Thu University Assessment Council met on March 10th.
1) We had a presentation on assessment in the Vet School that was very interesting. In order to increase their response rate for their final year assessment, they offer free graduation robes to those who complete all assessment requirements. They now have 100% response rate. This made me think of the undergraduate exit assessment tool –>
The UW is launching a new program that will ask students questions about their academic experience at the UW when they fill out the graduating student questionnaire. Right now the response rate is around 30%. What would be a good way to incentivize students to fill this out and increase the response rate? Any ideas?
2) The assessment council promotes assessment across campus by providing funding. I suggested to the chair that we mention the budget situation in the request for proposals. It is my hope that we can use better assessment to make informed decisions when it comes to budget decisions. People fear assessment for this reason, but I believe it can (and should) be used as a tool rather than a weapon.
3) We got an update on the process of listing service learning designated classes on transcripts. This is still a ways in the future, but it seems to be moving along. What other things would be good to include on transcripts?
The assessment council met this afternoon.
We had a presentation on the Ethnic Studies requirement. Did you know that until this year they had no idea what students were actually learning by taking these classes?! So, they have decided that this is what we are supposed to learn in the class (aka essential learning outcomes (ELOs)):
- Awareness of History’s Impact on the Present
- Ability to Recognize and Question Assumptions
- A Consciousness of Self and Other
- Effective Participation in a Multicultural Society
Do you agree that these summarize what you are learning?
Do you pay attention to the learning outcomes on syllabus?
-Emily Kelchen
The administration has boiled down the UW college experience to:
The Wisconsin Experience — the idea that, together, we create and apply learning inside and outside the classroom to make the world a better place.
UW–Madison produces graduates who are creative problem solvers, able to integrate empirical analysis and passion, seek out and create new knowledge and technologies, adapt to new situations, and engage as world citizens.
The Assessment Council discusses how to determine if students are actually getting the above outcome, and how to make it better.
I’m on a subgroup trying to figure out how to measure these things outside of the classroom. Here are some questions I could use your opinion on:
- Do we learn anything outside of the classroom?
- Do you think it is important to figure out what we learn outside of the classroom?
- Do you have any ideas for how to measure how much or what you learn outside of the classroom?
The council also discussed how important it is to assess the outcomes of the Madison Initiative for Undergrads, and how difficult it has been to get people who got the grants to do so.
The next Assessment Council meeting is December 9th.
-Emily Kelchen
