Outcomes Assessment Reports

a newsletter and Web log by Frank Vozzo   Director of Student Learning Outcomes Assessment

 

January 9, 2006

In this report:

• VPAA's Summer 2006 Outcomes Assessment Awards.
• Assessment of learning outcomes for student group work.
• Syllabusology.

All members of the faculty received an e-mail invitation to apply for the Summer 2006 Outcomes Assessment awards.  Proposals are due to the Faculty Development Committee (Jayne Boisvert, Chair) by February 20, 2006.  There will be three awards, each amounting to $1000.  See CampusCruiser/My Cruiser/Dashboard/My Committees/TSC Faculty Staff and Administrators/Shared Files/Faculty Grants and Awards/VPAA Outcomes Assessment Awards for Summer 2006.doc for details.

I offer my assistance to any member of the faculty who wants to apply.  I will help you make a plan and write a proposal.

There are many courses at Sage that rely on student group work.  What are your objectives for student learning in group settings, and how aware are you as an instructor of the impediments to learning that your students face when they work in groups?

One of the hardest things about working in groups from a student's perspective is dealing with lazy partners.  We can't eliminate this problem entirely, but there are things that we can do to encourage cooperation:

• Write clear goals and objectives (explain to your students why it is necessary for them to work in groups-- given an understanding of the expected outcomes, they will police themselves).
• Provide the groups with guidelines for how the work of the group might be divided up.
• Meet individually with groups to discuss your expectations vs. theirs, and to point out the group dynamics difficulties they might encounter.
• Reward good effort.
• Divide the project up into parts that encourage group members to pace themselves.

Anonymous surveys (both during and after the project) are especially valuable.  Students will be reluctant to come forward and name names (by the time they actually do, it may be too late to intervene).

"The detailed syllabus is the richest source of soft data, and it enables us to anchor assessment firmly in the classroom experience" (Mike Strada, West Liberty State College, syllabus-writing expert).  As you prepare for the Spring 2006 semester, consider taking your syllabus to the next level.

A course outline is not the same as a syllabus.  A useful course syllabus describes testing and other methods of gauging progress, relates specific tasks to the goals and objectives, gives students suggestions on how to study, and gives students suggestions on how to self-assess.  In taking the time to refine your syllabus, you will disclose and reflect on your beliefs and assumptions about your courses and your students.  Until you have done this, you can't really communicate expectations to students effectively.

Additional benefits of a detailed syllabus include getting and staying organized, heading off student misunderstandings, heading off student complaints, and demonstrating to students your willingness to be held accountable (modeling accountability for them).

Consider changing your syllabus during and at the end of a semester, rather than at the beginning of one.  That way you can easily remember the improvements you've made to the course since its last offering by referring to it.

Reference for further reading:

• "Neglect Not the Syllabus" by Mike Strada, in Thriving in Academe, NEA Higher Education Advocate Online, available at http://www.nea.org/he/advo01/advo0106/thriving.html 

In next week's OARs: portfolios.

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