Archived Assessment Report
| Program | ENGL Creative Fine Arts Gen Ed |
| Assessment Reporter | [email protected] |
| Theme | Practicing Community |
| Review Year | 2024-2025 - Final Report |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Focus Area |
|---|---|
| 1b. Communication: Strategies for Understanding and Evaluating Messages | How well do the current final assignments across different sections allow us to measure this goal and what changes can be made based on the data? |
| 3a. Personal and Social Responsibility: Intercultural reasoning and intercultural competence | Our analysis will focus on whether certain types of assignments allow students to better demonstrate their acquisition of these essentials than others. Part of the data we're collecting is also the genre and medium of the assigned project. |
| 3b. Personal and Social Responsibility: Collaboration skills, teamwork and value systems | Our analysis will focus on whether certain types of assignments allow students to better demonstrate their acquisition of these essentials than others. Part of the data we're collecting is also the genre and medium of the assigned project. |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Description of Assessment Tool | Population or Courses Assessed | Hypothetical Analysis/Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1b. Communication: Strategies for Understanding and Evaluating Messages | A portfolio of written work | ENGL 2310 | Our analysis will focus on how well the current final assignment allows students to demonstrate their acquisition of these essentials. |
| 3a. Personal and Social Responsibility: Intercultural reasoning and intercultural competence | A final portfolio of written work | ENGL 2310 | Our analysis will focus on how well the current final assignment allows students to demonstrate their acquisition of these essentials. |
| 3b. Personal and Social Responsibility: Collaboration skills, teamwork and value systems | A final portfolio of written work | ENGL 2310 | Our analysis will focus on how well the current final assignment allows students to demonstrate their acquisition of these essentials. |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Summary of Results | Reflection on Focus Area | Intepretation of Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1b. Communication: Strategies for Understanding and Evaluating Messages | 1B Strategies for Understanding and Evaluating Messages: 49 (90.74%) students demonstrated proficiency, while 5 did not (9.26%). | Because not every section or every student participated, the data is not very robust. The overall data for spring term reveals that participating students are succeeding in demonstrating competency in the key skills. | While the overall results demonstrate student proficiency in the skills, the small sampling of data suggests that our data may not be as accurate as it could be because it does not include all sections or students enrolled in sections of 2310. To improve the accuracy of our data collection, we should broaden our participation by further encouraging all faculty teaching sections of 2310 to participate in the assessment process. |
| 3a. Personal and Social Responsibility: Intercultural reasoning and intercultural competence | 3A Intercultural Reasoning and Competence: 47 (85.45 %) demonstrated proficiency, while 8 (14.55 %) did not. | The results support the original focus area questions, as the majority of students were able to demonstrate proficiency. | data for spring term reveals that participating students are succeeding in demonstrating competency in the key skills. The small sampling of data suggests that our data may not be as accurate as it could be because it does not include all sections or students enrolled in sections of 2310. To improve the accuracy of our data collection, we should broaden our participation by further encouraging all faculty teaching sections of 2310 to participate in the assessment process. |
| 3b. Personal and Social Responsibility: Collaboration skills, teamwork and value systems | 3D Collaboration Skills, Teamwork and Value Systems: 40 (74.07%) demonstrated proficiency, while 14 (25.93%) did not. | The results demonstrate that this focus area was the least understood by the students, though the majority of students did demonstrate proficiency. | This shows us that this specific focus area needs more attention to help students understand the connection between the course work (workshops, sharing drafts, discussions, in particular) and the focus area. |
| 1b. Communication: Strategies for Understanding and Evaluating Messages | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | In this round of data collection, we learned we need to refine our data collection process to yield more relevant and consistent data for analysis. Thus, in our next round of data collection, we will continue to require all sections of 2310 to participate in the assessment and we will work to ensure that all faculty assess the same activity (final reflection) using the same assignment guidelines and rubric. We plan to move forward with more consistent and timely communication of the requirements for assessment, and we will work with faculty to make use of the embedded assessment rubric in their Brightspace courses and to modify the final assignment, where necessary, to more closely align with the assessment rubric. As well, we plan to encourage faculty to implement the assessment tool a week or more earlier than previously done, to give students adequate time to reflect on the activities and assignments from the semester during the hectic final weeks. To close the gap on student proficiency related to Strategies for Understanding and Evaluating Messages, the Creative Writing committee will revisit the analytical and expository writing assignments and discussions, and will work to clarify the connection between class activities such as practicing analysis, explication, and discussions, and the field of assessment, and to allow more time for students to develop and refine their reflective essays. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | The tool will remain the same, but we will encourage more participation among faculty teaching section of 2310. As well, we will encourage all faculty teaching this course to use the same final reflective essay assignment and rubric, to ensure consistency across sections. |
