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Friday, December 3, 2010

Dillard University Library Hours for Fall 2010 Finals

November 29th-December 4th 2010
Sunday Nov. 28th 1pm-9pm
Monday Nov. 29th – Thursday Dec. 2nd 7am-11pm
Friday Dec. 3rd 7am-5pm
Saturday Dec. 4th 10am-4pm

December 5th-11th
Sunday Dec. 5th 1pm-12am
Monday Dec. 6th – Thursday Dec. 9th 7am-12am
Friday Dec. 10th 7am-5pm
Saturday Dec. 11th 10am-2pm

Cynthia Charles
Interim Dean
DU WWA Library
504-816-4786
ccharles@dillard.edu
http://books.dillard.edu
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Academic Impressions: Using Assessment to Improve and Account for Student Learning

San Antonio, TX :: March 24 - 25, 2011

http://www.academicimpressions.com/events/event_listing.php?i=1060&q=6984v427988xO

OVERVIEW
Developing a coherent and comprehensive program of student learning outcomes assessment is a challenging, if not daunting, endeavor. Adding significantly to the challenge is increased demand for accountability for student learning, including a notable push for standardized testing at the collegiate level. Faculty are understandably skeptical about efforts to reduce teaching and learning to a few simple measures, especially when they are asked to do so under new time demands and with little reward or incentive.

Join our national assessment and accountability experts to identify approaches to creating a culture of improvement-oriented assessment at your institution while meeting the growing external demands.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND
•Institutional leaders
•Coordinators and facilitators of student learning outcomes assessment
•Faculty and academic administrators involved in assessment and accreditation

PROGRAM FORMAT
The program is intended to minimize time out of office and maximize learning. It will balance presentations with group discussions and focused interaction with speakers. In so doing, participants will be able to identify and develop assessment elements that can be translated to fit their unique institutional settings.
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Faculty Focus Article: End-of-Course Ratings: Lessons from Faculty Who Improved

December 3, 2010
By: Maryellen Weimer in Faculty Evaluation

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/faculty-evaluation/end-of-course-ratings-lessons-from-faculty-who-improved/

Two researchers used end-of-course ratings data to generate a cohort of faculty whose ratings in the same course had significantly improved over a three-year period. They defined significant improvement as a 1.5-point increase on an 8-point scale. In this cohort, more than 50 percent of faculty had improved between 1.5 and 1.99 points, another 40 percent between 2.0 and 2.99 points, and the rest even more.

The researchers surveyed this group, asking the faculty members to respond to several questions, including this most important one: “Your student ratings have increased for at least three consecutive semesters during the last three years in your [Course Name] class. What factors led to this change in your teaching performance?”

The slightly more than 200 respondents most frequently attributed the increase in ratings to changes made in one or several of these five areas:

1.more active/practical learning, including efforts to make the content’s relevance apparent to students;
2.better teacher/student interactions, exemplified by learning students’ names and having individual conferences with them;
3.making expectations for learning outcomes clearer while still maintaining high standards;
4.being better prepared for class; and
5.revising the evaluation policies and procedures used to assess student work.

The first three of these categories accounted for almost 50 percent of the faculty responses. A bit surprisingly, 5 percent of the respondents whose scores had improved didn’t list anything they’d done or they indicated that they were not aware of having implemented any changes.

This cohort of faculty included full-time tenured faculty (actually this was the largest group, 56 percent), full-time nontenured faculty (12 percent), and part-time appointees (35 percent). The researchers note that this indicates how faculty in all kinds of positions can improve. That so many in the already-tenured and part-time categories did so is especially noteworthy and encouraging.

In addition to the survey, 30 faculty from 10 of 12 colleges at the institution were interviewed “to gain a better understanding of the change process.” (p. 167) Several interesting findings emerged from the interviews. For many faculty members, the most difficult part of the process was being willing to admit that they needed to change. “Humbling” was an adjective used to describe the feeling. Often there was some sort of triggering event—frequently it involved end-of-course ratings results. After teaching a course seven times, one faculty member received his lowest-ever overall course rating. He was shocked but reported that he decided to find out why. Others talked about an overall lack of excitement in the course and their own motivation to change and do better.

In the interviews, almost 80 percent of the faculty indicated that the effort required to implement the changes was minimal. It seemed that for most it was more a matter of fine-tuning their teaching. The researchers conclude, “The results of this study should be encouraging to faculty members who feel they cannot improve.” (p. 171)

Reference: McGowan, W. R., and Graham, C. R. (2009). Factors contributing to improved teaching performance. Innovative Higher Education, 34, 161-171.

Reprinted from “Teachers Who Improved.” The Teaching Professor, 23.10 (2009): 2.
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