Assessment for the Changing Learning Environment

February  19–20, 2010
Sheraton Bloomington Hotel
Bloomington, Minnesota

Register by the January 27 Early Bird deadline to save $50!  

Click here to download a pdf version of the February, 2010, conference brochure

Conference Schedule Roundtable Reception for Institutions Coping with Difficult Economic Times Preconference Sessions Opening Session	Concurrent Sessions Closing Plenary Session Faculty Developers' Breakfast Session Conference Information (Hotel, Travel, etc.) Planning Committee
Download the conference registration form!

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CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
 

Thursday, February 18		Saturday, February 20
7:30–9:00 p.m.	Roundtable Reception	7:30–9:15 a.m.	Faculty Developers' Breakfast Session
Friday, February 19		7:30–9:45 a.m.	Continental Breakfast
7:30 a.m.	Registration Open	8:00–9:15 a.m.	Concurrent Sessions III
8:00–10:30 a.m.	Preconference Workshops	9:15–9:45 a.m.	Break
10:45 a.m.–12:15 p.m.	Opening Session	9:45–11:00 a.m..	Concurrent Sessions IV
12:30–1:30 p.m.	Lunch	11:15 a.m.–12:30 p.m.	Closing Session
1:45–3:00 p.m.	Concurrent Sessions I
3:00–3:30 p.m.	Break
3:30–4:45 p.m.	Concurrent Session II
5:00–6:00 p.m.	Reception

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ROUNDTABLE RECEPTION FOR INSTITUTIONS COPING WITH DIFFICULT ECONOMIC TIMES Thursday, 7:30–9:00 PM—Separate registration required. Free

This year, higher education institutions have been experiencing some of the most difficult challenges that colleges and universities have faced in the past fifty years. Participants from these institutions are invited to attend this informal gathering to socialize, discuss issues of common concern to your institutions, and provide input for Collaboration planning. Please indicate on your registration form if you will attend.

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PRECONFERENCE sessions  Friday, 8:00–10:30 AM—Separate registration required.

A DEVELOPING AND USING RUBRICS TO PROMOTE EXCELLENCE Lenore Kinne, Assistant Professor, Kinesiology, Health and Educational Foundations Department Northern Kentucky University   What does excellence look like? Rubrics help to answer that question – for instructors and for their students. A well-constructed rubric helps clarify student learning outcomes and provides a clear picture of how student work will be evaluated. Rubrics have many benefits including communicating expectations to students, providing feedback to students, and helping ensure that grading is unbiased. Although it can be challenging to write assessment criteria that capture the higher-level skills that students should demonstrate, it is worthwhile work that can actually save time in grading. This workshop will present samples of various types of rubrics (developmental rubrics, absolute rubrics, holistic rubrics, analytical rubrics, general rubrics, task-specific rubrics), and focused training on the development of task-specific and analytic rubrics. Participants may bring a student assignment for which they would like to create a rubric, or they may use a sample assignment provided by the facilitator.   This preconference session is based on The Collaboration’s Traveling Workshop, “Developing and Using Rubrics to Promote Excellence.”

B ONLINE PERFORMANCE: Strategies for Structuring and Assessing Learning Activities and Assignments   Velma Lashbrook, Assessment Consultant, Center for Leadership Studies Augsburg College   This interactive session focuses on how to assess online performance for blended, hybrid, and fully online courses. Participants will learn what the literature reveals and leave with specific strategies for structuring assignments and assessing performance. During the session, participants will have the opportunity to apply and add to these strategies to create effective ways to assess participation, quizzes and exams, written and oral assignments, and team projects.

C PLANNING ASSESSMENT BACKWARDS TO DIVE DEEPER INTO PEDAGOGY   Peggy Maki, Consultant Peggy Maki and Associates   A recent preliminary report from the newly established National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment concludes that institutions are doing more to assess student learning than higher-education officials and policy makers may think. However, it goes on to state that campuses are not doing enough to use the data they collect to improve teaching and learning. It seems timely to rethink how to plan and implement an assessment process so that it results in meaningful and useful findings related to the efficacy of pedagogy, instruction, curricular design and educational experiences. This workshop will take participants through a design process built, first, on raising and connecting research or study questions with learning outcomes that faculty will answer along the chronology of students' learning, not just at the end of a course, to ascertain why students are or are not able to retain, apply, integrate, use, and re-use their learning. Beginning the design process by collaboratively raising a research or study question shapes all of the tasks involved in assessment, including principles for selecting or designing direct and indirect methods and articulating criteria and standards of judgment. This backward design process leads to evidence-based discussions that, in turn, lead to innovations or changes in educational practices.

