Research-Based Assessment Instruments: An OPTYCs-Sponsored Informational Series

A significant portion of students taking introductory physics courses do so at a two-year college (TYC), yet most PER studies on the introductory courses take place in R1 universities. Since the fall semester of 2022 the Organization for Physics at Two-Year Colleges (OPTYCs) has offered sessions on PER-related topics to interested TYC faculty. These sessions are designed to relate findings from PER and facilitate discussions on how to adapt innovations based on PER findings to the unique environment of the TYC classroom. In an effort to encourage more TYC faculty to use research-based assessment instruments (RBAIs) and share their findings, OPTYCs is planning an academic-year series on RBAIs. Developers and researchers will be invited to share their expertise, comparing the various instruments, providing advice on how to select the best instrument to meet specific needs, how to correctly administer the instruments and interpret the results, and how to share data with the broader physics education community. In this presentation we will review the planned series and provide information to interested faculty on how to be involved.

This project is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2212807. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.