Planning, Tips for Implementing, and Embedded Assessment

Palomba "Planning for Assessment" Reading

This article advised that we need to think about who will be responsible for the assessment activities in each program area. This piece echoes the need to have a statement about the purposes of assessment (we started a working draft in our wiki last session!). This document suggests that we make a planning matrix showing the types of assessment activities that will be used, and the schedule for the assessment activities -- an idea that we will want to revisit once we figure out what we are doing! The article suggests that we set up a matrix with a separate row for each expected competences and columns that show the data needed for assessment, the group that will be assessed, the assessment method, the individual responsible for conducting the assessment and the timeline -- we had a similar scheme for program assessment this Spring only it was a document set up vertically instead of horizontally. “One of the best initial steps that faculty can take when selecting assessment techniques is to discuss thoughtfully the characteristics of methods that matter to them. Issues of technical quality, convenience, timeliness, and cost will likely dominate that discussion. The value that an assessment activity has for students also is important." -- we will have discussions like this periodically from now on as we design and look at assessment results and determine next steps.
A final take-away for me from this article was a listing of assessment practices that contribute to learning:
Setting high expectations, Creating synthesizing experiences, promoting active learning and ongoing practice of learned skills, encouraging collaborative learning, and providing assessment with prompt feedback

"Tips for Implementing the Process" Reading

These tips all seem worth thinking about:
­ - Establish faculty buy-in before beginning the assessment process
­ - Start small
­ - Involve the faculty who teach the courses including adjuncts
­ - Reward faculty leaders and/or faculty who are involved in assessment
­ - Provide workshops to assist faculty in developing assessment plans – especially faculty-to-faculty workshops
­ - Provide support with data collection and data analysis


"Embedded Assessment" Reading

This article gives concrete examples of what we might suggest to groups of faculty for assessment of gen ed.
This article also affirmed the approach used by many program areas this Spring 10:
­ - Fieldwork activities, service-learning activities
­ - Exams and parts of exams
­ - Homework assignments
­ - Oral presentations
­ - Group projects and presentations
­ - In-class writing assignments and Learning Journals
­ - Etc.

The article also gives insight on the strengths and weaknesses of embedded assessment – it advises that if we use embedded assessment, then we need to agree on a grading scheme.

The article advises that some assignments used for embedded assessment may need some minor tweaking and that in general we should embed the assessment in more that one course taught by more than one instructor so that information from the assessment can be generalized. The article also suggests that we pilot test embedded assessment assignments and scoring guides to ensure that the leaning outcome being assessed is appropriately targeted.

The conclusing examples of colleges use of Embedded Assessment didn't seem too helpful to me.