D FOCUS GROUPS, SURVEYS, AND RUBRICS – OH MY   Pam Pinahs-Schultz, Professor and Assessment Director, Department of Health Service Carroll University   Although faculty feel comfortable establishing program-level student learning outcomes and identifying effective learning strategies to achieve them, they often feel overwhelmed when it comes to designing assessment tools that measure learning. To make matters worse many faculty have invested considerable time and effect in implementing program level assessment and find their efforts do not always yield results that are helpful. This session will provide participants with guidelines/activities for constructing three of the most common assessment instruments for measuring student learning outcomes at the program level as well as a variety of approaches for analyzing and presenting data to stakeholders. Data sets for analysis and reporting will be provided by the presenter. However, participants are encouraged to bring copies of their student learning outcomes for use in instrument construction.

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OPENING SESSION Friday, 10:45 AM–12:15 PM

ASSESSMENT IN A LEARNING-CENTERED INSTITUTION   L. Dee Fink Consultant Dee Fink & Associates   As colleges and universities strive to become more learning-centered, they need to learn about the different kinds of assessment needed to achieve excellence. In this presentation, the presenter will lay out a conceptual framework for identifying the multiple dimensions of activity in a learning-centered institution and examine the kinds of educational assessment needed in each dimension.   L. Dee Fink is a nationally-recognized expert on college teaching and faculty development. After receiving his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1976, he accepted a faculty position at the University of Oklahoma. In 1979 he founded the Instructional Development Program at the University of Oklahoma and served as its director until his retirement from Oklahoma in May 2005. He was president of the POD Network (Professional and Organizational Development) in Higher Education (2004-2005), the primary professional organization for faculty developers. At the present time he works as a national consultant in higher education. He is the author of Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses (Jossey-Bass, 2003) and co-editor of Team-Based Learning: A Transformative Use of Small Groups in College Teaching (Stylus, 2004).

CLOSING PLENARY SESSION Saturday, 11:15 AM–12:30 PM

OPTIONS FOR TECHNOLOGY-BASED ASSESSMENT: Current and Emerging Possibilities   Peggy Maki Consultant Peggy Maki Associates   Wikis, blogs, Second Life, clickers, simulations, and online educational gaming are but a few of the numerous options available to us to assess our students' learning. How do we determine if we should opt for technology-based assessment? Why should we bother to consider this question at all? Beginning with a case study that demonstrates how and why faculty in a discipline shifted to technology-based teaching and assessing, based on their students' lack of ability to develop increasingly higher levels of conceptual understanding, this plenary focuses on describing current and emerging technology-based assessment methods to explore not only what students learn but also how they do or do not learn.     Higher education consultant, Peggy L. Maki, specializes in assisting higher education institutions, boards, and organizations integrate assessment of student learning into educational practices, processes and structures. Her work also focuses on assessment within the context of accreditors' expectations for institutional effectiveness. She serves as a faculty member in AAC& U's Institute on General Education and Assessment and its new annual institute for department-level assessment; has served as a faculty member in the Carnegie Foundation's Integrated Learning Project; and teaches graduate-level seminars focused on assessment. Currently, she also serves as sole consultant to the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education and its public higher education institutions under a multi-year project focused on integrating assessment across the State's public institutions in conjunction with K-20 assessment efforts.   Formerly, Senior Scholar and Director of Assessment at the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE), she has served as Associate Director of the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc., New England’s regional accrediting body; Vice President, Academic Dean, Dean of Faculty, and Professor of English, Bradford College, MA; Chair of English, Theatre Arts, and Communication, Associate Professor of English, and Dean of Continuing Education, Arcadia University, PA. She is a recipient of the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching; has given several honorary lectureships at colleges and universities for her work in assessment; and is a frequent keynote speaker at national and international assessment conferences at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She is also the author of Assessing for Learning: Building a Sustainable Commitment across the Institution (2004) and co-edited The Assessment of Doctoral Education (2007).

