Ninth Annual Western Assessment Conference

Program

March 18, 2005

Keynote Workshop

“Formative Assessment” or “Using Assessment as a Diagnostic Tool to Improve Student Learning and Enhance Program Effectiveness”

Dr. Larry H. Kelley, Executive Director of the Consortium for Assessment and Planning Support – Assessment Network (CAPS AssessNet), will present a comprehensive overview of an innovative process that utilizes regularly scheduled assignments for both grading and assessment purposes.  The primary focus of the session will be moving from “end of program only assessment” to “term to term assessment.”  The presentation will emphasize the use of assessment results to revise the curriculum or initiate other program changes/improvements and to identify and address student learning concerns as students proceed through their educational programs.  After the formal presentation, participants will develop formative assessment plans and related assessment instruments.

Technology Workshop

This workshop will cover the basics of utilizing qualitative software to assist in various aspects of student assessments. Basic coding principles will be reviewed, with a special emphasis on how general themes can be easily and consistently applied across student assignments. For example, written assignments are often graded according to a set list of criteria, including appropriate citations of relevant literature, sentence structure, paragraph structure, transitions, conclusions, and appropriate use of quotations. We will work to develop a customized list of grading criteria for each participant, with a focus on how this basic list can be tailored to different courses and assignments. In addition, we will concentrate on how areas for improvement and developmental feedback can be efficiently and effectively communicated back to students. Finally, we will cover the wide variety of software packages currently available for qualitative assessment, with special attention to their potential uses, strengths, and weaknesses.  

Classifying Rubrics Workshop

Student Language Errors and Developing Criterion-Referenced Language Assessment Rubrics

Most faculty have no training in evaluating non-native English, but would like some principled way to critique the language skills displayed in their students’ work. The proposed workshop will begin by highlighting some of the most common areas of difficulty for non-native English speakers, enabling attendees to attach accurate labels to their descriptions of student work. This will be followed by training faculty to develop scoring rubrics appropriate to their individual disciplines and academic contexts.

Technology Workshop

Course Embedded Assessment: Doing the Right Thing Efficiently

Faculty, students and industry partners in the CSU, Chico College of Business collaborated to develop and implement a web-based system that enables efficient and effective course-embedded assessment.  The system allows an academic unit to define its programs, learning goals, course assignments and rubrics and have these evaluated by relevant constituents.  This workshop demonstrates the system, shares preliminary results, discusses its contribution to continuous improvement and outlines how other schools can replicate the process.

Writing Assignment Workshop

Assignment Construction for Ease of Evaluation

This workshop will make it easier for faculty in all disciplines to create and grade writing assignments. Participants will learn how to write clear and precise instructions for writing assignments by breaking instructions into components that can be evaluated separately and quickly.

Planning Workshop

How to Develop a Faculty-driven Assessment Strategy

At the Program and Department Level

This workshop will assist faculty from all disciplines to create faculty-driven, mission-based assessment strategies by outlining a six-step assessment process.  A planning matrix including the objectives to be measured, the measures to be used, an assessment schedule, and population groups will be presented.   Methods to develop learning objectives will be discussed.  Changes made based on assessment results will also be presented.

Portfolio Workshop

Using LEAD as a model for assessing professional disciplines will be the primary focus of this presentation. A CSU-wide request to implement a plan for the assessment of student academic achievement prompted CDFS faculty at CSULB to develop and implement a plan to examine student learning outcomes in relationship to course objectives. Project LEAD (Learning and Enriching Assessment for child Development) entails a plan for the assessment of student academic achievement among individuals majoring in Child Development and Family Studies (CDFS) within the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at California State University, Long Beach. The project consists of two sets of portfolios; one generated by faculty and the other maintained by students. The goal of the Faculty portfolio is to ensure quality curriculum and instruction within CDFS courses. Beginning with the introductory CDFS major course, (FCS 111) The Preschool Child, and completing the students last semester within the major program, the students’ portfolios will be a comprehensive tool for students to assess their own knowledge throughout their educational experience. The goal of this project is to assess specific types of knowledge and skills that students are expected to acquire in the CDFS program and are able to demonstrate upon completion of the bachelor’s degree.

Program Evaluation Workshop

This presentation will describe three years of assessment data in a professional degree preparation program. Discussion of the results of the three years of assessments related to academic, professional and personal predictors of success in undergraduate education will be included in the discussion. A critique of the technology used to support the assessment program along with a discussion of the quality improvement model (CIPP) used in the department to drive changes to curriculum will be presented.