May, 26, 2016, 9:00 am - 2:30 pm, Clark Lounge, Campus Center (lunch include)
Open to faculty and staff.
In coordination with campus wide stakeholders, the Center for Faculty Excellence invites you to participate in an active day devoted to dialogues about assessment. We will:
Please register for the day by selecting a small group work session with a facilitator. Session descriptions and bios are below:
Session: Formative Assessment through Student Reflection (Register Here)
Facilitator: David Gondek
Pushing our students to deeper learning/engagement can be accomplished through formative assessments involving student reflection. In this break-out session, participants will share experiences which get students to reflect on their learning and experiences. Example topics include reflection prompts, graphic organizers, event/classroom engagement tools, and more. To evaluate the quality of reflection, a brief introduction to the continuum of student metacognition will be provided. Participants should come with a sample set of event/classroom /program learning objectives.
Dave Gondek: I am an Asst. Professor in the Biology department and a member of the national Biology Scholars Program. I have been an FYRE-Associate for the past two years and have taught in both ICSM and capstone courses. I serve on the H&S general education committee assessing the complimentary liberal arts program and capstone experiences. I am currently running a SOTL project exploring the impact of metacognition in student success/retention within STEM courses. Through these activities, I have been exploring different ways to elicit reflective practices from students in both the classroom and co-curricular activities.
Session: Assessing Creative Inquiry (Register Here)
Facilitator: Sara Haefeli
Typical assessment devices measure a student’s ability to recall and communicate content knowledge but are not adequate tools for measuring more subjective outcomes such as critical thinking and creative inquiry. This session will explore how to create student learning outcomes and assessment devices designed to measure skills that are perhaps more important than knowledge acquisition—creativity, inquiry, and analysis—using the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ Value Rubrics.
Please note: “creative inquiry” is not code for “art” here; the goal of the session is to teach students to ask compelling and interesting questions in any field.
Please bring: Course and/or program SLOs, a specific assignment or activity, and a rubric.
Sara Haefeli: I teach music history and philosophy of creativity courses in the School of Music. My article “From Answers to Questions: Fostering Student Creativity and Engagement in Research and Writing” will be published this summer in the Journal of Music History Pedagogy.
Session: Co-constructing Goals with Students (Register Here)
Facilitator: Susan Adams Delaney
Susan Adams Delaney’s (Writing) recent focus has been on including students in assessment at classroom, department, and program levels, conducting inquiry alongside students. Engaging students at the curricular level isn’t new and its impact is well established. For example, ETS’ own researchers measured substantial improvement in test scores of students who felt that had a genuine stake in the results (Liu, Bridgeman, and Adler, 2012). Such engagement can range from having members of a class co-construct goals to creating an advisory panel to including student representatives on faculty committees. Interested in learning more? Bring a recent syllabus or program description to brainstorm possibilities.
Session: Mapping Student Learning Outcomes (Register Here)
Facilitators: Julie Dorsey and Lis Chabot
Mapping creates a visual representation of the relationship between learning outcomes and activities and/or assignments. Mapping is useful to assist in evaluation of programs to identify gaps and areas of strength to inform curriculum/program design. In this session, the facilitators will discuss various approaches to mapping student learning outcomes and examine the connection between mapping and assessment. Examples of completed map samples will be shared and mapping worksheets will be utilized. Attendees are encouraged to bring program and disciplinary SLOs to use during the session.
Julie Dorsey: As part of my role as Curriculum Director of the Department of Occupational Therapy, I oversee the assessment of SLOs for the OT BS/MS and Professional Entry-Level Masters programs. I serve on the HSHP Assessment Committee and am the faculty co-chair of the Middle States Working Group on Educational Effectiveness Assessment. One of my interests is in helping people/programs to design meaningful assessment plans that stem from a broad vision of the curriculum/program.
Lis Chabot: I serve as the staff co-chair of the Middle States Working Group on Educational Effectiveness Assessment and served on the Academic Assessment Committee. Currently the IC library collaborates with the Occupational Therapy faculty as they review their curriculum in relation to professional accreditation requirements. We also work with academic departments to develop curriculum maps that link research skill development to required course sequences in schools and disciplines.