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CONCURRENT SESSIONS I Friday,  1:45–3:00 PM A.       Making the Leap to Critical Reading, Writing, and Thinking B.       Peer Consulting: A Tool for Building Assessment Capacity C.       A Conversation with L. Dee Fink and Peggy Maki D.       Web-Based Assessment for Data-Driven Curricular Revision and Student Development E.       Utilization of National Surveys and Standardized Tests for Program-Level Assessment F.       Student as Assessors: Putting Assessment in the Hands of Students G.       Multicultural Competence and Learning Outcomes Assessment Across the Undergraduate (Co-) Curriculum

CONCURRENT SESSIONS II Friday, 3:30–4:45 PM A.        Utilizing Non-Cognitive Entrance Information to Improve Student Learning Assessment B.        Assessing Interdisciplinary Student Work to Support Curriculum Development C.        Peer Assessment of Student Webpage Development: A Real World Simulation D.        More Than "A Nice Thing to Do": Assessing Service-Learning's Outcomes E.        The Collegiate Learning Assessment: Is it Worth the Cost? F.        Using Class-Capturing Software to Assess Communication Skills G.        Assessing Information Literacy: Faculty and Library Collaboration to Increase Student Learning

CONCURRENT SESSIONS III Saturday, 8:00–9:15 AM   A.        Big Time Assessment at a Small Community College B.        An Introduction to Clickers and E-Portfolios as Assessment Tools C.        Supporting Collaborative Assessment Efforts Using Data Management Technology D.        "Will They Have to Draw a Sailboat?" Assessment in the Arts and Humanities E.        Meaningful and Manageable Assessment at the Department Level

CONCURRENT SESSIONS IV Saturday, 9:45–11:00 AM A.        Assessing Mission Alignment: An Interactive Approach B.        Assessment-Driven Faculty Development C.        Evaluating Teaching: A New Approach to an Old Problem D.        Designing Collaborative Department Assessment: What Do We Need to Learn? E.        Making Feedback Meaningful and Motivating in Online or Traditional Classrooms F.        State Your Case! Assignments and Assessments that Improve Students' Arguments

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FACULTY DEVELOPERS' BREAKFAST SESSION Saturday, 7:30–9:15 AM―Separate registration and fee required. STRATEGIES FOR SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH-QUALITY SERVICE-LEARNING Julie Plaut, Executive Director Minnesota Campus Compact   Mary E. Savina, Charles L. Denison Professor of Geology and Director of Archaeology Faculty Assessment Coordinator Carleton College   At many campuses, interest in service-learning pedagogy is growing, thanks in part to student enthusiasm, advocacy by committed staff and faculty, and research identifying service-learning as a “high-impact educational practice.” What are the challenges and benefits of this kind of engaged teaching and learning? How can faculty developers support the effective integration of community-based work into academic courses? What potential collaborators exist on campus and at partner organizations? Join your colleagues for a rich exchange of ideas and resources, addressing these questions and others that reflect session participants’ experiences and goals.

