1. The Art of Mixing Oil and Water: Assessment & Part-Time Faculty Presented to the 8 th Annual Western Region Assessment Conference, March 19, 2004 and to Bellevue University’s Faculty Development Day, March 26 and 27, 2004.

2. Overall Goals of Workshop  Evaluate learning activities for: Critical thinking Learning styles Feedback to students Alignment of activity and course objectives  Provide feedback to part-time faculty about classroom learning activities

3. Active Learning  BU says, “Active learning is a student- centered approach in which student and teacher share responsibility in a process that facilitates learning for students with diverse learning styles.”  Comparison to traditional teaching methods  Goal: clear, concise, useable assessment of active learning

4. Critical Thinking  Often considered important to active learning  Definitions and theories abound  Bloom’s taxonomy is well-known  Move students beyond knowledge  Goal: learning activities aimed at application level (or higher)

5. Learning Styles  Also considered key to active learning  VARK is good, simple approach Visual Auditory Read/write Kinesthetic  Goal: broaden appeal of activities to more than instructor’s learning style

6. Clear Objectives  Are objectives of learning activity stated clearly?  Do they line up with course objectives?  Action-oriented objectives?  Goal: clear learning objectives that support course objectives

7. Feedback for Student Work  Who looks at student work? Instructor Peers Self Outside experts  Can the feedback be used to improve the finished product?  Goal: frequent, useable feedback to students

8. Grades  Are the standards clear?  Do students know what to aim for?  Can decisions be made quickly?  Do part-time faculty feel empowered to confront grade inflation?  Goal: fast, efficient grading based on open, understandable standards

9. Assessments by Part-Timers  Low overhead  Cover memo for existing documents  Focus on classroom learning activities  Tie to course objectives  Goal: gather evidence of active learning for assessment reports

10. Scoring System  Magazine self-quiz format  Ask simple, direct questions  Weight answers by desired characteristics  Goal: encourage self-assessment and improve learning activities by providing clear, concise feedback

11. Let’s Give it a Try  Spirited competition marketing exercise  Multicultural education project  Financial statements analysis activity  XML documents and programs  Programming final project

12. For More Information …  http://academic2.bellevue.edu/~partz/AssessmentWorkshop/ http://academic2.bellevue.edu/~partz/AssessmentWorkshop/  Pat Artz  Center for Information Technology  Bellevue University  402.682.5061  partz@bellevue.edu