Your Role in Institutional Assessment

Capital Seminary &Graduate School

Agenda for today

1. Assessment: What is it and what does it have to do with me?

2. Student Learning Outcomes, Learning Activities, and assessment.

3. Classroom Assessment Techniques

4. Assessment Annotations

www.lbc.edu / About LBC / Institutional Effectiveness /

Faculty Resources

Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes from the Ground Up

Higher Level Objectives (Core Knowledge & Skills / Biblical Education / General Education / Information Literacy)

Program Competencies . . . (as documented in Comprehensive Outcomes Assessment Plans)

Course Level Student Learning Outcomes . . .

Classroom Assessment Activities . . .

Assessment Annotations . . .

document specific...

which assess the achievement of…

which are mapped to and used as

evidence to show accomplishment

of…

which are mapped to and used as

evidence to show accomplishment

of…

Educational AssessmentEducational Assessment

What is Educational Assessment?

Educational Assessment at LBC =

To investigate whether LBC is accomplishing its mission, its goals, and its objectives across the institutional . . .

&

To maintain an ongoing process that will monitor and improve student learning, thus fulfilling to an even greater degree our mission statement, goals, and objectives.

Educational Assessment = an ongoing process designed to monitor and improve student learning

Suskie, Linda. Assessing Student Learning: A Common Sense Guide. Boston: Anker Publishing, 2004.

Assessments Yielding Direct and Indirect Evidence

Direct evidence of student learning is tangible, visible, self-explanatory evidence

of exactly what students have and haven’t learned.

Table 6.1 gives examples of

direct evidence of student learning.

Suskie, Linda. Assessing Student Learning: A Common Sense Guide. Boston: Anker Publishing, 2004.

Assessments Yielding Direct and Indirect Evidence

Indirect evidence, on the other hand, provides signs that students are probably learning, but the evidence of exactly what they are learning is less clear and less convincing.

Table 6.2 gives examples of

indirect evidence of student learning.

Suskie, Linda. Assessing Student Learning: A Common Sense Guide. Boston: Anker Publishing, 2004.

Assessments Yielding Direct and Indirect Evidence

Indirect evidence of student learning not only is less persuasive than direct evidence, but may be misleading. Because of this, no assessment effort should consist of indirect evidence alone. Indirect evidence can nonetheless be an important part of an assessment program. For example, course/ instructor evaluations

Suskie, Linda. Assessing Student Learning: A Common Sense Guide. Boston: Anker Publishing, 2004.

Course Evaluations as Indirect Evidence

Course evaluations allow students to rate the effectiveness of the course and the instructor, but these ratings do not tell us if the student has learned anything. However, we still can glean some valuable insight into the teaching / learning process from these.

[Stay tuned for new instructions on administering course evaluations through Moodle.]

Assessments Yielding Direct and Indirect Evidence

On the other hand, Classroom Assessment Techniques help faculty obtain useful direct evidence on what, how much, and how well their students are learning. Instructors can then use this information to refocus their teaching to help students make their learning more efficient and more effective.

Who is responsible for assessment?

I hate to be the one to tell you this, so I’ll let someone else do it . . .

“Assessment is not a one-person enterprise.” [Mary Allen in Assessing Academic Programs in Higher Education (2004), p. 158]

Who is responsible for assessment?

Mary Allen continues by stating that:

“A recurring theme in assessment is collaboration. Faculty work together to develop consensus on learning objectives, curriculum alignment, and assessment, and they collaborate to determine the implications of results” (p. 158).

Because Drs. Bredfeldt,

Meyer, or Teague say so?

• Well, maybe.

Why do we do assessment?

Why do we do assessment?

Because MSCHE and ABHE require it?

Yes, but that is not the only, nor the best reason to do so.

Why do we do assessment?

Because it improves student learning!!!

“Though accountability matters, learning still matters most.”

Tom Angelo, 1999, May,Doing assessment as if learning matters most. ww.aahebulletin.com/public/archive/angelomay99.asp

So, what is the So, what is the BESTBEST reason reason to do assessment?to do assessment?

Why do we do assessment?

Assessment is for the sake of our students.

Our students deserve it!!

Where do we assess student learning?

Academic Side

Course

Program

Institutional

Student Support Side

Academic Support1

Student Services

Enrollment Management

Institutional Advancement

1 Library, Online Education, RAP, I.S., iLEAD Support Services

When does assessment occur?

