Fourteen Seattle University faculty members presented their assessment projects at the second annual Learning Outcomes Projects Exhibition last month. Sponsored by the Office of the VP for Planning and Associate Provost, the program encourages faculty to create innovative ways to assess student learning.
Attendees watched digital presentations from the Liberal Studies department, which shared student's self-reflective annotations from specific classes throughout their college years on electronic portfolios. The department wanted to see how feasible it was to teach students to construct personalized web-based portfolios and measure the quality of learning by students in the program.
Other projects included the development and administration of a test to evaluate students' conceptual learning in Physics, and the creation of new rubrics by the Mechanical Engineering department that clarify faculty expectations for students.
According to Phil Barclift, assistant professor of Religious Studies, the projects encourage faculty to share with each other their results, and how their findings are leading to curriculum changes. “That's why these projects are so important. We can all steal good ideas from each other and create something that really works for our students,” said Barclift.
The Learning Outcomes Projects are part of a larger program, coordinated by Dr. Loretta Jancoski in the Office of VP for Planning, where each academic department creates an assessment plan measuring how well its students succeed in achieving the learning outcomes of their degree program.
This year's participating faculty members represented Albers, Arts and Sciences, College of Nursing, and the College of Science & Engineering. Each department that participated will be awarded $2000 for their non-salary budgets by the Office of the VP for Planning and Associate Provost.
