Celebrating 10 Years of VALUE: Panel Discussion on Assignment Design

2. Celebrating 10 years of VALUE

3. Use Q&A for: Panel discussion Use Chat for: Technology support #aacuVALUE Slides and recording will be posted online: www.aacu.org/webinar/value-assignments

4. Speakers Moderator Dexter B. GordonProfessor, Communication Studies and African American StudiesDirector of African American Studies ProgramUniversity of Puget Sound dgordon@pugetsound.edu Kate Drezek McConnellAssistant Vice President for Research and AssessmentAAC&U mcconnell@aacu.org Debora OrtloffVice President of Strategic Initiatives and AssessmentFinger Lakes Community College Debora.Ortloff@flcc.edu Bonnie Orcutt Professor of EconomicsWorcester State University bonnie.orcutt@worcester.edu

5. Kate McConnellAssistant Vice President for Research and AssessmentAssociation of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)mcconnell@aacu.org

6. Available VALUE Rubrics Civic Engagement Creative Thinking Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Foundations and Skills for Lifelong Learning Global Learning Information Literacy Inquiry and Analysis Integrative Learning Intercultural Knowledge & Competence Oral Communication Problem Solving Quantitative Literacy Reading Teamwork Written Communication

7. Why focus on assignment design?

8. The VALUE Approach to Assessment

9. For VALUE, A Careful Balancing Act

10. “Many rubric problems are not (just) methodological, but pedagogical…

11. “For classroom assessment to generate meaningful information, all aspects of the classroom experience must align pedagogically: course outcomes, course content, the learners themselves, the instructional and performance contexts, and the pedagogical strategies used. In other words, assessment must be related to the what, who, and how of teaching and learning.” (McConnell & Doolittle, 2017)

12. Students learn by processing cognitively, behaviorally, affectively, and/or socially, but are they indeed learning what we intend for them to learn?

13. Alignment is key, but this does not magically happen. It happens by design.

14. Bonnie OrcuttProfessor of EconomicsWorcester State Universitybonnie.orcutt@worcester.edu

15. Quantitative Literacy: Moving Beyond the Math Building Assignments to Advance Proficiency in QL Identify Identify a course in the general education curriculum and/or the major where the student may be called upon to demonstrate QL skills Identify a course topic where the student may be called upon to demonstrate QL skills Identify an existing assignment where the student may be called upon to demonstrate QL skills

16. Quantitative Literacy: Moving Beyond the Math Building Assignments to Advance Proficiency in QL Align Identify the course learning outcomes to be addressed in the assignment – align the learning outcomes with the assignment instructions Explore the extent to which these course learning outcomes align with the dimensions of the QL VALUE rubric Interpretation; Representation; Calculation; Application and Analysis; Assumptions; Communication Align the QL VALUE rubric with the Assignment Grading Rubric

17. Quantitative Literacy: Moving Beyond the Math Building Assignments to Advance Proficiency in QL Annotate Annotate your assignment instructions to ensure that there are specific assignment prompts that direct students to demonstrate the various dimensions of the QL VALUE rubric and the course learning outcomes the assignment is intended to capture In class, annotate the assignment instructions with students to assist them in identifying the outcomes the assignment is designed to addressed – this will enhance transparency and student performance and learning

18. Questions You Might Ask About Your Assignment Do the assignment instructions clearly address the central task students are being asked to perform? Is your assignment well-thought out and intentional? Do the assignment instructions clearly articulate how extensive and evidential the answer should be? Do the assignment instructions clearly articulate how the answers should be communicated? Do the assignment instructions have built in an appropriate degree of scaffolding? Is the assignment linked to or related to other assignments? Does the assignment clearly articulated the criteria for success ? Are your assignment instructions transparent?

