April, 2001 1

28 Right- and Left-handed Tools for all

Seasons:

A Toolbox of Useful Items to Embed a Culture of Assessment in General Education, Discipline-

Level, and the Classroom.Ingrid Peternel Presented at the NCARuss Watson Annual Meeting Peter Klassen April 1, 2001Jan Geesaman Chicago, Illinois

College of DuPageCollege of DuPage

April, 2001 2

Toolbox Assemblages for

Classroom,Discipline and Program Assessment,Institutional Assessment of General Education,Communication, a route to building support

April, 2001 3

Classroom Assessment

What are the tools?Angelo & Cross – Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, 2nd ed. Faculty letterReport Form

Hard Copy Online

April, 2001 4

Classroom Assessment

How have we used them?Target: Full-time facultyTarget: Part-time Faculty

Credit Courses

Continuous Cycle

April, 2001 5

Classroom Assessment

What have we learned about making them work better?Modifying the formSchedule of Reporting

April, 2001 6

Discipline and Program Assessment

Specific disciplines we have developed tools for multi-section offerings and discipline wide assessments:

Sociology - Assessing sociological perspective, vocabulary, theory, and content accuracy.English 101 - Assessed for strengths and weakness on rubrics related to course content.

April, 2001 7

Discipline and Program Assessment

Inorganic chemistry assessment used Am. Chem. Society Chem. Ed Exams to determine students were performing at levels of national norms.Biology 101 - Developed a pre- post-test model, also asked for hours working, hours studying per week, and whether they asked questions in class or visited profs during office hours.

April, 2001 8

Discipline and Program Assessment

Established Discipline-Level ‘Contact Faculty’ to serve as liaisons between Assessment Committee and specific disciplines.An internal ‘mini-grant’ system through the ‘Innovation Incubator’ encouraging projects related to assessment and improving college-level reading skills.

April, 2001 9

Discipline and Program Assessment

A two-purpose pre-/ post-test design in developmental writing classes and reading classes to:

1) Confirm appropriate placement in the class, and 2) to document student progress.

Success rate comparisons among developmental course placements

April, 2001 10

General Education – the Challenges:

(Defining general education)A very large churning student population

Who’s designated as entering, exiting?How to get participation?

Statewide and national comparisons of value added, and success

April, 2001 11

General Education – Design Responses:

Use sampling of course sections to attain a representative sampling.Use a standardized instrument

Focused on skills (not knowledge)

With appropriate national norms Use local questions to gather subject responsesUse a student tracking system to provide additional information about students

April, 2001 12

General Education – Implementation Responses:

Connecting CAAP To General Education To instructional activity: skills as necessary tools, test validity

Recruiting faculty cooperationLetter, phone, e-mail contactsPutting a “good” face on it

Student cooperationInvitationClassroom testingFeedbackReward

April, 2001 13

Promoting cooperation and support

Spearheaded by facultyInterlocking assessment with institutional organizationFeedback to the collegeDialogs, forms, discussions

April, 2001 14

Communication - the route to building support

What are the tools?How have we used them?What have we learned about making them work better?

April, 2001 15

Contact Information

Outcomes Assessment Committee College of DuPage – 425 22nd St., Glen Ellyn, IL 60137www.cod.edu/outcomes

Russell J. Watson, Ed.D.watson@cdnet.cod.edu

Jan Geesaman – geesaman@cdnet.cod.edu

Ingrid Peternel – peternel@cdnet.cod.edu

Peter T. Klassen, Ph.D.p.klassen@documentingexcellence.com