{"id":588,"date":"2013-07-16T12:24:16","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T17:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/iea\/?page_id=588"},"modified":"2015-08-05T11:57:29","modified_gmt":"2015-08-05T16:57:29","slug":"how-instructors-can-use-ge-assessment-to-enhance-their-work","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/iea\/how-instructors-can-use-ge-assessment-to-enhance-their-work\/","title":{"rendered":"How Instructors Can Use GE Assessment to Enhance Their Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

The assessment of General Education in 2015-16 engages all GE course instructors in gathering evidence of student learning in relation to one outcome for one requirement in one course. The Curriculum Committee intends for both the evidence-gathering process and the evidence itself to be useful for course instructors.<\/em><\/p>\n

Instructors who gather evidence of student learning in a General Education course can expect to use the process and\/or findings in the following ways:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. To enhance alignment between course goals, activities, and assignments.<\/strong>\u00a0 Participants in the 2011-12 GE assessment found that they became more attentive to the GE learning outcomes for the requirements they were assessing, strengthening the connection between what they wanted to accomplish, and how they tried to accomplish it.\u00a0 Arguably, this has the potential to improve a course even before the instructor begins teaching it.<\/li>\n
  2. To improve students\u2019 understanding of course content and pedagogy.<\/strong>\u00a0 The 2011-12 GE assessment\u00a0prompted some instructors to be more intentional and specific in communicating the intended outcomes of their GE courses to their students, often in relation to particular readings or assignments.\u00a0 Such conversations can help students be more purposeful in their learning.<\/li>\n
  3. To inform decisions about course revisions.<\/strong>\u00a0The\u00a0General Education Student Learning Report\u00a0<\/a>asks instructors both to gather evidence and to reflect on its significance for their own instruction. The completed report will be useful as the instructor considers what to continue and what to change the next time he or she teaches the course.<\/li>\n
  4. To inform participation in faculty development.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The College provides a wide array of opportunities for faculty to strengthen their teaching practices, from CILA programs to summer workshops. Findings from the GE assessment may help guide an instructor\u2019s decisions about which opportunities to pursue and when.<\/li>\n
  5. To enrich the content and design of other courses.<\/strong>\u00a0Many of the instructors who participated in the GE assessment pilot project extended their \u201cbackward design\u201d thinking into other courses they were teaching \u2013 not only those that carried GE credit but also those that did not.<\/li>\n
  6. To provide evidence of the instructor\u2019s commitment to instructional improvement in faculty reviews.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The revised standards for faculty evaluation in the St. Olaf\u00a0Faculty Manual\u00a0<\/em>include \u201ccontinuing one\u2019s own development as an instructor through a variety of means, such as\u2026the use of evidence of student learning for instructional improvement.\u201d\u00a0 Instructors will be able to refer to what they learned about their own teaching in the GE assessment and how they acted on the results. Additionally, they will be able to use the results in their professional statements for tenure and promotion and in their post-tenure review discussions with their department chairs.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The assessment of General Education in 2015-16 engages all GE course instructors in gathering evidence of student learning in relation to one outcome for one requirement in one course. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-588","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/iea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/iea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/iea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/iea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/iea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/iea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/588\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/iea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}