Integrating Assessment to the Curriculum

Marta Colón de Toro, SPHRAssessment Coordinator

College of Business AdministrationUPR-Mayagüez

February 21, 2006 – UPR-Cayey

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5 Conversations:

1. Teaching and Learning

2. Assessment and Curriculum

3. AACSB’s expectations for assurance of learning

4. Planning & Implementing Assessment

5. Managing Results

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Learning ObjectivesAfter completing today’s workshop you should be

able to:1. Converse about the transformation power of teaching

and learning.2. Identify assessment integration strategies.3. Discuss AACSB’s assurance of learning standards. 4. Draft a plan to assess learning across the curriculum.5. Design and apply assessment interventions in your

programs and courses.6. Explain how to use assessment results to improve

programs and courses.

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Stages of Grieving Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance

On Death and Dying

by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

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• Demographics

•Academics

• Experience

•Talents

•Attitudes /Values

Completing

Student

Input Teaching-Learning Output

The Transformation ProcessObjective #1

CurriculumSeminars and CompetitionsInternship/Coop Education

Student AssociationsExtracurricular Experiences

• Knowledge

•Skills

•Abilities

•Experience

Incoming Student

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Making Sure Students Learn

Enable LearningImprove Continuously

Assure Learning

Design Curriculum and Set Goals

Market Needs Vision/Mission

Objective #1

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Purpose of Assessment

Assessment

Reveals the Gap

Intended Outcomes

1. Act ethically

2. Quantitative Analysis

3. Apply models

4. Decision making

Actual Outcomes

1.

2.

3.

4.

Objective #2

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Assess Learning to: Provide feedback and guidance to

individual students. Assist the school and faculty members to

improve courses and programs. Assure external constituents that the

institution meets its goals.

Objective #2

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Levels of Assessment

Institutional Learning Goals

Course Goals

Lesson Objectives

Program Learning Goals

Objective #2

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When to Assess Entry

• Profile incoming students• Demographics

• Academic achievement

• Previous Business KSAOs

Midpoint• Measure progress/added value

Exit• Standardized test

• Alumni performance

Objective #2

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Effective curricula is…

…pertinent

…coherent

…strategic

…dynamic…assessable

…intentionally designed!

Objective #2

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UPR-Cayey’s Curriculum BACHELOR IN GENERAL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

General Education 63 crds.

Core courses (Arts) 39

Core courses (Sciences) 12

Departmental Requirements 12

Concentration Requirements 43

Professional Electives 15

Free Electives 12 Total 133 crds.

Objective #2

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AACSB Standards AACSB only requires assessment at the

program level. Assessments using samples are allowed. Assessment must use direct measures of

achievement Indirect measures may be used to supplement

direct measures of achievement.

Objective #3

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AACSB: Learning Expectations at the Bachelor’s Level

Educate students in a broad range of knowledge and skills as a basis for careers in business.

Build on the students’ pre-collegiate educations to prepare them to enter and sustain careers in the business world and contribute positively in the larger society.

Provide knowledge and skills for successful performance in a complex environment requiring intellectual ability to organize work, make and communicate sound decisions, and react successfully to unanticipated events.

Develop learning abilities suitable to continue higher-level intellectual development.

Objective #3

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Standard 15 The school uses well documented, systematic processes

to develop, monitor, evaluate, and revise the substance and delivery of the curricula of degree programs and to assess the impact of the curricula on learning.

Curriculum management includes inputs from all appropriate constituencies which may include faculty, staff, administrators, students, faculty from non-business disciplines, alumni, and the business community served by the school.

Objective #3

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Standard 16 Adapting expectations to the school’s

mission and cultural circumstances, the school specifies learning goals and demonstrates achievement of learning goals for key general, management-specific, and/or appropriate discipline-specific knowledge and skills that its students achieve in each undergraduate degree program.

Objective #3

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Standard 17

The bachelor’s or undergraduate level degree programs must provide sufficient time, content coverage, student effort, and student-faculty interaction to assure that the learning goals are accomplished.

Objective #3

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Intent of Assurance of AACSB’s Learning Standards Evaluate how well the school

accomplishes the educational claims at the core of its activities.

Do students achieve learning appropriate to the programs in which they participate?

Do they have the knowledge and skills appropriate to their earned degrees?

Objective #3

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Learning Goals

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Timely

Objective #3

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Examples of Measures of AchievementExample 1 School A has defined a learning goal in ethical reasoning for each of

its four undergraduate majors. Student achievement on this goal is relevant to demonstrating satisfaction of Standard 16. The school’s faculty has defined the goal.

Learning Goal “Each student can recognize and analyze ethical problems and

choose and defend resolutions for practical situations that occur in accounting, human resource management, and marketing.”

Demonstration of Achievement The school uses course-embedded exercises in three required

introductory-level courses. Faculty in the three disciplines have developed different methods for instructing and assessing achievement toward this learning goal.

Objective #3

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In Accounting A two-week module near the end of the introductory

course is devoted to “Ethical standards and fraud in accounting.”

A topic outline has been developed by faculty members to structure an exam on the materials of this module, and a standard set of expectations has been created for grading the exam.

In addition to this exam’s contribution to the course grade, it provides a pass/fail indication on the learning goal.

Objective #3

Examples of Measures of Achievement

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In Human Resource Management Students must provide four written analyses of

problem situations during the course. On three of these analyses (on the topics of selection, reward systems, and job design), students are asked to respond to ethical issues.

