Assessment to inform practice

1. Assessment to inform practice Jenny Simon, El Camino CollegeLouise Yarnall, SRI International Jane Ostrander, De Anza College

2. Agenda Case Study (30 mins.) Questions/Transition (10 mins.) SBL Hands-on (45 mins.) Reflection (15 mins.) Closing comments (10 mins.)

3. 1. CaseStudy Jenny Simon, El Camino College

4. The Zenof theEl Camino College Response to theStudent Learning OutcomesandAssessment Mandate Dr. Jenny Simon

5. Constructing a Zen Path: The Strategy – Complete Assessment Cycles 5

6. Constructing a Zen Path – The Goal: 6

7. Constructing a Zen Path – The Plan: • Three co-coordinators lead a college-wide Assessment of Learning Committee tasked with: • Reporting forms and protocols • Creating outcomes and assessment plans at all • levels • Designing faculty training (Flex Day & Assessment • of Student Learning Week) • Growing infrastructure as the project expands • Establishing ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLES 7

8. Selected Assessment Principles • Personnel directly involved in a course, program or service are finally responsible, but broad participation in assessment cycles is a shared responsibility. • One size will not fit all. Student learning outcomes are defined and assessed in various ways. • Assessment results are used to improve student learning through curricular, planning and budget decisions. • Adjunct faculty are invited to participate in assessments, but they are not required to do so before relevant contractual issues are settled.

9. How the ESL Department Took on the Challenge • First Assessment: ESL 53A (low intermediate writing/grammar class) • ESL faculty created a rubric • Took a sample of essays (5 per section) • Adjuncts invited to participate—and they did • Data: total scores of essays • Results: used to improve assessment itself

10. How the ESL Department Took on the Challenge • Second Assessment: ESL 53B (high intermediate writing/grammar class) • Rubric taken from California Pathways • Took a sample of essays (5 per section) • Adjuncts invited to participate—and they did • Data: total scores of essays and scores for each primary trait on the rubric • Results: used to improve teaching and program organization

11. Questions/Comments? Jenny Simon, Ed.D. ESL Faculty / SLO Assessment Coordinator El Camino College Torrance, CA (310) 532-3670 x 5187 jsimon@elcamino.edu

12. 2. SBL • Task Modules: • Students as employees • Professional deliverables • Faculty as managers • Collaboration & problem solving • Reflection on experience • http://elc.fhda.edu Scenario-Based Learning Project • Fields: • Network security • Computer programming • Engineering • Environmental studies • Bioinformatics

13. SBL Scenario-Based Learning Project • Challenges of SBL: • How do you know students are learning? • How do you grade all the “soft” skills? • Is this worth all the effort? • Our approach to addressing these problems: • Role of Assessment

14. SBL Scenario-Based Learning Project • Assessment Activities: • We engaged instructors in activities like you will do today • We collaboratively designed assessments with them • They helped us study how valid they were • Goals to help instructors: • Reduce the “signal to noise” around core learning goals in SBL • Avoid the trap of “low expectations” of procedural proficiency • Gain confidence in “soft skills” assessment and feedback

15. 3.SBL Scenario-Based Learning Project • Hands-on Task (Introduction, 10 mins.; Task, 10 mins.) • We will engage you in an activity like we did with the SBL instructors • Hand out sheets with interview protocols • Team up in pairs • Take turns interviewing each other for 5 minutes, filling out worksheets • Hand in your worksheets

16. SBL Scenario-Based Learning Project • Design pattern creation (10 mins.) • We will engage you in another activity like we did with the SBL instructors • Need a volunteer team selected from returned worksheets • Louise will walk through worksheets and fill out part of design pattern

19. 4. Reflection assessment that informs practice

20. Reflect on… The Case Study SBL Activity Assessment informing Your practice • What did the interview process feel like? • What did you learn from the interviews? • How would the case study’s processes work at your campus? In your Division?

21. Closing Questions?

22. Additional information ostranderjane@fhda.edu louise.yarnall@sri.com jsimon@elcamino.edu http://elc.fhda.edu