The Future is Now 5.0
May 14, 2008

A panel of faculty from three different programs from a North Shore Community College will conduct an interactive presentation on how embedded assignments are used to assess student learning outcomes in courses such as management, business communication, illustration and typography. The programs assessed critical thinking and communication skills. Each presenter will briefly describe the embedded assignment used, the development of the scoring rubric, and an interpretation and analysis of the results of the assessment. Highlights of the findings will be discussed regarding implications for improving teaching and learning.

This presentation is based upon a research study into the use of Audience Response Systems for pretesting purposes in college classrooms. Audience Response Systems provide students with hand-held, remote input devices used to respond to discussion questions and assessments. Systems include hardware and software necessary for teachers to write and administer a wide range of assessments. Two different types of pretests were administered and feedback from students gathered regarding the use and predictive effectiveness of handhelds. Response systems will be demonstrated and results of this study discussed with the audience.

The results of a study will be presented on assessing critical thinking skills in online courses. Critical thinking is treated as an outcome variable in three sections of a course. Two sections are online, one in the day program and one in the DCGE program. A third section is a hybrid that meets once a week. The pre and post measures of critical thinking will be compared to assess the changes in critical thinking skills.

Course outcomes, college-wide competencies, accreditation standards: Is assessment all higher education focuses on? In a unique pilot project at Champlain College, ePortfolios document student progress in meeting information literacy standards without extra testing. Core Curriculum faculty grade student ePortfolios using rubrics that reflect information literacy outcomes as well as course outcomes; the information literacy-specific data is then captured and analyzed separately. This session will describe course design and mapping information literacy constructs and will demonstrate how Chalk & Wire software supports the project. Participants will explore how a similar model might work in their institutions.

Tunxis Community College is transitioning to an abilities model for all courses. We developed a set of Literary Study Abilities, subdivided into Level 1, 2, and Honors, on which all literature courses will draw to define assessment practice. By embedding these abilities into traditional literary study assessments, such as papers and essay exams, we can measure clearly defined and rigorous goals without relying on "objective" tests. We will use e-Lumen Achievement software to track these multiple abilities for individual students and to assess our institutional success across common courses or all literature courses.

The Eidos system, developed at Fairfield University originally to manage program level assessment, extended these assessment tools to the course level. We have extended the "rubric engine" within the Eidos system for individual instructors to use to generate rubrics that can be applied to both student artifacts, including student blogs, and individual students. The rubrics are scored online as grading rubrics, but the system instantly analyzes the rubric scores, trait by trait across the class. We even extended the rubrics for students to self-assess and assess each other in pre-defined groups.

Students in an undergraduate research methods class required for communications majors were tasked with a thematically organized semester-long project. The project's purpose was to teach students about focus-group methodology by having students conduct full-scale focus group research on a larger issue of great significance to the college community as well as to the communications department: the assessment of student learning. This presentation considers how to arrange such an activity and the benefits of doing such research in this manner.

This morning's keynote speaker discusses explores what makes in-class assessment effective and looks in more depth at some of the tools introduced in the opening remarks. This session is intended primarily to be a discussion and conversation.

In a Pilot Project during the 2007-08 academic year, faculty at our college volunteered to focus on critical thinking skills in courses across the curriculum. We used embedded assessments to demonstrate the development of critical thinking skills in these courses. The presenters reflect on their experience of what worked, what didn't, and share suggestions, resources, and discoveries.

This presentation will demonstrate how the education department at one college, in which courses typically rely on embedded projects, has begun to integrate program assessment with connected-learning assignments to measure student learning outcomes with the support of electronic portfolio technology. Our rubrics reflect the development we expect to see in students' planning, teaching, and reflection, adding complexity at each level. At this early stage, we've already modified assignments and shifted course emphasis and content to better support our students' development.

This session will feature discussion about best practices in the laptop intensive course. What works and what doesn't work and what are some methods for assessing learning/other outcomes?

Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) offers several health programs, each with its own professional accreditation standards. Professional accreditation can limit interdisciplinary opportunities that focus on common principles and values. Based on Institute of Medicine recommendations, MCPHS adopted communication, professionalism, and cultural competency requirements for all students. Plans for interdisciplinary curricula that embed these competencies and encourage application of service learning were developed to guide departments. Assessment of students' progress, which will be documented through an e-portfolio, includes an annual review by an interdisciplinary committee.