Assessment in the Humanities

Just in time for Maria Curtin’s roundtable Monday on “Assessment Tools We All Can Use,” David Scobey writes this week in Inside Higher Ed about the resistance many faculty in the humanities feel toward assessments of student learning:

Yet (especially in a time of scarcity and crisis) it is a fair challenge to the academy that we be accountable for the vast resources and autonomy to which we lay claim-that we offer a compelling argument about our value to the larger society. Precisely because others have their own reductionist agendas of how to measure success in higher education, we need to offer our own vision of means and ends. The most self-damaging response we can make is to build a defensive bulwark of guild privileges around ourselves.

More substantively, it is not simply in our interest but in the best traditions of the humanities to pose the questions that underlie the calls for assessment. What constitutes a good liberal education, one that is emancipatory and transformative for students? What is the distinctive role of the humanities in that education? How do we know whether our educational practices embody these values? It is hard to find assessment tools that advance rich answers to these questions; all the more reason for skeptical humanists to enter the conversation.

Read the full article here.

Teaching Roundtable: Assessment Tools for Everyone

Assessment Tools We All Can Use
Maria Curtin (Chemistry) 

Monday, March 30th
2:00 – 3:00 pm
Duffy 114 Conference Room

 

This past semester, Maria Curtin coordinated an assessment project in her department, seeking to evaluate whether recent changes to the General Chemistry course have positively impacted student learning as well as students’ perceptions of the discipline.

To do so, she used a free online tool called the Student Assessment of their Learning Gains (SALG), which allows instructors to gather learning-focused feedback from students. The SALG survey can be customized to fit any course, and a baseline instrument allows faculty to compare gains relative to incoming student characteristics.

For this roundtable, Professor Curtin will talk about how she used SALG for this project and share her ideas for how it can be adapted for use in other disciplines. This will serve as a jumping off point for a broader conversation about other kinds of assessment faculty are doing in their courses at Stonehill and what tools they’ve found most helpful.

March Issue of Teaching Professor

The March 2009 issue of The Teaching Professor newsletter is now available online.  Information about accessing the newsletter from off-campus can be found on the CLT website.

• “Individual Ability and Group Work” looks at two studies that investigate whether student groups are best formed among students of similar or varied ability levels;
• “Preparing Teaching Philosophy Statements” presents some strategies for getting started writing a teaching statement; 
• “Six Causes of Resistance to Learning” summarizes Stephen Brookfield’s discussion of student resistance in The Skillful Teacher;
• “Avoiding Mediocre Lab Reports with Creative Assignments” reports on how geology professor, Robert Badger, incorporates creative writing into his lab projects in order to better engage students and improve their writing; and
• “No Time for Revision?” offers suggestions for building in opportunities for students to receive feedback on drafts without creating a lot more work for the instructor.

Also in the March issue:

• “Learning Communities: Benefits Across the Board?”
• “Going Global by Using Local”
• “Using Personal Essay Assignments to Encourage Substantive Discussion of Course Content”
• “A Blog, a Physics Course, and a Change in Student Attitudes”

Instructional Development Grant deadline Apr 1st

In addition to the regular monthly deadline for the Travel Pedagogy Grant, this April 1st is also the deadline for the CTL’s SOTL Research Grant and Classroom Innovation Grant.  Visit the CTL’s website to download the application guidelines and to see examples of past proposals that have been funded. 

SOTL Research Grant 
one grant awarded per year

Awarded annually, this $2500 grant provides support for a faculty member or faculty team engaged in research related to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL). A maximum of $1000 of the grant will be awarded as a stipend, and the remaining funds are available to cover research and travel costs related to the project, as well as funding for student research assistance. Preference will be given to projects leading towards publication.

Classroom Innovation Grant
six grants awarded per year

Awarded each semester, these grants provide “start-up” funds for innovative projects meant to enhance student learning. Typically capped at $1000, the grant can support a range of projects: development of curricular materials, course-related student publications, and instructional technology innovations (in some circumstances, technology requests may exceed the typical $1000 cap). This grant cannot be used for a faculty stipend.

Teaching Roundtable: Problem-Based Learning

   

Problem-Based Learning

Wednesday, March 18, 11:00 – 12:00
Duffy 114 Conference Room

 

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an emerging pedagogy that builds on research that shows that students learn best when they learn for themselves.  It challenges students to “learn how to learn” as they work cooperatively in groups to seek solutions to real world problems.  PBL projects can last from a few days to an entire semester.  

Originally most popular in medical and professional schools, PBL has recently been gaining popularity in the sciences, social sciences, and even the humanities.

For this roundtable, Bob Dugan and John Lanci will share experiences using problem-based learning at Stonehill.  We will talk about what they’ve learned about making PBL work, as well as share resources for those curious to learn more about incorporating PBL in their own classes.

Hiring new Director of Community-Based Learning

Thanks to a generous grant from the Davis Foundation, the Center for Teaching and Learning is excited to be hiring its first Director of Community-Based Learning.  The new Director will be a resource to faculty who wish to incorporate community-based learning pedagogies into their classes.

The Director will provide one-on-one support to faculty by

• connecting them with community partners whose needs are in line with their own course goals;
• consulting with faculty about different approaches for designing effective CBL experiences;
• coordinating logistics, such as transportation and tracking of student hours; and
• assisting with gathering feedback from students and community partners, as requested.

The Director will also be responsible for building our collection of CBL-related resources and creating opportunities for faculty development around community-based learning pedagogy and scholarship.

You can read the full job call on the Stonehill employment website.

If you have any input about the search or questions about it, please contact Stacy Grooters.

The Davis Educational Foundation was established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after Mr. Davis’s retirement as chairman of Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc.

NPR story on “clickers”

This week “All Tech Considered” investigates the use of “clickers” in the classroom.

Listen online here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101343866