Student Learning and Core

Institutional Values

David SillLaura Strand

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

What can we assess?vs.

What should we assess?

• Confidence in assessing skills and content

• What about assessing the ineffable?– Core values?– High school vs. college?– Lower division vs. upper division?– Integrated learning?

SIUE’s Shared Values• Citizenship • Social, civic and political responsibility, globally, nationally,

locally, and within the University  •Active partnerships and a climate of collaboration and cooperation among faculty, staff, students and the larger community  • Environmental stewardship  

• Excellence  • High quality student learning • Continuous improvement and innovation • Outstanding scholarship and public service • Standards consonant with the premier status to which we aspire  

• Integrity  • Accountability to those we serve and from whom we receive support  • Honesty in our communications and in our actions 

• Openness  • Inclusion of the rich diversity of humankind in all aspects of university life  • Respect for individual differences • Intellectual freedom and diversity of thought  • Access for all who can benefit from our programs 

• Wisdom  • Creation, preservation, and sharing of knowledge  • Application of knowledge in a manner that promotes the common good  • Life-long learning

Statement of Objectives for the Baccalaureate Degree

⇒ Include broad and ambitious objectives: 1. intellectual development 2. contributions to society3. well-informed, effective citizens 4. leadership 5. self-reflection and self-assessment6. life-long learning7. events of the world in broad perspective 8. reasoned approach to challenges

⇒ Analytic, Problem-solving, and Decision-making Skills

⇒ Oral and Written Communication Skills

⇒ Foundation in Liberal Arts and Sciences

⇒ Value of Diversity

⇒ Scientific Literacy

⇒ Ethics

⇒ Preparation in an Academic or Professional Discipline

To achieve these purposes, the University seeks to impart the following abilities and knowledge to its

students through their general education and study in their academic majors and minors:

Value of Diversity

• Value of Diversity All students will gain an understanding of the traditions that influence American culture and of the traditions of other cultures in order to develop a respect for and a sensitivity to ethnic and cultural diversity. Students will gain a deeper understanding of global interdependence.

Statement of Objectives for the Baccalaureate Degree

Statement of Objectives for the Baccalaureate Degree

• Value of Diversity All students will gain an understanding of the traditions that influence American culture and of the traditions of other cultures in order to develop a respect for and a sensitivity to ethnic and cultural diversity. Students will gain a deeper understanding of global interdependence.

What will tests or surveys tell us about:

sensitivity to ethnic and cultural diversity

What will tests or surveys tell us about:

understanding of global interdependence

Common means for assessing student learning? Self reports.

Common means for assessing student learning? Standardized

tests.

• National Tests– Uses of ACT's CAAP.htm– ACT's CAAP Tests.htm

ReadingWriting SkillsWriting Essay MathematicsScienceCritical Thinking

What does CAAP assess?

• Group 1—Write a test question that assesses understanding of global interdependence

• Group 2—Write a survey question that assesses sensitivity to ethnic and cultural diversity

Senior Assignment (SRA)

• Graduation Requirement

• Academic simulator– Goes beyond classroom– Students produce products that make learning

visible and assessable– Student learning becomes public– Makes visible learning in the discipline and

the broader baccalaureate objectives.

Hondencia weaving

Study with Indigenous Craftspeople in rural

Mexico

Mexica Project

Faculty :

Prof Paul Dresang, Ceramics

Assoc. Prof. Laura Strand, Textiles

5 Trips in 10 years

118 students

Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca

Mixtec Potters walking to market

Curandero with natural

Medicines at the Saturday Market.

Feli

Felipe and Rosailia at their home outside of Nu’u 10 miles from Tlaxiaco

FelipeFelipe Reyes, Mixtec potter, farmer, Mayor of his local township father of 6, grandfather of 4

Erin and Lucia, 2002

Rosalia helps Jennifer, 1996

Mexica 2000 Exhibition

Mexica ‘98The Mountains of Mexico tower above the

small town of Tlaxiaco.The valley a bowl contains a smorgasbord

of people, dialects, beliefs, and colors.The people are poor, but richer than many

of us.The language of many dialects becomes

one voice.The same beliefs their ancestors had for

hundreds of years.The color of the people, their clothing, their

homes, and the surrounding landscapes.

This piece represents all of these things as well as the spirituality and beauty of Mexico.

Karen Appel

Images flew by as quickly as my time in Mexico. From the ruins at Mitla and Monte Alban to the pottery I was witness to, the images piled up in my mind. They merged to create a strange juxtaposition, which formed into a single image. In this piece, I attempted to convey these feelings by playing with the placement and over lapping of images. I wanted the viewer to see, if only in a small way, how images bombard you in such a small amount of time.

Jonathan Brumfield

"Deluge"     8" x 11"    lithograph

Mexico can be an artist's paradise in the images it offers. I cannot deny the desire to document a culture the stands in such contrast with my life. It is difficult, if not impossible to remain objective. My camera became a tool to record the beauty and sorrow I observed in Tlaxiaco and Oaxaca City. Here I had the rare opportunity to observe a society from the outside. I continue to question my right to intrude into the lives of my subjects.

Marsha K. Daniels

"Through the Lens"     11" x 14"    photograph

I am amazed by the simplicity, in which the Mexicans live and work. They get their materials from the land. Handspun and dyed yarns create their warp, sticks and cactus make the loom, and clay dug form the earth and mixed with water shape their pots. With the most basic of tools and their own two hands, they create beautiful and intricate pieces with more meaning than any machine could produce. It was my intention to do a piece, which would follow this pattern by turning what would seem like a "simple" snapshot into a more complex form.

Melinda Hoenig

Untitled     36" x 22"    photographs

Self-inflicted change is truly unusual in this culture. Their lives are filled with calming repetition. In our world spontaneity and change are parts of our evolution. These traits may also be part of our regression. The objects they create have become their identity, tangible extensions of their being.

Shawnta Ray

Untitled     42" x 18"    sisal, steel

When students are offered the opportunity to view their lives, assumptions and country through the lens of another culture

=> they return with a new respect for both people they have visited and for their home.

Follow up exercise: => Students are guided to reflect on and utilize what they have learned

Utilizing several means of expression (I.e.writing, artmaking, conversational critique) and

multiple viewpoints (I.e. personal artmaking, and public exhibition)

returns multiplied benefits.

Every activity pushes all the activities forward

• Group 1—Design an experience for your discipline to assess understanding of global interdependence

• Group 2—Design an experience for your discipline to assess sensitivity to ethnic and cultural diversity

RSQC2

• Recall

• Summarize

• Question?

• Connect

• Comment