19. Assignment Design: Final Considerations Complete the assignment yourself and share with your students Ask students to annotate your answer and grade your answer using the grading matrix. Consider assignment instruction revisions based upon student performance and feedback

20. Dexter B. GordonUniversity of Puget Sound, Tacoma WAdgordon@pugetsound.edu Distinguished Professor Director Race and Pedagogy Institute Director of African American Studies

21. Civic Engagement in African American StudiesContext & Culture • Why civic engagement is important to Puget Sound and African American Studies? • Legitimacy • Rigorous scholarship • Legacy • Responsible social engagement • Why is civic engagement connected as a student learning outcome within African American Studies? • Historical debt • Responsiveness within community partnerships

22. African American Studies – Learning Outcomes • Acquire sophisticated knowledge of African American and other African diasporic experiences;  • Become conversant with the role of race, power, and difference; • Cultivate rigorous transdisciplinary skills in analytic, reflexive, and community-based research methodologies;​ • Develop critical, intellectual, and ethical perspectives that can guide and advance personal, educational, civic, political, and professional actions; and • Engage and interact with differential sites of community development and leadership…to deepen and apply their understanding…

23. Guiding Principles • Responsiveness:the imperative to act dialogically in concert with our partner communities in the face of dynamic changes and emergent crises at the nexus of race. • Reciprocity: the practice of mutually respectful and reflexive give and take. • Coherence: a focused commitment to reflect an integrity of purpose in all the multiple facets of our work. • Synergy: garnering the cumulative benefits from our strongest connected selves. • Sustainability: generative practices and relationships that heal, support, and reenergize. • Flexibility: the agility to carry and engage the full arch of our learning in ways that enable us to adjust productively to the changing needs of campus and community.

24. Civic Assignments–Specific Guiding Principles • Engagement with community • Student input • Infusion model • Re-imagining and complicating ideas of what counts as pedagogical sites

25. Intro to African American Studies (101) --Assignment, Group Research Project • Exploring a local or regional African American organization • Engage the people and documents of the organization • Present an expository, mixed media report • Must answer fundamental questions about subject

28. Journal Reach

29. Debora OrtloffVice President of Strategic Initiatives and AssessmentFinger Lakes Community College Debora.Ortloff@flcc.edu

30. Global as a “tricky” concept • College’s mission and history set tone • Disciplinary differences • Global feels less familiar • Other parts of the curriculum • Pre-conceived notions of “what counts” • Be wary of pursuing the perfect

31. Expanding Horizons • Peer-to Peer: • Research for relevancy • Support in process • Tailored feedback Builds Trust

32. Broad Exploration

33. Broad Exploration Take Two

34. Beyond the box: documenting narrative

35. Assignment level support • Provide template for work • Provide Customized Research and Examples from field • Workshop Assignment with specific feedback Methodology & Pedagogy

36. Lessons Learned & Takeaways Annotate to align! Do not assume tacit expectations for learning are instantiated in assignment directions The “tricky” outcomes may require reconceptualizing what “counts” as an assignment Student agency in assignment (re)design is a powerful pedagogical tool Give space to faculty for meaning making within and across disciplines Move beyond “boxes” using faculty voice to craft the learning narrative Treat assignment design as an iterative process Transparency is key! Leverage existing resources like NILOA, TILT

37. Use Q&A for: Panel discussion Use Chat for: Technology support #aacuVALUE Slides and recording will be posted online: www.aacu.org/webinar/value-assignments

38. Speakers Moderator Dexter B. GordonProfessor, Communication Studies and African American StudiesDirector of African American Studies ProgramUniversity of Puget Sound dgordon@pugetsound.edu Kate Drezek McConnellAssistant Vice President for Research and AssessmentAAC&U mcconnell@aacu.org Debora OrtloffVice President of Strategic Initiatives and AssessmentFinger Lakes Community College Debora.Ortloff@flcc.edu Bonnie Orcutt Professor of EconomicsWorcester State University bonnie.orcutt@worcester.edu

39. Annual Meeting Pre-Conference Symposium Is There a Rubric for That? A Decade of VALUE and the Future of Higher Education VALUE Rubric revisions Evidence- based Community-driven VALUE Institute Registration now open!

40. www.VALUEinstituteassessment.org

41. AAC&U’s General Education and Assessment Conference AAC&U Network for Academic Renewal Conference Creating a 21-Century General Education: Responding to Seismic Shifts February 14-16, 2019 San Francisco, California Learn more online at: https://www.aacu.org/conferences/gened/19 #aacuVALUE

42. Forthcoming AAC&U Webinars Monday, November 5, 2018, 12:00-1:00 p.m. EST – Advancing Diversity and Inclusivity through Multilevel Strategic Leadership Tuesday, November 13, 2018, 2:00-3:00 p.m. EST – Free Speech at Colleges and Universities: Perspectives and Recommendations Wednesday, November 28, 2018, 1:00-2:00 p.m. EST – The Landscape of Learning: What We Know from the Inaugural Year of the VALUE Institute