The end of the semester is a good time for reflection on what worked well (and not so well) in your courses.  Reflecting on end of the semester exams is a good place to start, as final exams supply concrete data that can be used to gain insight into what our students understand.
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Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Review how students did on each test question so you can gauge whether the question accomplished the goal you had in mind when you wrote it.

 

• Use test questions to analyze which learning outcomes students didn’t perform well on and consider how to address those outcomes better with class activities and additional practice time.

 

• Take note of any questions that were either frequently missed or answered incorrectly so you can revise them or eliminate them.

 

• Finally, based on your analysis of your end of the semester test, come up with which lessons and assignments helped your students most and use that information to focus your instruction.

The assessment of student learning committee is assessing information literacy and technological competency this semester. Below, you can find ways to assess these CLOs in your classes.
 
Require students to do the following for any assignment or class project:
 
Technological Competency

• Use word processing software
• Use spreadsheets and/or databases
• Use the Internet and Web basics
• Create graphics and multimedia
• Use presentation software such as Power Point and Prezi
• Participate in any electronic communication

This is not a comprehensive list. Feel free to use any technology specific to your discipline.
 
Information Literacy

• Use and acknowledge sources beyond their own knowledge and experience in their classwork
• Find and use relevant and credible information from a variety of sources to support their ideas or creative work
• Recognize different types of sources (e.g., popular and scholarly, primary and secondary) and use the best ones for their purpose
• Distinguish biased and false from objective and credible information
• Acknowledge or cite sources correctly that are used in a presentation, paper, project, or any other course work

(from 2-6-17 Faculty Focus)

Midterm evaluations bring a host of institutional measures to reach out to underachieving students. However, what might make the most difference to students’ success in their courses is to enable them to assess their own performance and set goals as well as to ask questions of and provide feedback to the instructor. Instructors can give students this reflective opportunity through an online journal assignment in which students do the following:

• Report their overall grade in the course
• Report their attendance record (when attendance is required)
• Reflect on their performance, whether it meets their expectations
• Provide goals for the rest of the course (often in the form of a GPA, but can also be learning outcomes)
• Provide feedback and ask questions

It is best to implement this progress report assignment about a third of the way through a course so that underperforming students can change trajectory before the midterm.

My experience with the assignment
Since I make all grades available on our university’s learning management system, students can always see their grades, but they often don’t check or acknowledge that these grades are available. Further, because not all professors provide grades automatically, students may not fully understand their progress even when grades are available.
Students take anywhere from 50 to 400 words to complete this journal assignment, based on their needs. Their posts 
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• What percentage of CLC students skim or don't complete reading assignments and why?
• What are our students' rationale for not reading, even when their professors say it's important to read?
• What are some things faculty can do to help (beyond just allowing time for questions and stating what's important in the reading)?

Don't know? Got four and a half minutes?  Then you must check out this fun Vimeo overview that succinctly covers the results of last year's AQIP survey and shares evidence-based strategies for improving reading that you can use in your class right now!

Kelly Black, Reading Faculty, shares the three main elements necessary in a good reading assignment.  

Clear Communication:

• Schedule it in the Syllabus when possible.
• Communicate the assignment orally in class and post in Blackboard.

Preview, Set Purpose and Communicate Importance: Why do you want them to read it? What will they be doing with it?  How do they know? How do you communicate this to them?

• Quick preview about what they should pay attention to while reading (can be done orally at the end of class or with a study guide).
• Introduce key concepts they will be reading about (orally or with a study guide).
• Consider making the study guides worth points.  Student tend to not do “optional” or “recommended”.  They do “required” and “points”.

Make it Matter:  follow up the readings with in-class activities for at least half the assignments.  Here are some ideas for doing so:

• Discussions:
  • Provide class time for students to ask questions about the reading.
  • Fishbowl discussions
  • Socratic Seminar
  • Muddiest point
  • Write-pair-share (sometimes called think-pair-share)
  • Problem-based questions that require them to reference the readings.
  • Jig saw
  • Small group discussions
• Quizzes and tests over the reading (can be open book/open note)
• Reference the readings in class
• Make connections between material learned in class and the assigned reading.
• Study/Discussion guides.  These can be complex, or very simple – using the same questions every time
  • Sample questions: What is the focus of this reading?  What is the author’s most important point?  What is one question about the reading you would like me to answer in class?
    • In one study, a professor increased his reading compliance rate to 80% just by incorporating simple reading guide questions similar to the ones listed above.  He graded them using the simple rubric at the bottom of this page.

