Volume 1, Issue 2: March 9, 2009

Improving Student Learning is an occasional campus newsletter dedicated to assessment practices and issues.

This issue's highlights include:

• ETS major field tests - Available for faculty review through March 25! 
• Improving Student Learning Efforts (ISLE) - NEW Grants Program!
• Reports from Tim Oxley and Tony Gilberti on an HEPC-sponsored "CLA in the Classroom Academy," including:
  • Tim: "...participants shared a common desire and need to effectively measure higher order thinking skills in addition to discipline specific content."
  • Tony:  "The use of authentic assessment and creating learning materials which are meaningful to students were most valuable."
• "TaskStream LAT (Learning Achievement Tools) with Mary Lynne Bennett: The Other Part of TaskStream"
• Mary Lynne: "...Students may continue to subscribe to Taskstream LAT after graduation and have their electronic portfolio available for prospective employers to view."
• Notes from "Thursdays at Three" with Nancy Parks. 

We invite you to read more by following the links in the left-hand navigation bar. 

Maria Rose
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Fairmont State University

Blair Montgomery
President, Pierpont Community & Technical College

Improving Student Learning</EM></STRONG> is a collaborative project of the Assessment Steering Committee, including </FONT>Bill Finley, Director of Institutional Research; Erica Harvey, Director of Strategic Planning and Assessment (primary editor); Chris Lavorata, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs; Nancy McClure, Director, Center for Teaching Excellence; and Nancy Parks, Director of Assessment.

As we enter the season of very public assessments for college basketball teams across the country, it is worth considering the possibility of engaging that same sense of bravery, challenge and overall good sportsmanship in our academic assessments as well.  Opportunities range widely, from theatre performances and culinary arts competitions, to undergraduate research poster sessions, to the use of nationally normed examinations. 

In this issue, we highlight the availability of Major Field Tests from ETS which can be used to assess content-related learning outcomes at the end of a college curriculum.  Using such exams, much like competing in an athletic tournament, requires a willingness to stack your curriculum up against national norms and to find ways to motivate your students to do their best.  The payoffs simply for playing can be enormous.  For instance, starting in the early 1970's, Dr. Charles McClain, our own Interim President for Fairmont State University, was able to help foster at Truman State University (then Northeast Missouri State College) a deep, long-lasting culture of inquiry about student learning success.  That culture change started with faculty discussions about the results of nationally normed tests in which they had engaged their students.

Connections between athletic and academic learning and assessment are manifold.  According to Head Women's Basketball coach Steve McDonald, "From a standpoint of coaching, we talk about the fact that if you are not a good teacher you can’t be a good coach. I practice ongoing assessment while on the court, of as many players as I can. Sometimes I zero in on one student for a focused assessment of something I just taught, just like in a classroom. Also, as in a classroom, when coaching basketball you teach concepts for how to approach different parts of the game, as well as skills. For instance, learning how to attack a zone defense requires different concepts than attacking a man to man defense, even if there are certain practiced plays that can be used in each case. A different set of concepts surrounds mental preparation for the game."  Bravo to Steve and his team - and all the March Madness participants - for serving as a source of inspiration in the public assessment arena.

Wishing you the very best in your continuous efforts to improve your students' learning!