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CONFERENCE INFORMATION REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONS Please complete all sections of the registration form and print, sign, and mail or fax it with your full payment. Remember to indicate preferences for concurrent sessions; this helps the conference staff with scheduling and helps presenters plan accordingly. Save $50 when you register by the Early Bird postmark deadline, January 27, 2010! CONFERENCE REGISTRATION REFUND POLICY Registration fees paid in advance are refundable (less a $50 cancellation fee) if written notice is received by February 12, 2010. Refunds cannot be made after that date unless the request is accompanied by written notification from a licensed medical professional. All refunds will be issued after the conference. CONFERENCE CANCELLATION POLICY It is very unlikely that the conference would be cancelled due to inclement weather. We are bound by hotel policies and are still billed for catering and room charges; therefore, we regret that we cannot reimburse registrants in the event of bad weather.   HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS Make your hotel reservations by contacting the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel, 7800 Normandale Boulevard, Bloomington, MN 55439, (866) 837-4278. To receive the discounted conference rate of $114 for Standard Rooms (South Tower), $144 for the Deluxe Rooms, or $164 for the Club Concierge Rooms; make your reservations by January 28, 2010, and identify yourself as a Collaboration conference participant. To guarantee your room for late arrival, the hotel requires payment for the first night or credit card confirmation of your reservation. If you must cancel your reservation, please do so prior to 6:00 p.m. on the scheduled day of arrival or you will forfeit the first night’s room and tax deposit. If you plan to depart earlier than your reserved check-out date, inform the hotel staff of your plans at or before check-in to avoid being charged a $50 early departure fee.   VISIT THE CONFERENCE BOOKSTORE Augsburg College will provide a bookstore, operated by Barnes & Noble, which will be open throughout the conference with an assortment of books related to the conference theme and topics in higher education. This is a great opportunity to stock up on resources to support improved teaching and learning. The bookstore accepts checks and major credit cards.

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PLANNING COMMITTEE
Tim Barrett The Collaboration	Anne Kelsch University of North Dakota–Grand Forks
Holly Boomer Black Hills State University	Diana Morris College of Menominee Nation
Joel Frederickson Bethel University	Janet Molstad Bethany Lutheran College
Rebecca Hoey Northwest Iowa Community College	Alan Ferris Mount Marty College

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CONCURRENT SESSION DESCRIPTIONS

IA MAKING THE LEAP TO CRITICAL READING, WRITING, AND THINKING   Mahrie Peterson, Assessment of Student Learning Coordinator, Department of Instruction Tonya Pocan, First-year Student, Department of Sustainable Development Kenny Sanapaw, First-year Student, Department of Natural Resources Shannon Tourtillott, First-year Student, Department of Biological Science Ben White, First-year Student, Department of Biological Science College of the Menominee Nation   Most students who enter college are shocked by the sheer amount of reading required, the density of texts, and instructor expectations for analysis and communication. To address this issue, the College of Menominee Nation piloted a pre-college course to improve students’ critical reading, thinking, and writing skills. The instructor and three students who participated in the pilot will demonstrate the reciprocal teaching method, discuss an integrative course project based on the course theme of sustainability, and share their lessons learned.

IB PEER CONSULTING: A Tool for Building Assessment Capacity   Wendy Bjorklund, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies Sandra Johnson, Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics Joe Melcher, General Education Assessment Director, Department of Psychology Jim Sherohman, Assessment Director, Department of University Assessment St. Cloud State University   A recently established peer consulting program at St. Cloud State University prepares faculty and staff members to work with academic and nonacademic units to improve their assessment practices. An important impact of this program is that it has helped to build assessment capacity. Assessment capacity is the ability of an institution or unit to conduct assessment activities effectively. Participants in this session will identify methods currently used at their institutions or within their units to enhance assessment capacity; they will discuss whether and under what circumstances a peer consulting system would be feasible there; and they will identify strategies for building assessment capacity that they can use when they return to their institutions. Back to Concurrent Sessions

IC A CONVERSATION WITH L. DEE FINK AND PEGGY MAKI   Join us for an informal conversation with our major speakers during this concurrent session. Bring your questions and comments to contribute to this discussion.

ID WEB-BASED ASSESSMENT FOR DATA-DRIVEN CURRICULAR REVISION AND STUDENT DEVELOPMENT   Daniel J. Hanson, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice Jane R. Mort, Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice South Dakota State University   Assessment expectations continue to increase while institutional resources are limited or are diminishing. This session will present a web-based embedded assessment system used to efficiently acquire, store, and analyze assessment results in a pharmacy program. Examples of how data have been used to facilitate curricular evaluation and student development will be presented along with students’ impression of the system. Opportunities will be provided for participants from other colleges and universities who are currently utilizing web-based assessment systems to share their experiences. Participants will gain insight into the advantages, disadvantages, and implementation of a web-based system in order to fully consider a web-based assessment approach in their institution. Back to Concurrent Sessions

