Dr. SOEURN Visal
Assessment is defined by the process of gathering and discussing information from multiple and diverse sources in order to develop a deep understanding of what students know, understand, and can do with their knowledge as a result of their educational experiences; the process culminates when assessment results are used to improve subsequent learning. Lecturers or instructors might use different methods to assess students to what extent they have achieved their study. There is a variety of assessments and the lecturers manage these options differently. While traditional assessment does not provide enough information and mainly focus on the assignment rather than the learning outcomes, outcomes based assessment gives us a reliable framework for measuring tangible outcomes for students and communicating these outcomes clearly with others.
The key role of faculties is ensure the quality of education in their institution. When faculty are directly engaged in assessment of student learning outcomes, a number of specific benefits can emerge. Faculty can design instruction to target the knowledge and skill levels students should have upon finishing a course and better determine the levels of thinking or reasoning appropriate for the course and identify direction for future development. Because assessment can provide reliable and objective data on student learning, faculty can rely less on the comments that appear on student evaluations as indicators of their success in teaching. Faculty can engage in more productive conversations about the status of student learning success and can make better and reliable decisions about how it might be improved about the innovative pedagogy.
Currently, assessment in education becomes challenging as our faculty capacity is very concerned and human resource in this related field is so limited. As the result, the Faculty of Pharmacy of University of Puthisastra (UP) launched a one year project on Outcomes Based Assessment from September 01, 2020. This project is established in the purpose of developing faculty capacity on how to design a reliable framework to measuring tangible outcomes for learning and teaching within the university. This project is led by the dean of Faculty of Pharmacy with the participation from local and international academicians.
- Dr. Chea Sin, Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Puthisastra, Cambodia
- Prof. Yashwant Pathak, Associate Dean for Faculty Affair, University of South Florida, USA
- Mr. Chhea Sophearom, Assistant Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Puthisastra, Cambodia
- Ms. Andrea Burke Ryan, Dean of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Puthisastra, Cambodia
- Mr. Tan Chantrea, Head of Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Puthisastra, Cambodia
- Mr. Boy Vibol, Teaching and Learning Coordinator, University of Puthisastra, Cambodia
- Mr. Sreng Nalen, Pharmacy Officer, University of Puthisastra, Cambodia
- Mr. Sor Darayuth, Rotation Pharmacy Officer, University of Puthisastra, Cambodia
Ongoing planning and assessment will be engaged to ensure each academic program can develop and assess student learning outcomes specifying the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. The project starts with curriculum development of the training and finish with the implementation and evaluation of the training.
