Effective University Assessment Strategies for Teaching and Learning

1. Assessment That works Teaching and Learning Commons West Virginia University

2. Meaningful assessment • Faculty interests or concerns • Both qualitative and quantitative, direct and indirect, formative and summative • Focuses on the discussion and use of the data • Future program reviews will follow this lead

3. Manageable assessment • Specific and/or universal methods NOT required • Assessments should be authentic, embedded • Minimize redundant paperwork • The documentation paradox – document everything • My office stands ready to assist in every aspect, at any time

4. The university assessment council assessment plan • Available online here • None of the particular sections are required • Anything can modified to any extent • Completion of assessment plan and report can be used for program review and accreditation evidence

5. Fundamental #1: Outcomes • Learning Outcomes • What specific things do we want our students to be able to do that can be measured • These belong in and to your program and your course • They are different at each level but MUST connect • Unit Course Program • What will a student tell an employer in an interview that they learned to do in your program?

6. Writing powerful outcomes • Keep it simple, avoid Academicese like this: • Interpret and analyze a literary or filmic work based on artistic merit, narrative coherence, and social commentary and for its contemporary and historical ideological, political, and/or socio-cultural bias from feminist, Marxist, psychoanalytic, and historical-medical perspectives

7. Writing powerful outcomes • DON’T DO THIS EITHER: Understand a range of knowledge in the discipline • Students will be able to verbsomething in a context • Interpret texts in social and cultural contexts from a variety of critical perspectives

8. Writing powerful outcomes • Limit the number of outcomes to between 3 – 6 • Remember, you must assess ALL of your outcomes • Write outcomes that let your faculty and your students DO a number of things under one outcome • The idea is that large portions of the curriculum often support ONE single outcome

9. The verb matters • Its what the students actually DO • It should match the level of learning • See Bloom’s Taxonomy and list of verbs • As a guide, not a holy text • Don’t get lost in the weeds in a semantic argument over the difference between ‘analyze’ and ‘evaluate’

10. Long Term assessment cycle This isn’t a holy text either, it’s a plan. If you need to repeat a year because you screwed something up or saw something work a second look, do it. If you want to skip an outcome because the results have been steady for a long time, do that too.

11. Yearly assessment cycle • Four phases • 1: Planning Phase • 2: Assessment Phase • 3: Analysis Phase • 4: Action Phase – this is the one that counts

12. Planning Phase • You’re in it – document everything you’re working on and put it in this year’s report • Review assessment plans, tools, and previous action plans • Are you doing what you said you would? • Is it working? What next? • If it isn’t working, what next? • What are we assessing this year and where? • Through what ‘assignments’?

13. Assessment phase • This is really just getting the ‘evidence’ and setting it aside until you’re ready to score it • Copies of assignments, either physical or electronic • Use of eCampus to do this through Goals tool

14. Analysis Phase • Score the evidence • Run simple analysis • Distribute results to faculty or relevant faculty groups or committees • Discuss the results • Document the discussion: everything else leaves a trace

15. Action Phase • Generate, disseminate, and implement action plans based upon discussions • This is what really matters • In program review, to the HLC (institution’s accreditor), as well as most specialized accreditors • Just about everything you might do counts • As long as it can be connected to documented policies, processes, evidence, or discussions • The narrative should always be focused on improving ‘student learning’ • The University’s Assessment Council has a guide to action planning here

16. Curriculum maps • A tool that ties curriculum, degree progression, and learning outcomes together • In order to make decisions about the curriculum, degree progression, and student learning

17. StudentLearning Outcomes 1xx 1xx 2xx 2xx 2xx 3xx 3xx 3xx 4xx Capstone 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

18. StudentLearning Outcomes 1xx 1xx 2xx 2xx 2xx 3xx 3xx 3xx 4xx Capstone X X X X X X X X X 1 X X X X X X X X X X 2 X X X X X X X X X X 3 X X X X X X X X X X 4 X X X X X X X X X X 5 X X X X X X X X X X 6 X X X X X X X X X 7 X

19. StudentLearning Outcomes 1xx 1xx 2xx 2xx 2xx 3xx 3xx 3xx 4xx Capstone X X X X 1 X X X X 2 X X X 3 X 4 X 5 X X X X X X 6 X X X 7

20. K=Knowledge/ComprehensionA= Application / Analysis S= Synthesis/Evaluation StudentLearning Outcomes 1xx 1xx 2xx 2xx 2xx 3xx 3xx 3xx 4xx Capstone S A A A A 1 K K A S 2 K K K 3 K 4 S 5 K A S K K A 6 S S A A 7

21. K=Knowledge/ComprehensionA= Application / Analysis S= Synthesis/Evaluation StudentLearning Outcomes 3xx 1xx 1xx 2xx 2xx 2xx 3xx 3xx 4xx Capstone S A A A A 1 K K A S 2 K K 3 K K 4 S 5 K A S K K 6 A S S A 7 A

22. K=Knowledge/ComprehensionA= Application / AnalysisS= Synthesis/Evaluation StudentLearning Outcomes 1xx 1xx 2xx 2xx 2xx 3xx 3xx 3xx 4xx Capstone S A A A A 1 K K A S 2 K K K 3 K 4 S 5 K A S K K A 6 S S A A 7

23. K=Knowledge/ComprehensionA= Application / Analysis S= Synthesis/Evaluation StudentLearning Outcomes 1xx 1xx 2xx 2xx 2xx 3xx 3xx 3xx 4xx Capstone S A A A A 1 K K A S 2 K K K 3 K 4 S 5 K A S K K A 6 S S A A 7

24. K=Knowledge/ComprehensionA= Application / Analysis S= Synthesis/Evaluation StudentLearning Outcomes 1xx 1xx 2xx 2xx 2xx 3xx 3xx 3xx 4xx Capstone S A A A A 1 K K A S 2 K K K 3 K 4 S 5 K A S K K A 6 S S A A 7

25. K=Knowledge/ComprehensionA= Application / AnalysisS= Synthesis/Evaluation StudentLearning Outcomes 1xx 1xx 2xx 2xx 2xx 3xx 3xx 3xx 4xx Capstone S A A A A 1 K Portfolio Essay K A S 2 K K K K 3 Exam 4 S 5 K Content Community presentation A S K K A 6 S S A A 7