• You could also focus all study/reading guides around essential questions in your discipline. 
  • Example: Psychology has four goals: Describe, explain, predict and control.  A simple reading guide question could just be “How does this reading help us describe, explain, predict or control human behavior?”

​SAMPLE SIMPLE RUBRIC FOR READING RESPONSE:
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​This is the million dollar question.  Research on the national level indicates that on any given day, only about 30% of college students complete the readings, leading to the common lament from professors feel they can’t break away from power points and lectures because they don’t trust that students have read the material.  The brighter side of the research, however, indicates that the number one strongest influence for getting students to complete their reading is – YOU!
                So…what should we be doing?  Last fall, CLC engaged in a reading climate survey and directly asked students that very question.  I will be sharing instructional strategies throughout the school year, based on student response.  Here are the top three responses to the question “What strategies can professors use to support your learning of the assigned readings?”
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1.Tell us what is important in the text before we read.

• A simple oral preview of what you consider important in the assigned reading during the last five minutes of class can accomplish this.
• Study guides can also be a good tool – and don’t have to be overly complicated.  They can be as simple as a list of subjects that will be important to a test, lecture or project.

2.Open book/Open Notes tests/quizzes.  This really incentivizes students to read.  They know they will be applying it to something.  If you are worried that they won’t read because they can use the book, don’t be.  Students quickly learn they don’t have enough time to read the chapter AND complete the quiz.  Giving only open notes quizzes is also an option, and ensures they have to read to take good notes.
3.Discuss how the reading connects to what we are doing in class.  In other words, make references to the reading – explain how it connects to the lecture, lab or problem based activity.
A little more good news.  Our research indicates that you don’t have to do a follow up activity every class.  Having a follow-up reading activity for about half reading assignments seems to be enough to boost reading completion.

(Source:  Kelly Black, Reading faculty)

These are not just for Department Chairs!  Many faculty are familiar with classroom assessment and with institutional assessment data, but what do we need to think about when it comes to DEPARTMENT level assessment?

The CLC Assessment of Student Learning Committee will be offering a series of 4 workshops throughout the spring semester on the topic of Department Level Assessment.  

• Thursday, Feb. 2nd, afternoon, 90 minutes, Department Level Assessment 101 – The Foundation
• Thursday, Mar. 2nd, afternoon, 60 minutes, Building Solid Department Level Learning Outcomes
• Thursday, Apr. 6th, afternoon, 60 minutes, Identifying Department Level Assessment Methods and Tools
• Thursday, May 4th, afternoon, 60 minutes, Analyzing Department Level Assessment Data and Putting it into Action

Visit the TLETC website at http://tletc.clcillinois.edu for detailed descriptions or to register.  

CLOs are college-wide learning outcomes that were developed to ensure our students leave the College of Lake County with the skills and knowledge necessary to pursue their academic, career, and life goals.
 
There are eight CLOs:

• Critical Thinking,
• Reading,
• Writing,
• Oral Communication,
• Information Literacy,
• Quantitative Literacy,
• Technological Competency,
• Diversity and Social Justice.

 
It’s important that our students get repeated practice in each of the eight outcomes as they take coursework across disciplines and participate in extracurricular activities here at the college. Our systematic assessment of how well students are doing with each skill will help us identify strategies that lead to continuous improvement in the teaching and learning of the CLOs.

A description of each can be found at:
http://dept.clcillinois.edu/vpe/forms/CollegeofLakeCountyLearningOutcomes.pdf


(Source:  Vasilka Maslanka, Assessment Coordinator)

April BITS: A frank discussion

Why can they print?? A conversation about the online testing.

Join Corrie Bergeron from Lakeland Community College and Kevin Lowey from the University of Saskatchewan as they discuss the complications of assessing students in an online environment and provide strategies which can help address your concerns and give you creative solutions to the authentic assessment problem.

When: Thursday, April 21 2:00 pm Eastern


Register here