Summer Assessment Institute

Congratulations to the 2009 Funding Recipients

The Office of Academic Quality is pleased to announce the proposals that were selected for funding for the 2009 Summer Assessment Institute (SAI). All proposals focus on promoting continuous improvement based on assessment of student learning outcomes [see details below].

2009 Recipients

Reed Gershwind
Business Department

• Develop Program-level (Accounting) SLOs
• Summarize existing data — all class grades and specific course exams, assignments, and student evaluations — during summer.
• Use results to revise the program (modify courses and add/delete courses).  The results may also justify the need to develop SLOs in each course in the program.

Donna M. Mertens and Amy T. Wilson
Education Foundation/Research

Course Revisions in response to assessment data:

• For SLO 1:
  0. EDF 720: develop new course and also adapt from an online format to a face-to-face format. 
  0. EDF 770, develop more case studies; opportunities for students to meet to discuss their coursework and to meet professionals in the field.
• For SLO 2:
  0. ECO 725: meet with Economics instructor to discuss assessment data related to strengths and weaknesses in students' learning.
  0. EDF 835: meet with GRI instructor to discuss assessment data related to strengths and weaknesses in the students' learning.
  0. EDF 834: adapt EDF 834 from online to face-to-face format.

Jill Bradbury and Kristen Harmon
English

Provide a 2-day workshop for the six faculty who teach the English major literature content courses for the purpose of involving more faculty in assessment efforts and promote a consistent approach to course-embedded assessment throughout the English Department 

3 Workshop components:

0. Revision of curriculum based on our assessment data from 2008-09;
0. Calibration sessions to increase inter-rater reliability with the department’s new literary analysis rubric; and
0. Critique of course syllabi to promote integration of department and course level SLOs, as well as standardization of expectations across the curriculum. 

Deborah Krichbaum and Samuel Weber
Family & Child Services

0. Analyze spring 2008 data related to the two previously implemented SLOs.
0. Compare current/previous data and summarize findings.
0. Revise existing assessment and implementation tools.
0. Determine if it’s possible/ appropriate to implement 4 SLOs at once.
0. Create assessment plan for the newly assessed SLOs.
0. Develop a phased (scaffolded) sequence of learning opportunities in the capstone field experience.
0. Scheduled "check-points" for fall 2009 and spring 2010.
0. Decide points/weights for capstone activities; criteria for passing / failing / incomplete grade in course.
0. Establish departmental benchmarks for SLOs.

Amy Stevens, Kathleen Wood, and Leslie Rach
GSR

• Refine assessment products based on the collected data (critical thinking rubric, student course reports and faculty/peer observation forms).  [Will be implemented in a Spring 2010 GSR 150 class.]
• Implement some standardized critical thinking vocabulary, learning opportunities, assessments of student learning across all sections of GSR 102 / 150

Geoff Whitebread
Honors

• Change the Undergraduate Research Program to better prepare students for the Honors Capstone by doing the following:
  0. Identifying where Capstone students are weakest (by reviewing assessment data),
  0. Identifying what UG Research students are learning (by reviewing assessment data), 
  0. Proposing changes in learning opportunities,
  0. Proposing temporary learning activities to aid students in synthesis & analysis SLO,
  0. Developing direct measures for analysis & synthesis, and
  0. Compiling a self report. 

Jeremy L. Brunson
Sociology

• Determine whether the assessment tools are measuring what we hope they will measure: knowledge of culture, methods, theory, inequality, and the ability to examine issues globally. 
• Analysis of the existing data (including Capstone assessments).