IE UTILIZATION OF NATIONAL SURVEYS AND STANDARDIZED TESTS FOR PROGRAM-LEVEL ASSESSMENT   Patrick J. Barlow, Director, Office of College Assessment Kevin Dennis, Assistant Professor and Chair, Department of Mathematics and Statistics Tom Marple, Associate Professor and Dean, School of Business Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota   Increased calls for assessment of learning and accountability have led many faculty and staff to consider the use of standardized tests for program-level assessment. Many questions exist concerning the choice of an appropriate measure and how to use the results for meaningful program improvement. This session will focus on the decision process and use of the ETS Major Field Test and National Survey of Student Engagement in two disciplines for assessment of learning at the program level for purposes such as program review and program accreditation. Activities will include a guided walkthrough of ideas to consider when choosing to use an external measurement tool and steps to consider when creating a process for reviewing and using the data.

IF STUDENT AS ASSESSORS: Putting Assessment in the Hands of Students   Susan L. Brooks, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of English April Schmidt, Assistant Professor and College Writing Director, Department of General Education Lakita Davis, Fourth-year Student, Department of English Education Sarah Stout, Fourth-year Student, Department of English Education Bethel University   Putting assessment in the hands of students can provide embedded, inexpensive, cross-discipline assessment that provides the college with data and students with authentic learning tasks. It’s a win-win. This presentation offers a model in which upper-level English education students read and rate essays from a Western Civilizations course to provide data—analyzed by psychology student research assistants— on the success of the first-year composition program. Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on and discuss how a model like this could serve them in their own settings. Sample rubrics and other handouts will be provided. Back to Concurrent Sessions

IG MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCE AND LEARNING OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT ACROSS THE UNDERGRADUATE (CO-) CURRICULUM   Wendy M. Burns, Director, Department of Student Leadership Development and Activities Kristina Deffenbacher, Associate Professor, Department of English Leondra Hanson, Assistant Professor, Department of Legal Studies Hamline University   This session will be of interest to faculty and student affairs staff engaged in collaboratively developing and assessing core student learning outcomes, such as multicultural competence, across the undergraduate (co-)curriculum. Assessment leaders from Hamline University will provide a brief overview of the learning outcomes assessment frameworks established by faculty and staff in different departments as context for a presentation of the specific work that they are doing to define and develop methods for assessing multicultural competencies. Through an open discussion, presenters and participants will share and examine models for using such program-level efforts to establish a foundation for assessing core general education outcomes across the (co-)curriculum.

IIA UTILIZING NON-COGNITIVE ENTRANCE INFORMATION TO IMPROVE STUDENT LEARNING ASSESSMENT   Phil Palser, Assessment Coordinator, Department of Student Services Mike Thibodeau, Counselor, Department of Student Services Chippewa Valley Technical College   While the non-cognitive characteristics of entering college students play a crucial role in determining successful learning outcomes, lack of functional methods and means for measuring and portraying these attributes leaves educational practitioners guessing regarding their effects on student learning outcomes and associated assessment-based improvement efforts. How can educators gauge the efficacy of their instructional and assessment efforts if the largest segments of underlying reasons for variance in student learning performance remain beyond examination? Participants will explore non-cognitive root causes of difference in learner success, investigate measurement techniques applied to non-cognitive educational variables, and have opportunity to review results, outcomes, and experience acquired at Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC) in assessing and acting on educational psychosocial risk factors. Back to Concurrent Sessions

IIB ASSESSING INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDENT WORK TO SUPPORT CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT   Kevin Saunders, Coordinator of Continuous Academic Program Improvement, Office of the Provost Steven Mickelson, Director, Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching Iowa State University   Today’s graduates need specialized knowledge and abilities associated with interdisciplinary education. This presentation discusses how a departmental curriculum committee used a collaborative assessment protocol to both examine the development of students’ interdisciplinary thinking and to guide a continuous curricular improvement process. Using a case example from an engineering department, participants will examine how the assessment of interdisciplinary learning outcomes supports both curriculum and faculty development efforts.

