COPLACDigital - Assessment Workshop & Online Learning Resources

June 11, 2016 - University of North Carolina, Asheville

First: A word about Power Pointless! We at the University of Illinois Springfield Center for Online Learning, Research and Service present often at academic conferences. We encourage attendees to freely share presentation materials online using web-native tools that encourage collaboration and updating. You may follow the session using your personal mobile device to dig deeper into the topics we discuss and share with others following the conference.

Learning Outcomes for Mellon Foundation Grant COPLACDigital Project

To develop a familiarity with diverse methods and processes of digital history and utilization of technological resources in research, data analysis, and presentation.
- To work together cooperatively and creatively
- To conduct research in a variety of settings and media.
- To demonstrate application of critical analysis, written, and oral communication skills through website and oral presentation.
- To gain an understanding of the course subject and content and to effectively communicate the content to the public using digital technology.

It is all about the student experience.
1. Assessment for Curicular Improvement
  1. What do you want students to know (cognitive)
  2. What do you want students to care about (affective)
  3. What do you want students to do (behavioral)
2. Assessment for Powerful Learning through Improved Instructional Methodology
3. Community of Inquiry Model
Purpose of Assessment for the Mellon Foundation Grant
1. Provide Continued Opportunities for Funding

Assessment of Courses in Distance Environments
1. Development of rubrics/standards
2. Using skills to effectively evaluate participation in a digital atmosphere
Digital Fluency Assessments for Building Student Understanding

Program assessment is ongoing and iterative.

Establish learning outcomes
- what will successful students know, do, and/or value at the end of the course /program?
- How has student behavior been affected by this course/program
Determine learning opportunities for students such as projects, writing assignments, oral presentations, social media publication, etc.
Collect and analyze student work in order to determine how well students have meet the stated learning outcomes.
Use those data results and collaboratively develop and implement an improvement plan to improve student learning.
Plan to celebrate and promote student success when assessment results indicate meeting or exceeding the high standards of learning outcomes.

What Makes Assessment Difficult?

Lack of clearly stated and measurable learning objectives.
Learning activities or experiences that do not align to stated learning objectives.
No agreement reached on consistent rubrics and evaluation techniques.
Inaccurate data collected.
Planning to do too much. Watch the workload carefully.