Closing the Loop on Course Level Assessment.

1. Closing the Loop on Course Level Assessment.

2. For more examples, please join the MyCR Assessment site. All assessment documents collected from faculty are organized by discipline.

3. Process Overview 2009-2011 Art 2: Introduction to Art An introductory course designed to provide students with studio and lecture experience in the visual arts. Concepts covered include line, value, composition, color and both 2 and 3-dimansional space. Media used include drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture and new media.

10. 1. In the Spring 2009 assessment activity, the participants suggested that faculty continue to incorporate digital technologies such as google docs, you tube, and Art Stor. Have you been using these technologies on at least a couple of occasions in your class? 2. In the Spring 2009 assessment activity, the participants suggested that faculty continue to encourage student knowledge of historical and contemporary art by assigning student research presentations on course related topics. How have you been incorporating historical and contemporary trends in your course? 3. In the Spring 2009 assessment activity, the participants suggested that faculty tour students around the Creative Arts facilities. Have you toured your students in CA? 4. In the Spring 2009 assessment activity, the participants suggested that faculty continue seek out collegial feedback on course related activities. Have you had dialogue with other instructors who teach Art 2? 5. In the Spring 2009 assessment activity, the participants suggested that faculty continue to revise course content and/or assignments to improve student success. What have you changed to improve your course?

11. We had 4 faculty involved in the initial course level assessment. One year later when it became time to close the loop, 4 instructors were teaching Art 2 and 3 of them replied to the survey. Two of these four instructors were participants in the initial assessment activity.

12. Here is a summary of the responses: 1. All instructors are actively using digital technologies in their courses. All faculty surveyed use MyCR for posting course related materials. Respondents cited using google docs, slideshare, You Tube, and Netflix to expand the possibilities of their course. 2. All three faculty respondents incorporated historical and contemporary art trends in their courses and have found unique assignments to foster student learning about this topic. One instructor assigns a contemporary artist research assignment by having students select a keyword that corresponds to an artist. Another instructor uses art periodicals, such as Art in America, for her students to an write informational summery. Another instructor assigns a gallery review project where students attend a local art event. 3. All three instructors made strong efforts to familiarize students with the art department as a whole. Some instructors utilized various studios to teach their course, others made official tours of the department, and all were able to connect with the ceramics department for viewing and participating in special firings such as raku, pit firing, and wood firing. 4. All of the respondents reported active collegial interactions such as broadcasting local and campus events, inviting colleagues into class, trading assignments, and encouraging students to participate in the juried student exhibition. 5. Respondents reported incorporating new online course content including videos and web content. All three instructors are continuously altering course content to improve student success

13. A useful assessment?Yes…

14. How could it have been better for faculty trying to improve student learning and success?

15. Keep everyone in the loop!

16. One associate faculty member teaching Art 2 during the spring 2010 semester reported feeling “out of the loop” when she received the survey for closing the loop. It had been a year since we performed the first course level assessment, and while the assessment information had been passed to all Art 2 faculty for fall 2009, it was not passed to new instructors for the spring 2010 semesters. Lesson learned: effective assessment involves regular departmental communication!

17. Now that I’ve summarized the process of creating an assessment activity and closing the loop, Cindy is going to discuss closing the loop using data from IR

18. Closing The Loop on an Art 17 (Drawing) Assessment Activity

20. This is how we “quantified” our analysis:

21. These are the conclusions we came to:

22. Results from an anonymous follow-up survey (conducted two years later): • We all now include color theory principles among our assignments. • We all include abstraction-based and postmodern/conceptually themed assignments. • We all use technology-based instruction, but are not yet sure about technology-based assignments.

23. A data set that tracks Art 17 student success data from 3 years before and 3 years after the assessment activity:

24. What should we do with this disappointing data?

25. Try to assess a different Art 17 SLO to see if positive changes occur?

26. Reevaluate/modify our existing Art 17 SLOs?

27. Reevaluate our initial assumptions?

28. Are factors outside of our assessment efforts responsible for this trend?

29. We did get something accomplished, though—according to our new Assessment Handbook:

30. (Our mutual commitment to technology-based instruction.)

31. (Our discussion is helping us develop a departmental philosophy statement.)

32. (We did more closely coordinate our Art 17 curriculum.)

