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The Outcomes Assessment Process Applied to International Students: An Important Yet Undeveloped Tool Fred Hildebrand, SUNY Morrisville and Peter Thomas, System Administration. Stakeholders. Parents Students Administrators Faculty. Natural Sciences. Mathematics Sciences. Social Sciences.

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  1. The Outcomes Assessment Process Applied to International Students: An Important Yet Undeveloped ToolFred Hildebrand, SUNY Morrisville and Peter Thomas, System Administration

  2. Stakeholders • Parents • Students • Administrators • Faculty

  3. Natural Sciences • Mathematics • Sciences

  4. Social Sciences • Sociology • Psychology

  5. History • American History • Western Civilization • Other World Civilization

  6. Humanities • The Arts • Humanities

  7. Languages • Foreign Language • Basic Communication

  8. Competencies • Information Management • Critical Thinking

  9. Purpose of Assessment • Accountability • Improvement

  10. The fact that international students differ from native students leads to the conclusion that outcomes assessments need to be more discretely focused. We seek to answer two questions:

  11. 1) What has SUNY done for the student? Adapt Open Doors questions: • Student satisfaction with sojourn • Gains in language proficiency • Academic achievement gains • Gains in personal development • Gains in intercultural proficiency • Career-oriented outcomes

  12. 2) What has the student done for SUNY? Institutional impact such as • Curricular reform • Marketing of the institution • Financial effects • Impact on enrollment and retention • Effects on faculty

  13. But … how to get that information from a population of widely varying backgrounds? Many mechanisms exist in the international education sphere, but none is exactly on point.

  14. Various Techniques and Instruments • Bolen – Transnational competencies, plus • Need demographic data baseline – separate experience and background • Add standard demographic measures to filter – Age, Ethnicity, Race, Religion, Semester level, Socioeconomic status, Home city/country • Corbitt – Global Awareness Profile (GAP Test) • Meyers and Kelly – Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI) • Bennett – Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) • Middle States – Broad range of examples

  15. To build an appropriate assessment process, we need to: • Better understand/describe the incoming international student, then • Create a more appropriate assessment mechanism to gauge outcomes

  16. Our selection process for international students is not too different from the generic, and the integration of international students into our mainstream has meant little discrete baseline information

  17. Look to the examples of entities around the world that have addressed the issue of internationalization and analogize Multiple benefits: • Better assessment processes • Well-tuned links with overseas partners • Study Abroad/Exchange • Transfer and Articulation • Middle States overseas initiatives

  18. There are a good number of approaches to explore … Canada CICIC UK Council of Validating Universities US IESMAP WES Middle States EUSocrates/Erasmus Lisbon Credential Recognition ECTS Tuning Program TEEP

  19. Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials (CICIC) • General Guiding Principles for Good Practice in the Assessment of Foreign Credentials • Broadly framed .. Education/jobs/professional practice • Looks into the status of an institution and underlying program as well as the credential

  20. Council of Validating Universities A very comprehensive system in the UK that ensures quality and predictability in the operation of student exchange programs

  21. Institute for the International Education of Students (IES) • IES/MAP – Model Assessment Practice – Developed as a mode of assessing Study Abroad students • International and cross-cultural program components • Three challenges: • Mission/goals per cross cultural learning experience • Non-academic elements • Differing academic cultures • Set of standards for assessment

  22. World Education Services (WES) A very active provider of a range of support services in the admissions and transfer fields

  23. Middle States Increasingly active in the inclusion of overseas universities in the accreditation process, thus building linkages with assessment of learning outcomes

  24. Socrates/Erasmus • Longstanding program supporting/facilitating student and teacher mobility • Full academic recognition agreed before departure • Joint curricula • Joint development of “study programs” • Joint development of “European modules” • Implementation and dissemination of curricular development projects

  25. Linkage with ECTS (especially Learning Agreement) • Thematic Networks – Define and develop a European dimension within a given academic discipline or study area (departments, schools, associations, professional bodies, other partners and student organizations

  26. Lisbon Credential Recognition System • Per Lisbon Convention, parties can create a standardized supplement to a diploma • Easily understandable and correctable data about the person and his/her attainments • Useful for benchmarking

  27. ECTS • Pre-agreed equivalence • Credits based on notional year • Learning Agreement • Nuance-rich vis-à-vis accommodating disparate students

  28. Tuning Program • European program to “tune” education systems • Seven subject areas: Business, Educational Sciences, Geology, History, Math, Physics, Chemistry; 101 university departments in 16 countries • Research on generic and subject-specific skills and competencies • Generic competences comprise: Instrumental, Interpersonal, Systemic • Specific: Skills, Knowledge, Content

  29. Instrumental competences • Capacity for analysis and synthesis • Capacity for organization and planning • Basic general knowledge • Grounding in basic knowledge of the profession • Oral and written communication in your native language • Information management skills (ability to retrieve and analyse information from different sources) • Knowledge of a second language • Elementary computing skills • Problem solving • Decision-making Tuning

  30. Interpersonal competences • Critical and self-critical abilities • Teamwork • Interpersonal skills • Ability to work in an interdisciplinary team • Ability to communicate with experts in other fields • Appreciation of diversity and multicultural aspects • Ability to work in an international context • Ethical commitment Tuning

  31. Systemic competences • Research skills • Capacity to learn • Capacity for applying knowledge in practice • Capacity to adapt to new situations • Capacity for generating new ideas (creativity) • Leadership • Ability to work autonomously • Project design and management • Initiative and entrepreneurial spirit • Concern for quality • Understanding of cultures and customs of other countries • Will to succeed Tuning

  32. Looks at educational structures and content of studies, not educational systems • Methodology is designed to understand curricula and make them comparable (via Learning Outcomes and competences) – described in terms of reference points to be met • The Learning Agreement is the baseline for assessment • Level qualifications have been developed, giving rise to, e.g., the EuroBachelor in Chemistry Tuning

  33. Assessment includes: • Written exams (predominant mode); Oral exams; Lab reports; Problem-solving exercises; Oral presentations; Bachelor’s Thesis Plus • Literature survey and evaluation’ • Collaborative work • “Posters” Tuning

  34. Basic Question: Can a single set of criteria and elements of an assessment system suffice in a multicultural, multinational context, absent special actions, driven by the heterogeneity of the students • Phase 4 is now getting underway. Including the Assessment elements of the Tuning Program, it will be a key mechanism for answering the question Tuning

  35. TEEP Project • Transnational European Evaluation Project (TEEP) • Flows from the Bologna-based European Higher Education Area process; built on the Tuning program • Promoter of Quality Assurance with a view to develop comparable criteria and methodologies • Draws support from the Socrates/Erasmus thematic networks in History, Physics, and Veterinary Science

  36. Seeks to develop a European methodology for the use of common criteria and Quality Assurance at the European level • Develops a transnational external evaluation scheme of program review building on a focus on competences and learning outcomes • Incorporates a self-evaluation process as a starter – plus a site visit TEEP

  37. NEXT STEP …. Increased dialogue and sharing of data/information on international students and the assessment of their performance

  38. CICIC http://www.cicic.ca/indexe.stm CVU http://www.cvu.ac.uk IESMAP http://www.iesabroad.org WES http://www.wes.org/ Middle States http://www.msache.org/ Socrates/Erasmus http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/socrates_en.html Lisbon Recognition Convention http://www.cepes.ro/information_services/sources/on_line/lisbon.htm ECTS http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/ects_en.html Tuning Program http://www.relint.deusto.es/TUNINGProject/index.htm TEEP http://www.enqa.net/pubs.lasso

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