AAC&U's Network for Academic Renewal

General Education, Assessment, and the Learning Students Need

February 26-28, 2009

Baltimore, Maryland

Conference website: http://www.aacu.org/meetings/generaleducation/index.cfm

Program: http://www.aacu.org/meetings/generaleducation/gened2009/documents/GE09PreliminaryProgram.pdf

Note:  These sessions were identified simply by a broad search of the online program for the word "portfolio."  This may not be a comprehensive list and the sessions themselves may not be specifically related to our understanding or use of ePortfolios.  We invite your additions, corrections, and comments on other related sessions and events at this conference that may be of interest to EPAC members. 

POSTER: Achieving Better Horizontal and Vertical Integration in the Curriculum: A Four-Year Personal Development Portfolio

Nan R. Covert, Associate Professor of Art and Art History, Catherine L. Elick, Professor of English, and Edward W. Huffstetler, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs—all of Bridgewater College

The poster session will present Bridgewater College’s signature program, the Personal Development Portfolio program, as a model and practical example of achieving better horizontal and vertical integration in the undergraduate curriculum. Bridgewater’s mission is to educate the “whole person,” and the PDP serves as a vehicle for making that education more coherent and intentional for students than traditional liberal arts programs sometimes are. With critical reflection as a pedagogical foundation, the program helps students reflect on their liberal arts experience in a more holistic way, make connections within the curriculum as well as between the curriculum and co-curriculum, and do so throughout the four years. A poster display, computer slides, and video clips will highlight the PDP, the foundational role of critical reflection, and the ways in which the program fosters better horizontal and vertical integration.

ROUNDTABLE: Guided Reflection: A Tool for Fostering and Measuring Deep Learning of Characteristics Such as Open-Mindedness and Critical Thinking

Thomas W. Zane, Director of Assessment Quality and Validity—Western Governors University

Most institutions of higher education claim that their graduates develop characteristics such as critical thinking, open-mindedness, applying theory to practice, and motivation for lifelong learning. But faculty and staff charged with measuring deep learning in these areas know that this is not easy. A portfolio that includes some form of student reflection is often seen as a way to measure these less tangible characteristics, but some attempts to establish a portfolio or a reflection piece as a means of assessment have faltered because they have not generated sufficient or robust evidence. This roundtable will discuss approaches to teaching and measuring reflection that are geared toward these characteristics and that address shortcomings related to quantity and quality of evidence.

CONCURRENT SESSION: Tk20 CampusWide™ Assessment and Reporting Solution

Yi-Ping Huang, Director of Assessment and Information, Department of Education—University of Maryland, Baltimore County; and Bhupi Bhasin, President—Tk20

This session will present the Tk20 CampusWide system for outcomes-based assessment and measurement of institutional effectiveness. The facilitator will discuss how users can: (a) specify institutional mission, goals, and learning outcomes; (b) generate assessment plans for those outcomes; (c) track program improvements; (d) import data from other systems; and (e) provide comprehensive reporting. Participants will examine sample faculty activity data, course evaluations, and data collected through surveys and a variety of student assessments, including electronic portfolios. They will gain insights into reporting on institutional research, student retention, data-based decision-making, and accreditation-based reporting.

PLENARY: Examining Practices for Assessment and Reporting on Student Achievement

John Hammang, Director of Special Projects and Development—American Association of State Colleges and Universities; Terrel Rhodes, Vice President for Quality, Curriculum, and Assessment—Association of American Colleges and Universities; and David Shulenburger, Vice President for Academic Affairs—National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges

This panel will examine the effectiveness of—and relationships among—a variety of tools used to measure student learning of specific outcomes. In the current climate of accountability, the panelists will discuss a major FIPSE-funded project designed to explore tools that both public and private campuses can use for assessment and reporting on student learning. Measures include: (a) the Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential (MAPP),

Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP), and Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) tests; (b) a new survey on student growth that focuses on learning outcomes not measured by existing instruments; and (c) new rubrics intended to assess a broad range of essential learning outcomes through electronic portfolios. Following an overview of the project and an exchange among presenters, there will be opportunities for questions about the project and about the usefulness of these measures for assessing learning and for communicating results to stakeholders.