| What data motivated the change? | The motivation for these changes comes down to the number of students who participated in the assessment compared to the number of students enrolled in these courses. There is a discrepancy between these numbers, and we posit that greater participation would yield more relevant data. Beyond that, we noted that students are not always making the connections between the class activities they engage in, and being asked to describe those learning activities, particularly in terms of collaborative skills, teamwork, and values. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | We posit that these changes will provide us with more consistent, relevant, and accurate data about student proficiency in the areas assessed. We anticipate that increased participation will affect our proficiency rate in a positive way. |
| 3a. Personal and Social Responsibility: Intercultural reasoning and intercultural competence | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | In this round of data collection, we learned we need to refine our data collection process to yield more relevant and consistent data for analysis. Thus, in our next round of data collection, we will continue to require all sections of 2310 to participate in the assessment and we will work to ensure that all faculty assess the same activity (final reflection) using the same assignment guidelines and rubric. We plan to move forward with more consistent and timely communication of the requirements for assessment, and we will work with faculty to make use of the embedded assessment rubric in their Brightspace courses and to modify the final assignment, where necessary, to more closely align with the assessment rubric. As well, we plan to encourage faculty to implement the assessment tool a week or more earlier than previously done, to give students adequate time to reflect on the activities and assignments from the semester during the hectic final weeks. To close the gap on student proficiency related to Intercultural Reasoning and Competence, the Creative Writing committee will continue to provide a diverse and varied set of readings and example texts, author interviews, and discussion topics, and will work to clarify the connection between class activities such as readings, videos, and author interviews, and the field of assessment, as well as to allow more time for students to develop and refine their reflective essays. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | The tool will remain the same, but we will encourage more participation among faculty teaching section of 2310. As well, we will encourage all faculty teaching this course to use the same final reflective essay assignment and rubric, to ensure consistency across sections. |
| What data motivated the change? | The motivation for these changes comes down to the number of students who participated in the assessment compared to the number of students enrolled in these courses. There is a discrepancy between these numbers, and we posit that greater participation would yield more relevant data. Beyond that, we noted that students are not always making the connections between the class activities they engage in, and being asked to describe those learning activities, particularly in terms of collaborative skills, teamwork, and values. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | We posit that these changes will provide us with more consistent, relevant, and accurate data about student proficiency in the areas assessed. We anticipate that increased participation will affect our proficiency rate in a positive way. |
| 3b. Personal and Social Responsibility: Collaboration skills, teamwork and value systems | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | In this round of data collection, we learned we need to refine our data collection process to yield more relevant and consistent data for analysis. Thus, in our next round of data collection, we will continue to require all sections of 2310 to participate in the assessment and we will work to ensure that all faculty assess the same activity (final reflection) using the same assignment guidelines and rubric. We plan to move forward with more consistent and timely communication of the requirements for assessment, and we will work with faculty to make use of the embedded assessment rubric in their Brightspace courses and to modify the final assignment, where necessary, to more closely align with the assessment rubric. As well, we plan to encourage faculty to implement the assessment tool a week or more earlier than previously done, to give students adequate time to reflect on the activities and assignments from the semester during the hectic final weeks. To close the gap on student proficiency related to Collaboration Skills, Teamwork and Value Systems, the Creative Writing committee will work on communications with 2310 students to clarify the connection between class activities such as workshopping, class discussions, and sharing drafts and responses to exercises, and the field of assessment, as well as to allow more time for students to develop and refine their reflective essays. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | The tool will remain the same, but we will encourage more participation among faculty teaching section of 2310. As well, we will encourage all faculty teaching this course to use the same final reflective essay assignment and rubric, to ensure consistency across sections. |
| What data motivated the change? | The motivation for these changes comes down to the number of students who participated in the assessment compared to the number of students enrolled in these courses. There is a discrepancy between these numbers, and we posit that greater participation would yield more relevant data. Beyond that, we noted that students are not always making the connections between the class activities they engage in, and being asked to describe those learning activities, particularly in terms of collaborative skills, teamwork, and values. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | We posit that these changes will provide us with more consistent, relevant, and accurate data about student proficiency in the areas assessed. We anticipate that increased participation will affect our proficiency rate in a positive way. |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Description of Assessment Tool | Population of Courses Assessed |
|---|---|---|
| 1b. Communication: Strategies for Understanding and Evaluating Messages | The assessment tool will remain the same, a final reflective essay asking students to reflect on the skills practiced in the course and to offer specific examples as evidence of their engagement with and comprehension of specific skills, | ENGL 2310 |
