, on various dimensions related to creative thinking such as taking risks, solving problems, innovative thinking, etc. |
Process - Creative thinking | Direct | Creativity, Self-Agency |
| Critical and Integrative Thinking Rubric 7-item rubric for coding written work on a 6-point scale using evidence of critical and integrative thinking. |
Knowledge Skills | Direct | Responsibilty |
| Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS) Validated 20-item self-report & observer report questionnaires. Measures one’s ability to effectively work and appropriately behave in a culturally diverse environment. Measures include:
Other notes: Free |
Knowledge Attitudes | Indirect | Intercultural |
| Defining Issues Test 5 vignettes of ethical dilemmas each with 12 items of various relevant considerations for indicating degree of importance on a 5-point response scale |
"Skills Values" | Direct | Responsibilty |
| Feasibility Flowchart Score 0-10 given by a reviewer ; 3-level flowchart: See Figure 2 in link below |
Product - Feasibility | Direct | Self-Agency |
| Fink Method – Peer assessment This is most often used in team-based classroom assignments. Given 100 points to divide among team members, students assign each team member a score based on the extent to which they believe their teammates contributed to the overall team performance. An individual student’s grade is then based on their average peer ratings, multiplied by the group score. |
Teamwork | Direct | Communication |
| Five-point Originality Metric Score 0-10 given by a reviewer See Table 1 in link below |
Product - Originality | Direct | Self-Agency |
| Global Learning VALUE Rubric Defines global learning as the analysis of global systems and their implications for people’s lives and the earth’s sustainability. Measures include:
|
"Knowledge Skills" | Direct | Intercultural |
| Gough's Creative Personality Scale This measures the number of adjectives that students use to describe themselves and which represent characteristics of creative personality. It exhibits acceptable reliability and validity. |
Person | Indirect | Creativity |
| ICCAT (Intercultural Competence Attention-focusing Tutor) Example focus question: After students watch a clip of an interaction between two individuals, the clip pauses and asks, “What do you think he will respond? Explain why you think this will happen? What do you think might be a likely response in your culture?”
|
"Knowledge Skills" | Direct | Intercultural |
| Inter-professional Collaborator Assessment Rubrics Made up of 6 distinct rubrics measuring:
Cost: Free |
Collaboration | Direct | Communication |
| Intercultural Adjustment Potential Scale (ICAPS) Validated 55-item self-report questionnaire. Measures one’s potential ability to adjust to a foreign culture. Measures include:
Other notes: Easy to use, and a small fee ($15/booklet) |
"Knowledge Attitudes" | Indirect | Intercultural |
| Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) Validated 50-item self-report questionnaire. Measures development of a one’s attitude toward another culture along the six stages of ethnocentrism to ethnorelativism. Questions pertain to:
Other notes: Expensive fees and requires extensive training (over $1000 including training) |
Knowledge Attitudes | Indirect | Intercultural |
| Intercultural Knowledge & Competence VALUE Rubric Defines intercultural knowledge as the cognitive, affective, and behavioral competencies that support cultural interactions. Measures include:
|
"Knowledge Attitudes" | Direct | Intercultural |
| KEYS: Assessing the Climate for Creativity Validated 78-item survey for workplace settings, using a 4-point scale (Never—Always). Sample items include:
|
Support for innovation | Indirect | Self-Agency |
| Learning Climate Questionnaire (LCQ) This instrument was designed for students to report how they perceive support from their instructors with regard to autonomy. 15-item survey (long form) or 6-item (short form) survey, using a 7-point scale (strongly disagree--strongly agree). Sample items include:
|
Perceived autonomy support | Indirect | Self-Agency |
Portfolios/ePortfolios
Students may self-evaluate through reflective practice:
|
"Knowledge Skills Attitudes" | Direct | Creativity, Intercultural, Responsibilty |
| Pre-Post Survey Inter-professional Socialization and Valuing Scale (ISVS) 24 items loaded onto 3 factors:
Survey items have been validated |
Beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes | Indirect | Communication |
| Problem-Solving Analysis Protocol Students answer a standardized four-question protocol in response to a researcher-generated issue. Responses are coded on two dimensions of problem-solving. Locus is two items and uses a 7-point scale based on the extent to which problem is defined to be individual or global. Complexity is two items and uses a 4-point scale to assess the number of problems and degree of elaboration in explaining them. |
Knowledge Skills | Direct | Responsibilty |
| Remote Associations Test This measure of students’ convergent thinking processes gives a series of three seemingly unrelated cue words and requires respondents to think of the fourth word that is linked to them. For example the prompts “rocking,” “wheel,” and “high” are all linked to the word “chair.” It exhibits acceptable reliability and validity. |
Process | Direct | Creativity |
| Risk Propensity Scale (RPS) Validated 7-item instrument for university students. Total number of items = 7; scale from 1(totally agree) to 9 (totally disagree):
|
Risk propensity | Indirect | Self-Agency |
| Self-Authorship Survey (SAS) Validated 24-item instrument for university students, using a 5-point scale (Disagree—Agree). Sample items include:
|
Self-agency | Indirect | Self-Agency |
| Self-Portraits Free-writing exercise, self-portrait, and interview; participants asked to describe themselves, the role(s) others play in their lives, and how they acquire knowledge:
|
Self-agency | Direct | Self-Agency |
| Short Scale of Creative Self This is a self-report, 11-item Likert-scale that measures selfperceptions of one’s creative ability. It exhibits acceptable reliability and validity. |
Person | Indirect | Creativity |
| Social Responsibility Scale 22-item self-report scale regarding students attitudes about responsibility to others See Table 3 for scale items |
Values | Indirect | Responsibilty |
| Steglitz Coding Scheme Steglitz coding scheme for discussion forum is divided in 3 levels:
|
Knowledge | Direct | Intercultural |
| Student Attitude Survey 19 items measuring 3 factors:
Cost: Free" |
Attitudes | Indirect | Communication |
| Student Product Assessment Form This is a 15-item Likert‑scale assessment that was originally developed for use with gifted children in K-12. It is used by an observer to evaluate the quality of students’ creative products. |
Product | Direct | Creativity |
| Teamwork Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Test (KSA) Assesses:
Cost: $312.80 for 10 tests/1 Manual + fees |
Teamwork knowledge & skills | Direct | Communication |
| Teamwork Survey – Peer assessment Students rate their team as a whole for how frequently they display certain behaviors, using a 32-item questionnaire.
Cost: Free |
Teamwork | Direct | Communication |