True or False

Assessment only occurs every ten years when we start the self-study process.

Assessment only occurs during final exam week.

Assessment only occurs when I grade papers or tests.

Assessment occurs every day.

When does assessment occur?

But let us not confuse grading with assessment.

Nudge a neighbor and discuss the following statements.

When does assessment occur?

Assessment takes place when grades are given.

All grades are assessment but not all assessment is grading.

Grades can be direct measures of assessment (as opposed to indirect measures) but only when they are _______________________.

When grades aren’t good enough.

Tests, assignments, and grades often . . .

Don’t match goals.

Tests, assignments, and grades often . . .

Don’t focus on thinking skills.

Tests and assignments often . . .

Are of poor quality.

Grades often . . .

Reflect things other than student learning.

Tests, assignments, and grades are . . .

Seldom used to improve things._________

Linda Suskie, Vice President, Middle States Commission on Higher EducationGetting Started with Assessment in General Education workshopSeptember, 2007

While we are not While we are not advocating a totally advocating a totally grade-less educational grade-less educational society, you do need to society, you do need to understand why you understand why you need more than grades need more than grades to measure student to measure student learning.learning.

How do we or can weassess student learning?

How do we or can we assess student learning?

How do we or can we assess student learning?

Learning Activities tied to Learning Outcomes

Your syllabus should have a set of measurable student learning outcomes.

Likewise, your syllabus should outline learning activities which can be assessed and tied to a specific SLOs

The results of these learning activities can be assessed through Classroom Assessment Techniques.

The Classroom Assessment Techniques can be documented through our Assessment Annotations.

CATs in Class

Classroom Assessment Techniques

Classroom Assessment Techniques

Today’s Goal = Make CAT lovers out of you; not DOG lovers.

[Dog lovers = Rest assured we are not talking about all types of dogs here but a special breed called “assessment dogs.”]

Classroom Assessment Techniques

AssessmentCATs =

ClassroomAssessmentTechniques

AssessmentAssessmentDOGs =DOGs =

DDependependOOnly onnly onGGradesrades

So when it comes to

assessment...

I know some of you may be like this guy, you have some animosity towards the idea that DOGs are not allowed.

Or you may be like this little guy, trying to cover up the fact that assessment DOGs are not allowed. Nevertheless, when it comes to Nevertheless, when it comes to

assessment . . .assessment . . .

CATS RULECATS RULE

DOGS DROOLDOGS DROOL

What are CATs?

Classroom Assessment Techniques are formative evaluation methods that serve two purposes. (1) They help assess the degree to which students understand the course content. (2) They provide information about the effectiveness of teaching methods. Most are designed to be quick and easy to use and each CAT provides different kinds of information.

http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/cat.html

Formative vs. Summative

We are all familiar with summative evaluations; final exam, term paper, capstone project, thesis or dissertation.

While summative evaluations help assess what knowledge has been gained at the end of the process, we need to be able to assess what knowledge is being formed during the process so adjustments in our teaching can take place before it’s too late.

Formative Evaluations

CATS are formative evaluations which provide information that can be used to improve course content, methods of teaching, and, ultimately, student learning. Formative evaluations are most effective when they are done frequently and the information is used to effect immediate adjustments in the day-to-day operations of the course. Some faculty incorporate a CAT into every class session.

http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/cat.html

Adopting a CAT(without going to the Humane Society)

• See handout• Activity

Assessment Annotation Prezi

Assessment: An Ongoing Journey

Assessment Resources for the Assessment Resources for the journeyjourneywww.msche.orgwww.msche.org

PublicationsPublicationsGuidelines for Institutional ImprovementGuidelines for Institutional Improvement

Student Learning AssessmentStudent Learning Assessment

www.lbc.edu www.lbc.edu About LBCAbout LBC

Institutional EffectivenessInstitutional EffectivenessAssessmentAssessment

Academic ProgramsAcademic ProgramsFaculty ResourcesFaculty Resources

http://effectiveness.lbc.edu/http://effectiveness.lbc.edu/

Assessment: An Ongoing JourneyResources for the Journey

Dale L Mort, AVPIE, dmort@lbc.edu

Angelo & Cross’ Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty

Suskie, L. Assessing Student Learning: A Common Sense Guide. Boston: Anker Publishing, 2004

http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/cat.html

Assessment of the Assessor