02/21/03 1

Susan Albertine

The College of New Jersey

Gloria John

Baltimore

Ron Henry

Georgia State University

Quality in Undergraduate Education QUE

02/21/03 2

Roles

• Communication specialist – Gloria John• Project adviser – Susan Albertine• Standards process experts – Education Trust

– Ruth Mitchell • Funders

– Pew Charitable Trusts – Michelle Seidl– ExxonMobil Foundation – Ed Ahnert

• Project evaluators - PSA

02/21/03 3

Roles

• Critical friends – disciplinary consultants– Spencer Benson – biology – U.Maryland– Jay Labov – biology – NRC– Gordon Uno – biology – U. Oklahoma - AIBS– Lendol Calder – history – Augustana College– Mills Kelly – history – George Mason– Jim Roth – history - Alverno– Paul Bodmer – English – NCTE– Susan Ganter – mathematics - Clemson– Bernie Madison – mathematics – MAA– Jerry Sarquis – chemistry – Miami Univ. Ohio - ACS

02/21/03 4

QUE Milestones

• Stage 1: Learning outcomes: What should students know, understand, and be able to do?– Learning outcomes for level 14– Learning outcomes for level 16 – Disciplinary contributions to General

Education learning outcomes

02/21/03 5

QUE Milestones

• Stage 2: Assessment: What is acceptable evidence that students have attained desirable understandings and proficiencies?– Aligning assignment with learning outcome– Developing scoring guides or rubrics– Constructing performance standards for a

learning outcome– Scoring student work

02/21/03 6

QUE Milestones

• Stage 3: Practical ideas for learning experiences and instruction– Coping with large numbers of students– Value of rubrics– Using electronic portfolios

02/21/03 7

QUE Milestones

• Stage 4: Moving to program level– Learning outcomes for sequences of courses– Gap analysis or Super-matrix– Impact of QUE work on department’s

curriculum

02/21/03 8

QUE Milestones

• Stage 5: Dissemination of best practices– Present at disciplinary association meetings

• Disciplinary associations adopt learning outcomes– Present at national meetings such as AAHE and

AAC&U– Publish monograph of case studies– Provide clearinghouse for rubrics, database for

examples of exemplar work at various levels

02/21/03 9

Framework for Cognitive Outcomes

Knowledge Declarative Procedural Schematic Strategic

Acquired in a Discipline

Reasoning; Comprehending; Problem Solving; Decision Making

In and across broad Disciplines

Verbal Reasoning; Quantitative Reasoning; Spatial Reasoning

Bro

ad A

bili

ties

Concrete, Content-Oriented

Direct Experience

Abstract,Process-Oriented

Inheritance x Accumulated

Experience

02/21/03 10

Why we are here - Objectives

• Assessment – the heart of the matter – Standards in practice – Scoring guide development

• To develop teaching strategies for assisting students in achieving standards

• Better overlap of the delivered curriculum and the experienced curriculum

02/21/03 11

Agenda Cluster Groups: Friday after dinner

Plenary Panel: Saturday 8:30-10:15 am

Disciplinary Group meetings: Saturday 10:30-noon What did you like best about the panel? What was relevant to your discipline?

Disciplinary Group meetings: Saturday1:00-3:00 pm; Sunday 9:00-10:30 am

Cross-disciplinary meeting: Saturday 3:15-4:30 pm

Focus Groups and Cluster Coordinators: Saturday 4:30-5:30 pm

Wrap up: Sunday 10:30-11:30 am

02/21/03 12

Agenda

Panel Plenary: Saturday 8:30-10:15 amLearning Across the Disciplines

Susan Albertine (moderator)Lendol CalderSusan GanterJames RothGordon Uno

02/22/03 13

What does my discipline need from your discipline?

What strategies does your discipline use for cross-disciplinary competencies?•Empathy; Conceptual understanding;

•Sensitivity to multiple perspectives;

•Problem solving; Sourcing; Data analysis;

•Recognizing limits of knowledge

Framing Questions

02/21/03 14

QUE Objectives • Development and use of standards for lower

division to facilitate the transition to upper division within 4-year institutions and for transfer from 2-year to 4-year institutions

• Development and use of standards for graduation from college

• Levels 14 and 16 represent performance-bound learning [not the time it takes to get there]

• Learner-centered learning, not time-specific or place-specific learning

02/21/03 15

QUE Deliverables

• Department and campus draft learning outcomes, performance descriptions, collections of student work, and assessments of student learning

02/21/03 16

Aligned course

---------

---------

----

----

02/21/03 17

Aligned Curriculum

A

B

D

F

G

I

J

LO1

LO2

LO3

LO4

LO5

E

C

H

ProgramCourses

02/21/03 18

Value of involvement in QUE

• Conversations of faculty across institutions• => more trust engendered between partners• => learning from experiences of other institutions• Value of Learning Community• => for both faculty and students • More emphasis on student reflection• => e-portfolio is a vehicle

02/21/03 19

Best Practices

• Make expectations for students explicit

• Give students opportunity to practice skills by engaging content being presented

• Faculty collaboration leading to reinforcement of student development through learning outcomes across courses rather than just in bookend courses

02/21/03 20

Best Practices

• Make expectations for faculty explicit

• Give faculty opportunity to practice skills by engaging content being presented

• Faculty collaboration leading to reinforcement of faculty development of learning outcomes across courses rather than just in bookend courses

02/21/03 21

Some final points about developing assessment

• Keeping looping back to actual student work

• It’s less about establishing “Measures” than about building “Communities of Judgement”

• It doesn’t stand still• Two most important adjectives are

– draft and voluntary

02/21/03 22

Next meetings Meeting in September 19-21, 2003 in New

OrleansFocus on design and student work

Potential speaker – Grant Wiggins

National meeting in spring 2004

02/21/03 23

Susan Albertine

The College of New Jersey

Gloria John

Baltimore

Ron Henry

Georgia State University

Quality in Undergraduate Education QUE