Dr. Leslie Seawright is an assistant professor from the College of Arts & Letters and English Department.
Her proposal, titled English 321 General Education Student Learning Outcomes Assessment, aims to help faculty better understand “the learning that is happening in ENGLISH 321 and how to improve student learning in future courses.” To make this happen, Dr. Seawright plans to have faculty come together and assess student writing from FA17 and SP18 sections of ENG 321 and devise a rubric based on General Education 3.4. This rubric is on Written Communication, and states that students should be able to use writing for inquiry, learning, and thinking to find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize appropriate primary and secondary sources and integrate their own ideas with those of others.
Dr. Seawright describes this development workshop as “[enabling] faculty to come together in a productive space that will enable a beneficial discussion about teaching practices and how to improve student learning.” This level of collaboration and meaningful assessment of student work looks to provide an even more valuable educational experience for students entering ENG 321 in the future.
Dr. Ruth Walker is an assistant professor from the College of Health & Human Services and the Psychology Department.
After hearing about a need in her department, Dr. Walker formulated and submitted her proposal, PSY 200 Standardization and Faculty Training. Students going through the Psychology program take PSY 200 (Psychological Statistical Methods) prior to entering PSY 302 (Experimental Psychology), per the requirements of this undergraduate degree. But as it turned out, students were showing varying levels of preparation for PSY 302. Dr. Walker plans to work with the newly-formed PSY 200 Committee, aided by the Assessment Grant, to create/adopt “a set of unified learning objectives for all PSY 200 instructors that will adequately prepare our students for the expectations of both PSY 302 as well as graduate school.”
Not only will this unification of learning objectives set up Psychology students for success, but another great goal was set: switching over to JASP. Dr. Walker describes JASP as “a free open-source statistical analysis program with a student-friendly user interface that is capable of all the necessary analyses for both PSY 200 and PSY 302.” Not only is it accessible for student personal computers, but it allows for comfort and familiarity with a program students can use throughout their degree program. Not to mention, a departure from spending instruction time in other courses on the other, more costly statistical programs that exist.
Jennifer Pratt is a faculty instructor from the College of Health & Human Services and the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department.
Based on a multi-focused approach, Jennifer Pratt’s proposal is titled Language in Art: Facilitating Expression and Social Participation Through Visual Mediums. This project looks to collaborate with speech-language pathology graduate clinicians, art students, and faculty members in an exciting, new social activity for adults with acquired communication disorders. With the help of the Assessment Grant, Jennifer Pratt and her collaborators will provide an opportunity for adults with acquired communication disorders to express themselves “via alternative means, culminating in an art show where the participants work will be displayed. This can serve as an opportunity for further community education and collaboration.”
She reports that success for this project will be determined by how the individuals judge their participation in the self-expression, as well as their overall enjoyment of the activity. It’s exciting to consider how these types of activities can help those in this discipline to “appreciate capabilities in their clients they would not otherwise experience and…allow art student the opportunity to experience how impactful and relevant communication via art can be, particularly for those with communication struggles.” This project also aims to act as a model for other group participation activities, such as with pediatric communication groups. In addition, it functions as a component for students in the Art and Design Department to serve community centers.
Congratulations to the faculty on your new projects in assessment and your Assessment Grant awards! We look forward to the outcome of your work.
Interested in applying for an Assessment Grant for your department? Visit our webpage for more information.