Carol Ann Gittens, Gail Gradowski & Christa Bailey Santa Clara University

1. Information Literacy, Critical Thinking, and Written Communication Across the Undergraduate Years: A Rubric Strategy Carol Ann Gittens, Gail Gradowski & Christa Bailey Santa Clara University WASC Academic Resource Conference Session D1 April 25, 2014

2. Project Goals • Assess Core Competencies across the curriculum • Manageable assessment strategy • Leverage existing sources of evidence • Valid measurement across varied disciplines / courses / contexts

3. Humble beginnings: Ctil • Alignment of CTIL Core Competencies with existing learning goals and outcomes • Identifying performances • Rubric development • Setting performance standards

4. Critical Thinking about Rubrics: • Assignment or Learning Outcome • Holistic vs. Analytical • Scale: How Many Levels? • Exercise Info Literacy: Don’t reinvent the wheel!

5. Developing a rubric: 4 steps • Reflection on expectations for student performance • Listing of needed skills and evidence of mastery • Grouping and Labeling dimensions and scale • Criteria with supporting explanation

6. Leveraging existing sources of evidence • Already existing SLOs • CTW 1 & 2 • Faculty Developed Performances

7. SCU Core Curriculum: Critical Thinking &Writing (CTW 1 & 2) Critical Thinking & Writing 2 Objectives – Students will • 2.1 Read and write with a critical point of view that demonstrates greater depth of thought and a more thorough understanding of the rhetorical situation than in CTW 1. • 2.2 Write research-based essays that contain well-supported arguable theses and that demonstrate personal engagement and clear purpose. • 2.3 Independently and deliberately locate, select, and appropriately use and cite evidence that is ample, credible, and smoothly integrated into an intellectually honest argument. • 2.4 Analyze the rhetorical differences, both constraints and possibilities, of different modes of presentation. • 2.5 Reflect more deeply than in CTW 1 upon the writing process as a mode of thinking and learning that can be generalized across range of writing and thinking tasks.

8. Developing an Information Literacy Rubric – phase 1 • Drawing upon existing IL rubric examples • Modification and Calibration

9. Calibration on the CT Rubric • Holistic rubric • Skills and Dispositions • Key features in each level • Break point(s)

10. Applying the CTIL rubrics • Score the sample paper #73 (Handout 1) • Use both the CT and the IL rubric (Handouts 2 & 5) • Work independently! • If time allows, compare and discussion your scores • Debrief

11. What made this difficult?

12. Obstacles to overcome • Variability of assignment formats • Rubric not developed for a specific assignment • Not having assignment prompts • Necessary flexibility in the rubric language • Ambiguity of phrases in rubric • Scorers’ familiarity with course / assignment / texts • Insufficient training and calibration • Alignment of assignment with learning objectives

13. establishing Performance Standards • Considerations – who are the students? • CT Performance Standards: • Normal distribution • Modal performance: Level 3 • Average ≥ 3 • IL Performance Standards: • 100% Level 2 or higher • 50% Level 3 or higher

14. Results for critical thinking • CT Performance Standards: • Normal distribution • Modal performance: Level 3 • Average ≥ 3

15. Results for information literacy: Domains 1& 5 • IL Performance Standards: • 100% Level 2 or higher • 50% Level 3 or higher

16. Results for information literacy: Domains 2, 3 & 4 IL Performance Standards: 100% Level 2 or higher 50% Level 3 or higher

17. Closing the loop: what have we learned so far? • Greater attention to particular components of Information Literacy • Assumptions about performance standards • Limitation of using CTW with STS / new Core • Rubric revisions • Findings require replication • LAUNCH OF PHASE 2

18. Expanding to include written communication • Natural extension of CTIL project • Opportunity to refine rubrics • CTW and Advanced Writing • Faculty Developed Performances acrossdisciplines! • ePortfolio initiative

19. SCU Core Curriculum: Advanced Writing Advanced Writing Objectives – Students will • 1.1 Read and write with a critical point of view that depth of thought and is mindful of the rhetorical situation of a specific discipline. • 1.2 Write essays that contain well-supported arguable theses and that demonstrate personal engagement and clear purpose. • 1.3 Independently and deliberately locate, select, and appropriately use and cite evidence that is ample, credible, and smoothly integrated into an intellectually honest argument appropriate for a particular discipline. • 1.4 Consciously understand their writing processes as modes of learning and intentionally manipulate those processes in response to diverse learning tasks.

20. Rubric scoring – CTIL plus written communication Core Competencies at additional points in the curriculum? Faculty development in CTIL Assignment design workshops

21. Alignment of assignment with learning objectives / rubric

23. Thank you!