General Education, Assessment and the Learning Students Need
Program Highlights
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Thursday, February 26, 2009, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Why General Education is a Problem
Louis Menand, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of English and American Literature and Language, Harvard University
This keynote will examine the history of American higher education as a context for the kinds of issues that arise when faculty attempt to formulate and implement general education curricula. Dr. Menand will offer thoughts on and analysis of the historical meaning of general education, portray a few varying models, and provide insight into the possibilities for innovation in the undergraduate curriculum to assure that every student leaves college prepared for work and engagement in an increasingly complex and competitive global society.
Dr. Menand’s interests include 19th and 20th Century Cultural History. Some of his recent works include: American Studies (2002); The Metaphysical Club (2001); and The Future of Academic Freedom, ed. (1997).
PLENARY
Friday, February 27, 2009, 9:15 – 10:45 a.m.
The Role of Assessment in Furthering Student Engagement, Inclusion, and Achievement
Mary Allen, Consultant in Higher Education; Sylvia Hurtado, Professor and Director of the Higher Education Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles; and Patricia Iannuzzi, Dean of Libraries at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Assessment is a vital component of monitoring and strengthening the impact of any educational program or initiative. Many of AAC&U’s essential learning outcomes—including inquiry and analysis, critical and creative thinking, information literacy, written and oral communication, personal and social responsibility, and ethical reasoning and action—can be assessed with a variety of instruments; and assessment often involves collaboration among campus professionals. This plenary will begin with a focus on characteristics of quality assessment, such as the need for it to be valid, reliable, actionable, and efficient. The speakers will illustrate these characteristics by reviewing the assessment of information literacy and selected large-scale and course-based longitudinal assessments by the Higher Education Research Institute. They will highlight the implications of this research for furthering student engagement, inclusion, and achievement.
LUNCHEON PANEL AND DISCUSSION
Friday, February 27, 2009, 12:30 – 2:00 p.m.
* Separate registration and $50 fee required for Luncheon panel Discussion
Examining Practices that Strengthen Assessment and Achievement
John Hammang, Director of Special Projects and Development, American Association of State Colleges and Universities; Terrel Rhodes, Vice President, Quality, Curriculum and Assessment, Association of American Colleges and Universities; and David Shulenburger, Vice President for Academic Affairs, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grand Colleges
This panel will examine the effectiveness of and relationships among a variety of tools used to measure student learning of specific outcomes. In the current climate of accountability, the panelists will discuss a major FIPSE funded project to explore tools that public and private campuses can use for assessment and reporting on student learning. Measures included are the Measure of Academic Proficiency and Progress (MAPP), Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP), and Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA tests); a new survey on Student Growth that focuses on student learning outcomes not measured by existing instruments; and development of rubrics for a broad range of essential learning outcomes and student work through electronic portfolios. There will be opportunities for questions about the usefulness of these instruments for communicating to stakeholders.
PLENARY
Saturday, February 28, 2009, 7:45 – 9:00 a.m.
ePortfolios for General Education: Enriching and Assessing Student Learning
Bret Eynon, Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Executive Director, LaGuardia Center for Teaching and Learning—LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York
ePortfolios create opportunities for students and faculty to examine and enrich the learning process. Digital collections of students’ work and their reflections on learning, ePortfolios can build engagement, advance core competencies, and help students craft new identities as learners. At the same time, ePortfolios can support the authentic assessment processes that are often seen as crucial to meaningful general education reform. Reviewing examples of student ePortfolios, participants will explore relationships among pedagogy, technology, and assessment, and consider the challenges and opportunities for ePortfolio work on their own campuses.
PLENARY
Saturday, February 28, 2009, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
General Education for the 21st Century: From Conception to Implementation
Gail Evans, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, San Francisco State University and Joseph S. Wood, Professor of Geography, former Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and former Interim President—University of Southern Maine
AAC&U’s 2007 Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) Report notes that “American students already know they want a degree. The challenge is to help students become highly intentional about the forms of learning and accomplishment that the degree should represent.” How can we as educators rethink and rework General Education to achieve this goal? How do we build a General Education curriculum that addresses the Essential Learning Outcomes and Principles of Excellence articulated in LEAP? How do we ensure that students have an integrated educational experience, including general education with the major, and the curriculum and co-curriculum? Dr. Evans and Dr. Wood will describe how campuses can use these Essential Learning Outcomes and Principles of Excellence to reframe general education. They will provide both theoretical structures and practical strategies that have proved effective in creating a more intentional general education that engages students in real world problems, interdisciplinary learning, global understanding and civic engagement.
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