Direct Versus Indirect Assessment Methodologies

The paper discusses direct and indirect student assessment methods, used by the Department of Engineering Technology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), and their possible applications, including the limitations of their use.Faculty members are familiar with the direct assessment of their students via exams, quizzes, and reports etc.Indirect assessment methods include surveys and questionnaires.At the conclusion of almost every college-level course students are asked to complete an end of semester course evaluation form.This paper discusses how the Department has modified its end of course evaluation form to include a student selfassessment section.This self-assessment section generates indirect assessment data, which complements the traditional direct assessment data.