33. And here’s Erin with another example…

34. Closing the Loop in Mathematics

35. Math 55 (Math 45) Assessment Tool: Math 55 (Differential Equations) is offered once a year in the spring. The student clientele in this class is comprised of mathematicians, engineers, and scientists, all of whom have had a minimum of two courses in calculus. In order to assess SLO's #1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, students in the Spring of 2009 were assigned a term project. Students were required to investigate a real-world application of differential equations, write a paper on the topic, and present a 15-minute talk on their topic, to be accompanied by presentation slides prepared in advance. Math 55- Differential Equations (Fall 2009)

36. Other Details Smaller Project first using LaTex. The guidelines and requirements for this project can be found online at the http://msemac.redwoods.edu/~darnold/math55/model.php Timeline for Term Project and Presentation. http://msemac.redwoods.edu/~darnold/math55/TimelinesAndGrading.php

37. Assessment Results • All of the students successfully completed their term projects and presentations on time. Student work, both term papers and presentation slides, can be viewed at the following URL: http://msemac.redwoods.edu/~darnold/math55/DEProj/index.php

38. Two Problem Areas to Address: • 1st: A large amount of time was wasted in the opening week or two as students tried to find a suitable model for their first project. For comparison, students in the Fall 2009 Math 45 (Linear Algebra) class were assigned a specific task for their opening introduction to the LaTeX document preparation system. This was highly successful, allowing students to get started with LaTeX much earlier. We recommend that future instructors in differential equations use this strategy in the future.

39. 2nd: Another difficulty that presented itself was the fact that students had a hard time choosing an application of appropriate difficulty for their term project. Some chose topics that were too trivial, others chose topics that were too difficult to tackle in a semester's time. For comparison, in the fall of 2009 in Math 45 (Linear Algebra), the instructor hand-picked a number of papers and allowed the students to choose from this collection during the first class meeting. Hopefully, this strategy will allow students an early start and they can focus on the learning rather than running about looking for a suitable project on their own. *These changes will be implemented in Spring 2010*

40. Result of the Proposed Changes (From Spring 2011 Program Review) Over the past several semesters, additions and edits to the department written “Student Term Project Timeline’’ have enabled students to address their paper and presentation throughout the semester, instead of waiting until the last minute to rush out a poor result. This has helped to greatly improve students’ effort on their term project. Student work can be viewed at the following URL’s: http://msemac.redwoods.edu/~darnold/math55/DEproj/index.php and http://msemac.redwoods.edu/~wagner/math55/DEprojects. It is noteworthy to examine the development and improvement in student work over the course of the past 13 years.

41. Another Example, Math 120 Current SLOs 1. Students should be able to read, write, and speak accurately about mathematical ideas using correct mathematical notation. 2. Students should be able to apply the mathematics they have learned to real-world problems and applications. 3. Students should be able to use graphs and the graphing calculator to explore mathematical concepts and to verify their work. 4. Students should be able to demonstrate competency in the required prerequisite skills for all transfer level math courses. 5. Students should be able to demonstrate the characteristics of an effective learner, such as note-taking, critical reading, etc. 6. Students should be able to explain the concept of function, identify the characteristics of different classes of functions, and use functions to solve problems in mathematics. 7. Students should be able to demonstrate the algebraic skills that will support success in the other outcomes.

42. Proposed Changes: Math 120 SLOs 1. Evaluate and interpret general functions symbolically, numerically, and graphically. Identify the domain and range using interval notation. 2. Sketch a collection points and a line of best fit, then find and interpret the equation by hand and by use of technology. 3. Produce an accurate graph of a quadratic function by hand, and identify all salient features. 4. Sketch the graph of a polynomial function by hand by identifying the zeros and the end behavior. 5. Sketch the graph of rational functions, simplify mathematical expressions involving rational functions and solve rational equations. 6. Given exponential and logarithmic functions, sketch accurate graphs and solve equations and applications. 7. Simplify mathematical expressions involving square roots, sketch the graphs and solve equations involving square root functions.

43. For More Information Attend the next session: Refining Student Learning Outcomes at the Course and Program Level (AT103/104)

44. Future Complete course outline update for Math 120. Update Math 380 and Math 376 outlines using the same process piloted for Math 120 (Course Meetings) Add Assessment Information to Course Pages and Department Repository (Improved Communication) Working our 5-Year Plans