Rudolph Mitchell, Associate Director for Assessment and Evaluation
rudy@mit.edu

After holding research and faculty appointments at Boston University, Harvard Medical School, and Brown University, Dr. Rudy Mitchell joined the Teaching and Learning Laboratory as the Associate Director for Assessment and Evaluation in January 2004. An educational psychologist with expertise in learning behavior, survey research, curriculum development, and program evaluation, Dr. Mitchell is the author of the Cognitive Behavior Survey Series, a collection of surveys that examine learning and related cognitive behaviors of medical students and residents. The surveys have been used as research and/or evaluation tools by more than 40 medical schools nationwide and are currently undergoing revision and testing on a national level. Their development began in the late 1980s when Dr. Mitchell was responsible for evaluating the New Pathway curriculum, Harvard Medical School's new, problem-based learning curriculum. At Harvard Medical School, Dr. Mitchell was one of three educational researchers with doctorates in education who were the first to receive faculty rank in the history of Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Mitchell's survey work is based on a learning model he developed which describes scientific learning as consisting of three cognitive operations: memorization, conceptualization, and reflection.

In addition to his work in medical and science education, Dr. Mitchell has worked with Rhode Island school systems and the Rhode Island Department of Education in test and curriculum development, advised the Minister of Education of the Republic of Georgia on educational reform, and completed program evaluation projects for the Rhode Island Department of Health.

Dr. Mitchell's current research interests include developing program evaluation strategies for measuring learning gains, designing a cognitive behavior survey for engineering students, and exploring how students acquire an intuitive feel of concepts, physical phenomena, and systems.

AT TLL, in areas of assessment and evaluation, Dr. Mitchell has conducted, or overseen, a number of qualitative and quantitative studies.  They include investigations of the learning behavior of MIT students; how various MIT innovations in educational technology and instructional strategies affect learning; and, how different MIT programs influence participants.  As part of these studies, Dr. Mitchell has developed more than a dozen surveys that examine understanding, learning, and attitude in different contexts.

Dr. Mitchell has a B.A. from The Johns Hopkins University and an Ed.D. from Boston University.