IIC PEER ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT WEBPAGE DEVELOPMENT: A Real World Simulation   Kimberly Babcock Mashek, Information Literacy Librarian, Department of Library Science Susan Meyeraan, Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration Wartburg College   Students coming to college today are “digital natives,” using digital technologies since elementary school. Through the use of multiple assessment techniques, “digital natives” can be evaluated on their use of technology, using a multi-level approach involving faculty assessment, self assessment and peer assessment. In this simulation, students created professional webpages as part of their career search strategy. To provide meaningful feedback, a rubric was created to be used at all three levels. While the idea of creating and using a good rubric is not unusual, how it was developed and applied is unique. This presentation details the process. Participants will have the opportunity to use the rubric, taking away enough information to develop their own assignments integrating multi-level assessment models. Back to Concurrent Sessions

IID MORE THAN “A NICE THING TO DO”: Assessing Service-Learning’s Outcomes   Julie Plaut, Executive Director Minnesota Campus Compact   Mary E. Savina, Charles L. Denison Professor of Geology and Director of Archaeology Faculty Assessment Coordinator Carleton College   Service-learning/community-based learning is identified as a “high-impact educational practice” based on analysis of NSSE data, but the outcomes of particular service-learning classes aren’t always well-documented. How are campuses currently assessing the outcomes of this engaged teaching and learning strategy – and what more might we do? Do we have a responsibility to evaluate community outcomes as well as student learning outcomes? Learn about various institutions’ approaches and state or national initiatives to improve documentation, both to inform good practice and to make the case for greater investment and involvement. Session participants will consider the outcomes most important to them and the steps they might take to enhance existing assessment efforts.

IIE THE COLLEGIATE LEARNING ASSESSMENT: Is It Worth the Cost?   Joel Frederickson, Professor & Chair, Department of Psychology; Associate Dean of Institutional Assessment Bethel University   Edward Mack, Director of Institutional Research Metropolitan State University   Keith Jones, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology Central College   Philip Kramer, Director of Assessment College of St. Benedict/St. John's University   Jon Christy, Director of Assessment and Institutional Research Luther College   A panel of institutions that have used the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) will discuss their experience with hotly debated assessment tool. The CLA is billed as a computer-based assessment tool that can measure the institutional “value-added” in analytical writing, critical thinking, and problem-solving. A brief overview of the CLA will be presented. Discussants will then frankly talk about the issues they dealt with using this tool: logistics of having students take the CLA, recruiting students, motivational issues, usefulness of the reports, and whether the instrument is worth the cost. Time for audience questions will be provided. Back to Concurrent Sessions

IIF USING CLASS-CAPTURING SOFTWARE TO ASSESS COMMUNICATION SKILLS   Lori Charron, Professor, Department of Communication Studies Concordia University–Saint Paul   Chad Kjorlien, Director, Office of Instructional Technology and the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching Brooke Lenz, Assistant Professor, Department of English Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota   In this session, the presenters will describe their use of course capturing software — a technology that records audio, video, and anything shown digitally by faculty or students — for assessing students’ peer reviewing and public speaking skills. Presenters will describe the use of classroom capture at Saint Mary’s as a whole, within an Advanced Essay Writing course, and within an Oral Communications course. Activities and discussion between presentations will offer participants a chance to imagine and plan similar activities at their own institutions. This session will also allow for ‘hands-on’ experience with the software and Q&A time with the instructional designer. Handouts will include the presentation as well as materials related to the presented assignments and assessment rubrics.

IIG ASSESSING INFORMATION LITERACY: Faculty and Library Collaboration to Increase Student Learning   Jim Fisk, Librarian and Coordinator of Student Academic Support Services, Hickman-Johnson-Furrow Learning Center Pamela L. Mickelson, Professor, Department of Business Administration and Economics Morningside College   Those who attend this session will share learn how faculty and the library collaborate to assess Information Literacy at Morningside College. The session is intended for faculty and staff members involved in assessment activities. Participants will hear about effective practices that have brought about collaboration across disciplines with the aid of the library personnel. Participants will also review the five standards for higher education of information literacy by American College Research Libraries (ACRL). Finally, attendees will participate in a dialogue that will help solve issues surrounding information literacy that include: the development of teaching and learning outcomes, the increase in lifelong learning, skills of the 21st Century student, and implications of technology to aid in the improvement of the assessment process.   Back to Concurrent Sessions