| 3a. Personal and Social Responsibility: Intercultural reasoning and intercultural competence | The assessment tool will remain the same, a final reflective essay asking students to reflect on the skills practiced in the course and to offer specific examples as evidence of their engagement with and comprehension of specific skills, | 2310 |
| 3b. Personal and Social Responsibility: Collaboration skills, teamwork and value systems | The assessment tool will remain the same, a final reflective essay asking students to reflect on the skills practiced in the course and to offer specific examples as evidence of their engagement with and comprehension of specific skills, | 2310 |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Summary of Second Round Results | Intepretation of Results, Pre- and Post-Change | Follow up questions, possible next steps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1b. Communication: Strategies for Understanding and Evaluating Messages | The overall data for round 2 reveals that participating students are succeeding in demonstrating competency in the assessed fields, with somewhat less proficiency in the category of Collaboration Skills, Teamwork and Value Systems. | • Do we agree that the assessment tool effectively yields accurate and consistent results? If not, what activities would yield the most reliable assessment results? • How can we more effectively communicate to students the connection between the assessment tool questions and rubric and the work the students engage in during the course? • How can we motivate participation among faculty to ensure all courses are assessed? What additional support and guidance can we provide to encourage faculty participation? | |
| 3a. Personal and Social Responsibility: Intercultural reasoning and intercultural competence | The overall data for round 2 reveals that participating students are succeeding in demonstrating competency in the assessed fields, with somewhat less proficiency in the category of Collaboration Skills, Teamwork and Value Systems. | • Do we agree that the assessment tool effectively yields accurate and consistent results? If not, what activities would yield the most reliable assessment results? • How can we more effectively communicate to students the connection between the assessment tool questions and rubric and the work the students engage in during the course? • How can we motivate participation among faculty to ensure all courses are assessed? What additional support and guidance can we provide to encourage faculty participation? | |
| 3b. Personal and Social Responsibility: Collaboration skills, teamwork and value systems | The overall data for round 2 reveals that participating students are succeeding in demonstrating competency in the assessed fields, with somewhat less proficiency in the category of Collaboration Skills, Teamwork and Value Systems. | • Do we agree that the assessment tool effectively yields accurate and consistent results? If not, what activities would yield the most reliable assessment results? • How can we more effectively communicate to students the connection between the assessment tool questions and rubric and the work the students engage in during the course? • How can we motivate participation among faculty to ensure all courses are assessed? What additional support and guidance can we provide to encourage faculty participation? |
Describe any change in student achievement observed as part of this assessment process, and what led to those changes.
The revised assignment and rubric helped us to focus on the specific skills students practiced in the course as related to the course outcomes. Student achievement remained consistent across sections, with most students demonstrating proficiency in the specific skills assessed.
Describe long-term changes in the program(s) that the assessment process led to, and what motivated those changes?
The assessment led us to rethink and reword the final reflection to solicit more direct responses to the learning outcomes for the course. As well, we determined that we should implement the assessment at least one week earlier, to allow students more time to prepare and reflect in the hectic end of the term. Students were focused on final portfolios and revising creative work, and did not always give as much attention to the final reflective essay (which is the assessment tool), and so introducing the reflective essay a week earlier gives more time for them to prepare it. As well, we continue to work on communicating to both students and faculty teaching the course the relevance of the assessment tool and process, so that there is more consistent participation across sections.
What did you learn about the teaching and learning of "Practicing Community" in your programs?
Student in ENGL 2310, Introduction to Creative Writing, are by and large proficient at practicing community by the end of the course, and can identify specifically the ways in which the class assignments, exercises, and discussions contributed to building and participating in community as writers. However, fewer students demonstrated proficiency in the focus area of Collaboration Skills, Teamwork and Value Systems. We interpret this to indicate that a stronger connection needs to be communicated about the ways in which the assignments (specifically workshops, sharing drafts, and discussions) meet the requirements of this focus area.
The main factor that affected the assessment was that not every section participated in the assessment, and not every student in sections that did participate responded adequately. In the future, we will work to get every section to implement the assessment tool and to underscore the importance of the assignment to students, as well as instructors. We will also work to clarify the ways in which the work (assignments, workshops, discussions) of the class corresponds to the questions asked in the final reflection.
Describe any external factors affecting the program or affecting assessment of the program.
The main factor that affected the assessment was that not every section participated in the assessment, and not every student in sections that did participate responded adequately. In the future, we will work to get every section to implement the assessment tool and to underscore the importance of the assignment to students, as well as instructors. We will also work to clarify the ways in which the work (assignments, workshops, discussions) of the class corresponds to the questions asked in the final reflection.