Learning Outcomes, Assessment, and Technology
Learning outcomes and assessment are often framed as being about institutional accountability. Accountability is important, but assessment is first and foremost about improving teaching and learning, while learning outcomes create a vision for graduates as effective citizens and lifelong learners.
This seminar will be an opportunity to learn more about institutional learning outcomes, hear from faculty members involved in a pilot program to integrate these outcomes into their specific courses, and explore the role of technology in facilitating assessment and achievement of learning outcomes. The seminar is cosponsored by the Provost's Council for Enhancing Student Learning.
Seminar
December 5 , 2007
12:00-1:30 p.m.
402 Walter Library
East Bank, Twin Cities campus
Access a UMConnect recording of the seminar, or subscribe to the podcast or vodcast.
Moderators:
Arlene Carney
Faculty & Academic Affairs, Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost (SVPP), Twin Cities
Ann Hill Duin
Office of Information Technology (OIT), Twin Cities
Panelists:
Ron Aminzade
Department of Sociology, College of Liberal Arts (CLA), Twin Cities
Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch
Department of Writing Studies, CLA, Twin Cities
William Goodman
Department of Family Social Science, College of Education and Human Development, Twin Cities
Kathleen Krichbaum
School of Nursing, Academic Health Center (AHC), Twin Cities
Kurtis Scaletta
Digital Media Center (DMC), OIT, Twin Cities
Readings
Angelo, Thomas A. “Doing Assessment as if Learning Matters Most.” AAHE Bulletin 51, no. 9 (May 1999): 3–6.
Tom Angelo is one of the most respected experts on the scholarship of assessment. This article represents a nice summation of the assessment movement, whose adherents contend that assessment practices can improve learning and foster communities in a way that transforms institutional culture. Though most of the article is devoted to describing a systemic vision for assessment, the section “10 Guidelines for Assessing as if Learning Matters Most” can serve as guidelines equally well for individual instructors or academic departments seeking a starting point for rethinking assessment practices.
Appleby, D. C. “The First Step in Student-Centered Assessment: Helping Students Understand Our Curricular Goals.” In The Assessment CyberGuide for Learning Goals and Outcomes in the Undergraduate Psychology Major. Washington, D.C.: The American Psychological Association, 2003.
Like many of the resources in the Assessment CyberGuide for Learning Goals and Outcomes in the Undergraduate Psychology Major, this article is useful far beyond the discipline of psychology. First, it is a good illustration of how an academic department articulates the purpose of their specific outcomes and how those outcomes support a vision for their graduates. Second, it goes step-by-step through the curriculum and explains how each course supports attainment of those outcomes. Third, and perhaps most importantly, it gives a clear sense that these outcomes are embedded within an ongoing conversation with students about their own goals and values.
Banta, T. W. “Using Technology in Assessment.” Assessment Update 16, no. 3 (May–June 2004): 3, 15.
A nationally recognized expert on institutional assessment, Banta introduces a feature issue of Assessment Update by expressing disappointment about how little assessment figures into discussions of online learning and describing a few innovative uses of technology for assessment that are covered in the issue.
Carney, A. “What Do We Want Our Students to Learn?” Transform 1, no. 1 (October 2006).
The lead story for the debut issue of the University of Minnesota’s Transform newsletter describes the intrinsic and extrinsic movement to value and reward teaching and learning within a top-flight research institution, a movement that can be seen as developing within the University of Minnesota for the past 20 years. One milestone in this institutional transformation is the proposal of seven learning outcomes developed by the Provost's Council for Enhancing Student Learning (CESL); the author describes the outcomes with elaborations and examples that help indicate how the outcomes can be mapped to specific courses in a departmental curriculum.
U.S. Department of Education. A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education. Washington, D.C., 2006.
Commonly called “The Spellings Report,” this controversial report from the U.S. Department of Education addresses several challenges faced by institutions of higher education including increasing costs, diminishing financial aid, and issues of access. Most important to this topic is the sentiment that the quality of public higher education is in decline. Whether or not this is a fair statement, the report indicates a need for universities to be transparent and methodical in assessing learning and more accountable to their constituencies.