A standard scoring key on the ethical component provides evaluation toward the course grade and a pass/fail indication on the learning goal.

Objective #3

Examples of Measures of Achievement

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In Marketing Each student must compose a term paper analyzing

a current national or international marketing campaign.

The analysis must include a specified set of components, and ethical issues that have been presented in lectures are among the required components.

In addition to the overall grade of the paper, each student receives a pass/fail indicator on the ethics component.

Objective #3Examples of Measures of Achievement

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In addition to reporting course grades Each instructor of these three courses provides

a checklist of all of those students who successfully completed the ethics expectation.

This information is a part of each student’s record and all three parts of the learning goal must be achieved before graduation.

Students who fail the ethics evaluation while passing the course repeat the evaluation exercise or ethics module until they are successful.

Examples of Measures of Achievement

Objective #3

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Example 2: Communication skills School B has a communications learning goal that is a part of its expectations for

all undergraduate degrees. Student achievement on this goal is relevant to demonstrating satisfaction of Standard 16. The school’s faculty has defined the goal.

Learning Goal “Each student can conceptualize a complex issue into a coherent written

statement and oral presentation.”

Demonstration of Achievement The Strategic Management course required of each student in the final year of the

program includes among its course evaluations a written analysis of a multi-functional case study and an oral presentation on an industry-wide analysis.

A faculty task force has developed a standardized scoring key for use with these two exercises. Using dimensions agreed to by the faculty, each student’s performance on these exercises is evaluated.

Students must repeat the exercises until they have satisfactorily accomplished minimum levels of performance.

Examples of Measures of Achievement

Objective #3

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Integrating Assessment: The Plan1. Study Vision and Mission Statements2. State rationale and purpose of the plan3. Identify your Audiences4. Define Outcomes-based Learning Goals5. Determine enabling activities for each goal6. Select assessment instruments and measures7. Assess and collect data8. Analyze, interpret and report results9. Introduce change for improvement10.Assess the plan

Objective #4

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Program Assessment Instruments Direct

• Diagnostic test to incoming students on learning goals (entry/midpoint/exit)

• Course-embedded assessment• Capstone courses

• Projects

• Seminar

• Writing assignments

• Internships/Coop

• Proficiency exams

• Professional exams

• Student Portfolio

Indirect• Employer Reports on

Alumni

• Exit Surveys

• Focus groups

• Interviews

• Student evaluation of courses

Objective #5

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Classroom Assessment Techniques

Learner-Centered Teacher-Directed Mutually Beneficial Formative Context-Specific Ongoing Rooted in Good Teaching Practice

Objective #5

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Assumptions: The quality of student learning is directly, although not exclusively, related to the

quality of teaching. To improve their effectiveness, teachers need first to make their goals and

objectives explicit and then to get specific, comprehensible feedback on the extent to which they are achieving those goals and objectives.

To improve their learning, students need to receive appropriate and focused feedback early and often; they also need to learn how to assess their own learning.

The type of assessment most likely to improve teaching and learning is that conducted by faculty to answer questions they themselves have formulated in response to issues or problems in their own teaching.

Systematic inquiry and intellectual challenge are powerful sources of motivation, growth, and renewal for college teachers, and Classroom Assessment can provide such challenge.

Classroom Assessment does not require specialized training; it can be carried out by dedicated teachers from all disciplines.

By collaborating with colleagues and actively involving students in Classroom Assessment efforts, faculty (and students) enhance learning and personal satisfaction.

Classroom Assessment Techniques

Objective #5

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Starting small involves three steps: Step 1: Planning –

•Select one, and only one, of your classes in which to try out the Classroom Assessment. Decide on the class meeting and select a Classroom Assessment Technique. Choose a simple and quick one.

Step 2: Implementing •Make sure the students know what you are doing and that they clearly understand the procedure. Collect the responses and analyze them as soon as possible.

Step 3: Responding •To capitalize on time spent assessing, and to motivate students to become actively involved, "close the feedback loop" by letting them know what you learned from the assessments and what difference that information will make.

Classroom Assessment TechniquesObjective #5

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Five suggestions for a successful start: If a Classroom Assessment Techniques does not appeal

to your intuition and professional judgment as a teacher, don't use it.

Don't make Classroom Assessment into a self-inflicted chore or burden.

Don't ask your students to use any Classroom Assessment Technique you haven't previously tried on yourself.

Allow for more time than you think you will need to carry out and respond to the assessment.

Make sure to "close the loop." Let students know what you learn from their feedback and how you and they can use that information to improve learning.

Classroom Assessment TechniquesObjective #5

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1 Minute paper Muddiest point One-sentence summary Direct paraphrasing Application cards Concept maps Empty outlines Pro-con grids Class journals Portfolios What’s the principle Rubrics

Classroom Assessment TechniquesObjective #5

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Collect data Interpret it Report it Act on it

Using assessment results to improveObjective #6

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Examples of Improvements Course pre-requisites were reviewed after two

years of teaching it. A specific rubric was developed to guide

students in completing an assignment on questionnaire development for research.

In accounting, more class time is being dedicated to bank account reconciliation topic after assessing student performance.

Curricular revision is being based on assessment results.

Objective #6

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In Closing Create awareness Educate and train KISS Procure support Recognize the stages of grieving Do it for you! Persist Use results!!!

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colon-m@rigel.uprm.edu