Session: Developing SLO’s for Assessment (Register Here)
Facilitators: Vince DeTuri, Brendan Murday, and Jacqueline Robilatta
This workshop focuses on common pitfalls in writing Student Learning Outcomes. Specifically, we will focus on how to write a learning outcome that is assessment-friendly. Utilizing ICC SLOs (specifically those written for writing intensive courses) and FYRE SLOs as case studies, we will practice identifying obstacles to effectively written outcomes and collaboratively brainstorm new meaningful, manageable, and measurable outcomes.
Brendan, Jacqueline, and Vince individually have many years of assessment experience including membership and leadership on department, division/school, and all-college assessment committees. In addition, they have provided leadership on dozens of assessment projects focused on student learning. They will share their experiences and misadventures to help others craft well-stated learning outcomes that lead to meaningful assessment.
Session: Developing Effective Assessment Tools for Your Program (Register Here)
Facilitators: Phoebe Constaninou and Mai An Rumney
Well-designed assessment tools, such as rubrics, have the potential to clarify learning outcomes for students, simplify the evaluation process for faculty, and provide meaningful information for program improvement. The principles of good rubric writing are the same regardless of discipline or program. In this session, facilitators will share helpful tips for designing functional and effective rubrics while pointing out common pitfalls to avoid. Sample rubrics will be available and participants are encouraged to bring their own assessment tools to share and/or work on.
Mai An Rumney coordinates the joint effort of education programs across schools for continuous improvement and national accreditation. She collaborates with faculty and departments to build meaningful program assessment and helps create structures within Taskstream to simply the process, enhance transparency, and ease documentation and analysis. Mai An also serves on the Educational Effectiveness Assessment Middle States Working Group.
Phoebe Constantinou is an Associate Professor and undergraduates program coordinator for teacher education in the Department of Health Promotion and Physical Education. She teaches an assessment course for Health and Physical Education majors and authors program assessment reports for national accreditation. Phoebe also serves on the HSHP Assessment Committee and Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Committee.
Session: Telling Brilliant Stories with Data (Register Here)
Facilitator: Michele Lenhart
Can assessment be sexy? Simply presenting data in written or slide form can often be challenging to interpret or boring for the viewers. This workshop will open the conversation about how to bring data to life and use it to communicate a story to an audience. We will discuss ways to step back and think through the “what, so what, now what” of the data you want to share, talk about tools for creating effective visual representations, and actually practice designing a storyboard for your next assessment presentation. Please bring your own data from a recent assessment project so that we can practice hands-on-learning. The goal is for you to walk away inspired and excited to find better ways to present your program’s story.
Michele Lenhart: My career as an educator has been focused on creating the most promising learning opportunities for students in co-curricular settings. For two decades I have been keenly interested in understanding how to authentically assess that learning. I currently serve on the Educational Affairs Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Committee, and I have even been known to nerd-out about assessment at happy hour.
Session: Starting the conversation: Assessing diversity-related teaching and learning (Register Here)
Facilitators: Jessye Cohen-Filipic Doreen Hettich-Atkins
Join us for a conversation about ways to begin to assess student learning, behavior change, and thought processes around intercultural competency, cross-cultural communication, and diversity and inclusion. While we are not experts, we have begun to do some work in this area and would like to share what we’re learning and hear from others who are trying to assess what their students are learning and doing.
In your domain, what are you trying to teach or assess? What do you want to know about how your students are changing through their interactions with you? Assessment methods, rubrics, and models will be shared. Please bring your materials to share.
Doreen Hettich-Atkins serves as the Senior Associate to the Associate Provost for Student Life and has been at Ithaca College for 12 years. She coordinates assessment activities for all areas that report to Rory Rothman and Roger “Doc” Richardson. Doreen has presented on assessment topics regionally and nationally at student affairs conferences.
Jessye Cohen-Filipic is finishing her fourth year at Ithaca College as an Assistant Professor in Psychology. As a psychologist, she is keenly interested in assessment of many kinds. In this realm, she is particularly interested in assessing what students learn in skills-based or experiential learning courses.
Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Laurie Wasik at wasik@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-3734. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20160517095657239