Part II of our Presentation…Part II of our Presentation…

is based on projects in the Center for Teaching Excellence

and The Office of Undergraduate

Studies

• Where do we go from here?

Challenges to dualism

support

LearningStyles

type

Assessment

Of Student

Learning

Learning?

• To assess student learning,

1. State learning outcomes

2. Select measurement tools

3. Accept limitations

4. Change your paradigm!

What’s up in here?

CORE Diversity Writing Prompt

• What was the sender intending to communicate?

• What was your reaction to the picture?

• How do you think the recipients responded to the picture? Why?

What Are Learning Outcomes ?What Are Learning Outcomes ? They answer the following guiding questions:

What will my students know?What will my students understand?What will my students be able to appreciate?What will my students be able to do?

• Learning outcomes may be stated for– A single lesson or unit– A course– A series of courses - An entire degree program.

We have outcomes for every degree and program on the College Park campus.

Are Grades Good Measures?Are Grades Good Measures? Yes and No, but mostly No.

Few grades measure what students know, can do, can appreciate.

Final course grades generally are not valid measures of specific outcomes.They are a composite of many assessments In BSCI122, final grades have >12 different inputs

Grades on individual assignments can be valid. If the assignment focuses on a specific learning

outcome or set of learning outcomes then it is likely to be a good measure.

• For each General Education category, we have learning outcomes and we assess student learning for each category.

http://www.ugst.umd.edu/core/LearningOutcome.htm

Working groups of faculty assess one outcome at a time:

4. Students should be able to articulate how diversity helps shape the role of the individual and the interconnections and relationships within and among groups across societies and cultures.

CORE Diversity Writing Prompt

• One a scale of 1-3, did students

• Identify examples of diversity?

• Link those examples to societal issues?

• Link those examples to personal experience?

• Write clearly and effectively?

Results on Rubric Scores

• I think the illustration conveyed a happy message. It shows that people are happy about celebrating Christmas whether they are white, Asians, or African-Americans. I think everyone would feel okay because Christmas is one of the biggest holidays in the U.S. and many non-Christian people celebrate it too.

• My first reaction to seeing this picture is that it must be from the 1950s or 1960s because of the condescending nature of the attempts to portray diversity. Also, the fact that the woman is in a stereotypical female role and that the holiday is Christmas…:

• The author was probably trying to convey a sense of “inclusiveness” and “benevolence” by showing a wealthy family giving their time and privilege to children who are specifically drawn to be of different ethnicities and colors…This is offensive on deeper inspection…

Findings of Diversity Assessment:

Higher scores on the writing rubric were related to progress toward degree, but unrelated to

-gender

-residence on campus

-present enrollment in CORE courses

-previous enrollment in CORE courses

Active Learning

• State a learning outcome that is of deep interest to you, and share it with your neighbor.

• Prepare to share your outcome with the larger group.

Characteristics of Effective Characteristics of Effective Student Learning OutcomesStudent Learning Outcomes

Are student-focused vs. content or professor-focused Are focused on learning vs. the learning activity Are focused on non-trivial aspects of learning Are general enough to capture important learning Are clear and specific enough to be measured Are embedded in and supported by the learning activities

and assessments that students do Are measurable and connected to student learning goals

• In Microbiology at College Park, the desired outcome is concept learning.

• 17 key concepts identified.

• Students take pretest and postest at critical points in curriculum.

• Curriculum adjustments made; assessment continues.

• For College Park’s Life Sciences and Physical Sciences CORE courses, we assess students’ abilities to identify scientific issues in popular media.

A Course Example A Course Example BSCI122 Microbes and SocietyBSCI122 Microbes and Society

The guiding question: What will my students be able to do? A goal of the BSCI122 course:

“To foster the ability to critically assess microbiology information from books, the popular press, journals, and other sources.”

Clear and specific enough to be measured and embedded in the activities that of the students do? Clear and Specific?

YES, I can measure how well they critically assess various types of microbiology information.

Embedded? YES, essay questions on tests and writing assignments ask them to

read and analyze articles from the lay press

The Cycle of Assessment• State outcomes

• Gather evidence/measure outcomes

• Interpret results and findings

• Use for program improvement!

• State outcomes

• Gather evidence/measure outcomes

• Interpret results and findings

• Use for program improvement!

Based on findings, how would you improve the Diversity courses at College Park? What assessment would you conduct next?

Active Learning/Break

• With your team, develop one learning outcome and one method of assessment for your redesigned course.

We will share outcomes and methods in 15 minutes.

Thank You Thank You QUESTIONS/COMMENTS?