1. Stop, Collaborate and Listen:
The Individual & Society Signature Assignment
Karnes, S.*, Olson, E.*, Zhang, S.*, Andrzejewski, M.*, Deller, M.**, Walz, J.***, Denning, H.**
University of Wisconsin – Whitewater
Departments of Psychology*; Sociology, Crimonolgy and Anthropology**; Women’s and Gender Studies***
Introduction
Individual and Society (GENED 130) is interdisciplinary in that multiple social science perspectives including anthropology, sociology, psychology, and women’s and gender studies are represented in both content areas and instructional expertise. The signature assignment was developed in with shared course objectives and priority learning goals such as collaborative learning and quantitative literacy in mind. The assignment was piloted by a cohort of instructors and revised in The most recent revision included creation of a common rubric which facilitated the ability to gather assessment data during Fall of 2016 that was compiled in early Conclusions reached after analyzing assessment data include that while students are collectively demonstrating the ability to engage in collaborative learning, there is need for continued or heightened focus on cultivating both quantitative literacy and skills for reading and understanding articles.
About the Assessment Data
The current signature assignment was launched and assessed in Fall of 2016.
Five instructors, representing each social science discipline used a shared rubric to assess progress toward learning goals.
Data were available for n = 471 students across 11 sections of GENED 130 for all learning outcomes except “quantitative literacy” for which there were n = 182 assessments available.
All data are presented as percentage of total respondents which are rounded to the nearest whole number (See Table 1).
Results
Student assignments were least likely to be rated as “advanced” in the “quantitative literacy” category (19%).
Less than half of the student assignments were rated as “advanced” in the “read and understand articles” category (40%).
Student assignments were most likely to be rated as “advanced” in the “collaborative learning” category (82%)
Half or just over half of student assignments were rated as “advanced” in the “identify and analyze scholarly social science sources”, “analyze social problems”, and “articulate perspectives” categories respectively (50%, 57%, 52%).
Conclusion
The signature assignment for GENED 130 has undergone several revisions to enhance the usability among instructors and effectiveness for reaching targeted learning goals.
The current signature assignment maps onto course goals for GENED 130 and GELOs.
Instructors successfully implemented the signature assignment, and assessment data were gathered through use of a shared rubric, although not all instructors assessed “quantitative literacy”.
Student assignments were rated as less advanced in “reading and understanding articles” and “quantitative literacy” than other learning outcome categories.
The vast majority of student assignments were rated “advanced” in “collaborative learning” and half or more of student assignments were likely to be rated as “advanced” in terms of “identifying scholarly social science sources”, “analyzing social problems”, and “articulating perspectives”.
Notably, since there was no pre-test data available, it was unclear whether students made improvements in any of the outcome areas of interest throughout the semester.
Signature Assignment Development
Common Assignment: Instructors of GENED 130 initially piloted a common assignment to improve students’ quantitative literacy skills through interpretation of graphical presentations of social data.
Original Signature Assignment: The common assignment described above was expanded into a signature assignment that focused on GENED 130 learning outcomes derived from GENED learning outcomes (GELOs). The original signature assignment was piloted by a cohort of instructors.
Current Signature Assignment: Feedback about the pilot included that significant scaffolding across the semester was needed to cultivate successful achievement of learning outcomes of interest. Instructors acknowledged the importance of flexibility with the framework, in that most had independently tailored the assignment to align with their specific preferences and areas of expertise. Learning outcomes targeted in the assignment mapped onto course goals and GELOs and included:
Read and understand scholarly articles in social sciences
Analyze social problems using multiple social science perspectives
Articulate perspectives of people from social groups different from one’s own
Implement skills for collaborative learning
Make judgments and draw appropriate conclusions from quantitative data
To this end, instructors asked students to work collaboratively to develop presentations with structured scaffolding that varied by instructor.
Future Directions
Recommendations for enhancing signature assignment assessment and implementation might include consideration of :
Conducting assessment of “quantitative literacy” across instructors.
Targeting both “quantitative literacy” and “reading and understanding articles” during skill-building.
Gathering and analyzing assessment data longitudinally across semesters to monitor whether efforts to target deficiencies are effective.
Table 1. Assessment of signature assignment learning outcomes from Fall of 2016.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to the GENED 130 instructors who participated in the signature assignment development, revision and assessment process; as well as current and former GENED 130 coordinators for facilitating workshops; and the College of Letters and Sciences for sponsoring workshops.