RE: Assessment

In keeping with COD's commitment to the North Central Association to implement the College's 1994 assessment plan, the Outcomes Assessment Committee proposed three goals for 1996 - 1997, all of which have been approved and endorsed by the College Administration.

• Expose the faculty to the concepts and models of Outcomes Assessment by devoting the Faculty Development Day on November 1, 1996, to the topic of Outcomes Assessment.
• Encourage each faculty member to try at least one classroom based assessment technique during the 1996-1997 academic year.
• Encourage each department/discipline to conduct an outcomes measurement on at least one multi-section course.

The Faculty In-Service Day, Maximizing Assessment Strategies, will be held on Friday, November 1 from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm. For this event, the Student Outcomes Assessment Committee has set some ambitious but quite attainable goals for all the participants:

· To understand what Assessment is and the nature of COD's commitment.

· To experience a number of Classroom Assessment Techniques and tounderstand how easily and usefully they could be integrated into the classroom.

· To help choose and plan their discipline's assessment of a multi-section course.

· And to have a lot of fun while doing all this!

The featured speaker will be Jeff Siebert, a nationally recognized expert on Student Outcomes Assessment. The rest of the day will be given over to an exciting variety of activities. Watch for further details.

To use a much abused term, a paradigm shift is taking place in higher education in regards to measuring institutional effectiveness and awarding accreditation. In the traditional paradigm, often referred to as the Instructional Model, effectiveness is measured primarily by the quantity of instruction offered: how many classes, how many students, how many faculty, how many hours of instruction, how many computers, how many library books, etc. In the newer paradigm, the Learning Model, the prime focus is how well students have learned, and this is measured at the classroom, departmental, and institutional levels. The buzzword, Student Outcomes Assessment, is a reflection of an underlying shift in the definition of what a college is. In the traditional paradigm, a college exists to provide instruction; in the newer paradigm, a college exists to produce learning.

Across the country, regional accrediting agencies have shifted to this newer paradigm, and the North Central Association, the agency that accredits COD, is no exception. This is not, however, some new, untested educational fad; many of the professional associations that accredit the health and technology programs here at COD have relied on outcomes assessment for years. They believe that measuring what students have actually learned and how they have grown professionally and intellectually is by far the best way to measure the success of the program and the institution.

Unlike some of the measurements used in the Instructional Model, Student Outcomes Assessment is a continual process, one that constantly seeks to improve learning. It is not something that is undertaken once every five or ten years to prove to an accrediting agency that a college is doing an OK job. Assessment provides timely, useful information in as efficient a manner as possible so that students, faculty, and administrators can make every effort to enhance the learning process.

In December of 1994, the COD Assessment of Student Academic Achievement Committee published the Plan for the Assessment of Student Academic Achievement. This 99 page document is the basis of COD's Student Outcomes Assessment initiative. This past year, the newly formed Student Outcomes Assessment Committee has grappled with ways to turn the Plan into concrete actions, especially at the classroom and department levels. Elsewhere in this newsletter some of those efforts are noted, and the Committee sincerely hopes that all COD faculty will keep an open mind as they learn what Student Outcomes Assessment actually is, how readily it can be implemented at the classroom and departmental levels, and the huge payoff it offers in improving the teaching/learning environment.

Q. Isn't Outcomes Assessment just a sneaky way for administrators to evaluate faculty?

A. As succinctly as possible, the answer is a resounding "No!"

Student Outcomes Assessment is performed at three levels: the institutional level, the discipline/department level, and the classroom level. At none of these levels is data generated upon which an individual faculty member could be evaluated.

At the institutional level, students are tracked to measure their progress while at the college, and then after leaving, their success is tracked at higher levels of education and/or in the workplace. At the discipline/department level the focus is most often on multi-section courses and how well those courses have been constructed to meet students' learning needs. At the classroom level, the individual professor chooses what assessment techniques to use and how to respond to the data gathered. The information is usually anonymous and ungraded, and it is for the private use of the professor and students to create an improved learning environment.

Q. Aren't Testing and Assessment essentially the same thing?

A. Again, the answer is "No." Testing is usually defined as a large scale program conducted at institution, state, or national levels, usually by measurement experts, to determine what students have learned in college. Examples would include the GRE, GMAT, LSAT, etc.

By contrast, Assessment is a means for focusing our collective attention, examining assumptions, and creating a shared culture dedicated to understanding and continuously improving the quality of higher learning. It is

higher education's response to the Continuous Quality Improvement initiative of business and industry.

 
Call For Questions

Do you have a question you'd like addressed in this column? If so, direct it to Irene Kovala or Russ Watson, Co-chairs of the Outcomes Committee, or talk to any of the Committee members: Lesli Beltran, Jim Belz, Chuck Boone, Nancy Conradt, Mike Cordonnier, Dan Fuller, Mary Hill, Danica Hubbard, Dan Kies, Peter Klassen, John Kovach, Rosemary McKinney, Ingrid Peternel, Deb Postlewait, Jack Rogers, Dick Voss, or Helen Zaleski.
The Outcomes Assesssment Committee suggests you save these newsletters for future reference.

Classroom Assessment Techniques (CAT's) are often deceptively simple devices that not only provide the professor with useful feedback but also provide students with enhanced learning skills.

A case in point is a technique called The Minute Paper. Near the end of the class, the professor asks the students to respond on an index card or a half a sheet of paper to the following two questions:

A. What was the most important thing you learned during this class?

B. What important question remains unanswered or unclear in your mind?

The professor may ask the papers to be signed or unsigned, but anonymity may elicit significantly more candid responses.

From the standpoint of feedback, the professor gets an immediate yet manageable response to how well that day's learning experience was received by students. During the next class period, the professor can promptly clear up any misconceptions and help students sort out major concepts from more minor related issues.

Additionally, The Minute Paper engages students to be active learners. They must first recall what has gone on during the class period and evaluate what they think is most important. They must also self-assess to determine what it is that they have understood and what remains unanswered or unclear.

If the Minute Paper and similar CAT's are used on a regular basis, students are encouraged to develop a number of learning skills that they might not in a more passive environment:

· The ability to synthesize and integrate informa tion and ideas

· The ability to think holistically and see the whole as well as the parts

· Improved attention, concentration, and listening skills

· The development of appropriate study skills, strategies, and habits

· Enhanced attention to the vocabulary,

concepts, and theories of the subject

All in all, a Classroom Assessment Technique like The Minute Paper can provide a significant educational payoff for a very minimal investment in class time and effort.

A Chance To Share

Do you have a favorite Classroom Assessment Technique that you'd like to share in this column? Let anyone on the Committee know, and we'll arrange to interview you and write up what you did and how it has enhanced your teaching.

Copyright © 1998 College of DuPage
Students' Outcomes Assessment Committee  · (630)-942-2081
outcomes@cdnet.cod.edu
Updated December 15, 2006
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