CONCURRENT SESSION: Show Me the Learning: Valid Assessment of Student Learning

Wende Morgaine, Research Associate and Terry Rhodes, Vice President for Quality,

Curriculum, and Assessment—both of the Association of American Colleges and Universities

AAC&U’s VALUE (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education) initiative is a research- and campus-based initiative designed to embed the essential learning outcomes at the center of the educational experience and to help campus leaders assess the levels at which students are learning them. The initiative is generating leadership for high-quality assessment, promising practices and curricular designs, and an assessment framework for campuses to adapt and use. This session will introduce participants to VALUE, focusing on the development of rubrics keyed to the essential learning outcomes and how these rubrics are being used to assess learning through the work students do in the curriculum and cocurriculum. Examples of rubrics and student e-portfolios will be shared and discussed.

CONCURRENT SESSION: Engaging Faculty and Administrators in Outcomes Assessment

Kristy Lisle, Education Solutions Specialist—TaskStream

As administrators guide campus-wide collaboration and communication regarding institutional effectiveness, they seek tools to streamline the processes and support the efforts of faculty and staff. TaskStream provides such a tool in its web-based Accountability Management System (AMS), which can help promote a culture of educational excellence in academic and non-academic units. In this session, the facilitator will: (a) demonstrate how to create and manage web-based assessment plans in real time; (b) highlight the system’s capability to manage the flow of assessment processes; (c) discuss the use of the AMS to prepare accreditation reports; and (d) showcase the system’s Learning Achievement Tools, including student e-Portfolios.

CONCURRENT SESSION: Up, Down, Across, and Around: Designing an Integrative Approach to

General Education Kent

Brian O’Sullivan, Director of the Writing Center, Christina Torres, Student, and Elizabeth Nutt Williams, Dean of the Core Curriculum and First Year Experience—all of Saint Mary's College of Maryland

The core curriculum model at St. Mary’s College of Maryland uses four fundamental liberal arts skills (critical thinking, information literacy, written expression, and oral expression) to connect courses across general education, majors, and minors, and chart the educational progression of students from first year to senior year. In this session, facilitators will introduce the integrative learning model, share assessment data, and offer a student’s perspective on the model. They will focus attention on how the college has laid the groundwork for the integrated curriculum through its first-year seminar, and they will highlight the seminar’s writing-intensive focus and specific assessment approach. Participants will be invited into collaborative problem-solving discussions on diverse topics, such as the use of e-portfolios to assess integrative learning and the difficulties of providing a model that works for all sectors of the college.

FEATURED SESSION: ePortfolios for General Education: Enriching and Assessing Student Learning

Bret Eynon, Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Executive Director, LaGuardia Center for Teaching and Learning—LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York

ePortfolios create opportunities for students and faculty to examine and enrich the learning process. Comprised of digital collections of students’ work and their reflections on learning, ePortfolios can build engagement, advance core competencies, and help students craft new identities as learners. At the same time, ePortfolios can support the authentic assessment processes that are often seen as crucial to meaningful general education reform. Reviewing examples of student ePortfolios, participants will explore relationships among pedagogy, technology, and assessment, and consider the challenges and opportunities for ePortfolio work on their own campuses.

CONCURRENT SESSION: Using e-Portfolios to Enrich and Assess Student Learning

Bret Eynon, Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Executive Director, LaGuardia Center for Teaching and Learning—LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York

Dr. Eynon will use this opportunity to facilitate participant examination of e-portfolios and discussion of their potential uses and strategies for adaptation with colleagues. The workshop will build on the information and insights of the previous featured session and provide a hands-on experience for participants to apply new ideas to their own unique work with students.

CONCURRENT SESSION: PGA vs. GPA: Evaluating General Education Curriculum and Measuring Student Learning Using Alternative Assessment Tools

Mark R. Hall, Coordinator of General Education and Professor of English and Kenneth M. Weed, Coordinator of Planning and Institutional Accreditation and Associate Professor of Chemistry—both of Oral Roberts University

Oral Roberts University’s ePortfolio assessment enables faculty to make informed decisions concerning ORU’s general education program in order to ensure that required courses reflect the institution’s mission-focused learning outcomes. Since fall 2004, enough data has been collected from faculty-developed rubrics to show how well courses meet established criteria for the various learning outcomes and to determine a Personal Growth Assessment (PGA) score for each student. The facilitators, English and Chemistry professors, will present ePortfolio data for some of their courses and demonstrate how well these courses fit the general education outcomes and how PGA scores are determined. They will then discuss the process for curriculum revision. Participants will be able to apply these techniques to their own disciplines and courses, share their comments with the group, and bring specific and pertinent ideas back to their institutions.