IIIA BIG TIME ASSESSMENT AT A SMALL COMMUNITY COLLEGE   Stacey Mortensen, Instructor, Department of Science Bob Woodle, Student Learning Assessment Coordinator, Department of Mathematics Fort Berthold Community College   Institutions in the beginning stages of formulating assessment plans are sometimes overwhelmed by the apparent magnitude of the task before them, and have difficulty deciding how to even begin. These problems are magnified at small colleges, where everyone—faculty, staff, and administrators—already ‘multi-tasks’. Participants in this session will learn to identify learning objectives, determine how best to measure achievement of those objectives, and create rubrics to measure achievement of those objectives. They will also learn to make assessment a cyclical, reflective activity; and bring faculty together to develop broader (e.g., General Education) assessment protocols. The presenters will provide an exemplar of a successful assessment plan developed for their Teacher Education program. They will also discuss how to interpret results and develop and implement action plans to remedy revealed deficiencies.

IIIB AN INTRODUCTION TO CLICKERS AND E-PORTFOLIOS AS ASSESSMENT TOOLS   Dean Beckman, Associate Professor, Department of mass Communications Carol Daul-Elhindi, Instructional Services Librarian, Fitzgerald Library Travis Fick, Fourth-year Student, Departments of Journalism and Public Relations Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota   Passive delivery or transference of information often fails to engage the 21st century learner. This presentation will provide faculty and department chairs with tools to actively assess not only student engagement, but also measure how effectively a department’s learning goals and outcomes have been met. Clickers and e-portfolios captivate the millennial student by being technologically engaging and promoting active learning. This session will provide the opportunity to hear about, discuss, and experiment with these technologies that can aid the assessment process.   Back to Concurrent Sessions

IIIC SUPPORTING COLLABORATIVE ASSESSMENT EFFORTS USING DATA MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY   Michele C. Kieke, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology Phillip L. Johnson, Instructor, Department of Religion and Theology and Director of Christian Outreach Program, Chair of Concordia Assessment Council Miriam E. Luebke, Vice President for Student Services Concordia University – St. Paul   Assessment leaders from Concordia University, St. Paul will share their stories of how using a student learning assessment management technology has shaped assessment on their campus over the last five years. Participants will discuss the challenges and benefits of using such a tool and will learn its potential for use with co-curricular learning. Participants will have several opportunities to reflect on and share experiences with assessment on their own campuses.

IIID “WILL THEY HAVE TO DRAW A SAILBOAT?” Assessment in the Arts and Humanities   Donald F. Larsson, Professor, English Department Minnesota State University, Mankato   This session will first present an overview of issues in assessment of student learning in the arts and humanities, drawing from accreditation guidelines; the call for attention to assessment by past President of the Modern Language Association Gerald Graff; and other sources. Breakout groups will work to clarify the questions that assessment poses for the arts and humanities, to seek answers to those questions, to share best practices and new ideas, and to propose avenues for further discussion and action. The focus will be on direct (rather than indirect) measures of qualitative (rather than quantitative) student learning outcomes. The ultimate goal of the session, though, is to further the ultimate goal of assessment—to improve student learning.   Back to Concurrent Sessions

IIIE MEANINGFUL AND MANAGEABLE ASSESSMENT AT THE DEPARTMENT LEVEL   Vicki Harper, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy Andrew Hisey, Associate Professor, Department of Music Bob McClure, Associate Professor, Department of Education Mary Walczak, Professor, Department of Chemistry St. Olaf College   Like most institutions, St. Olaf College is now gathering evidence of student learning in majors, concentrations, and other department-level academic programs. Assessment at the department level has fostered lively disciplinary conversations about curriculum, pedagogy, and student learning. These conversations have been made possible by the “utilization-focused” approach to assessment adopted by the faculty committee responsible for leading and supporting the college’s program of assessment. This session introduces this approach to assessment planning and leadership, and features case studies of assessment projects in several departments (a mix of humanities, fine arts, social sciences, and natural sciences and mathematics) in which results are being used to sustain and strengthen student learning in the major.

IVA ASSESSING MISSION ALIGNMENT: An Integrative Approach   Richard Tristano, Professor, Department of History Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota   What learning outcomes should we be assessing?  Is it desirable and possible to assess mission alignment as an outcome?  What impact should mission have on teaching and learning?  What impact can faculty and staff have on mission outside of formal mission statements?  These questions will be explored through the document “Lasallian Assessment: Charisma and the University” written at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, which offers a model for integrating mission with teaching and learning.  Participants will learn how historical mission ideals can be expressed in terms of contemporary best-practices that are assessable.  They will then apply this model to their own institutions and come up with ways to assess their own distinct mission and identity.   Back to Concurrent Sessions

IVB ASSESSMENT-DRIVEN FACULTY DEVELOPMENT   Joel Frederickson, Professor & Chair, Department of Psychology; Associate Dean of Institutional Assessment Bethel University   This session is designed to help institutions meet the Higher Learning Commission’s call for using assessment data to improve student learning and faculty teaching. Participants will examine strategies and steps for using assessment data to create faculty development initiatives. Participants will be given examples of how institutions have used data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), Individual Development and Educational Assessment (IDEA) course evaluations, Student Satisfaction Inventory, and direct measures of student learning (such as the Collegiate Learning Assessment) to create 4-5 areas to focus on for faculty development. During the session participants will be given a mock data set to work with to create faculty development ideas for a Sample University.

IVC EVALUATING TEACHING: A New Approach to an Old Problem   L. Dee Fink Consultant Dee Fink & Associates & The IDEA Center   Colleges and universities have struggled for years to find a better way of evaluating teaching. In this session, the presenter will lay out a new approach to this problem. This approach starts with the question of what we really want teachers to do well, and then suggests ways to collect information on the multiple aspects of teaching. Evaluating teaching this way would benefit the institution as well as provide professors with the tools and motivation to continuously self-assess and improve their teaching.   Back to Concurrent Sessions

IVD DESIGNING COLLABORATIVE DEPARTMENT ASSESSMENT: What Do We Need to Learn?   Holly Boomer, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities Deaver Traywick, Writing Center Director, Department of Humanities Black Hills State University   In this session, participants will learn about Black Hills State University’s efforts to engage reticent faculty in the assessment of English 101 (Composition) and how they can redefine successful assessment not only as a product but as a process that engages as many people as possible. The English department will be engaged to collaborate on a direct and indirect measure of English 101 as well as survey their own attitudes and behaviors about assessment and have their participation measured. Participants will be provided with copies of surveys and rubrics developed as part of this process.

IVE MAKING FEEDBACK MEANINGFUL AND MOTIVATING IN ONLINE OR TRADITIONAL CLASSROOMS   Rebecca Hoey, Curriculum Design Coordinator Chris Anderson, Active Learning Technician Sue Grapevine, Outcomes Assessment Coordinator Title III Grant Office Northwest Iowa Community College   The presenters will help participants develop a tool for improving student achievement that has been proven significant in numerous studies-effective online feedback. Whether teaching an online class or simply using a learning management system in face to face courses, providing students with educative feedback will positively impact their understanding of the content, ramp up their motivation to do their best, and build a meaningful, content-centered relationship between instructor and students. This session will improve participants’ ability to formulate feedback in the manner that has proven to be most effective. Through activities and discussion, attendees will leave this session with concrete strategies that will turn assessment into an opportunity for noticeably improved student outcomes and student satisfaction.

IVF STATE YOUR CASE! Assignments and Assessments that Improve Students’ Arguments   Adrienne Christiansen, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science Macalester College   David Castro, Assistant Professor, Department of Music Tim Howe, Associate Professor, Department of History St. Olaf College   Mary Savina, Professor, Department of Geology Carleton College   How often have you read a student paper, led a class discussion, graded an essay, or listened to a student presentation, and thought, “There's potential here, but what's the point and where's the evidence?” “State Your Case!” is a three-year partnership among St. Olaf College, Macalester College, and Carleton College, focused on helping students learn how to develop and support a point of view in any disciplinary or interdisciplinary field, and helping faculty use evidence of student learning to inform instruction. This panel presentation features faculty from all three institutions and from across the disciplinary spectrum who will share their instructional strategies, innovative assignments, and methods of gathering evidence of improvement in students’ ability to make good arguments.

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