CT-257 Meaningful Assessment in FYE Courses Using Signature Assignments

Assessment Purposes
š  Institutional initiatives
š  Student learning
outcomes
š  Program Justification
š  Curriculum adjustment
š  Re-teaching
š  Differentiation
How standardized
Assessment often
manifests in our
classrooms…….
Quality
Enhancement Plan
Accreditation
reporting
Student Learning
Outcome Mastery
So are we not
assessing our
students
learning?
Of course we are!
Assessment is embeded in
good pedagogy
š Indirect assessment
š Formal assessment
š Observation
š Culminating assessment
Signature Assignments
š  Culminating in nature
š  Contextualized
š  Flexible to meet institutional needs
š  Holistic
š  Most professors are already doing it without knowing it, just
takes some fine tuning
Finding our Purpose
š  Six student learning
outcomes
š  Acclimating students with
college life
š  Quality Enhancement Plan
focusing on critical thinking
š  Building a career
foundation/ how that
translates to school
š  Relevance of an FYE course
š  Critical thinking
š  Decision making
The Career
Choice
Project
• 
Culminating
• 
Holistic
• 
Measures four out of six
student learning
outcomes
• 
General enough to be
standardized across all
FYE sections
• 
Provides data through
LMS
• 
Highly contextualized
Career choice
Project, A
Flexible
Assessment Tool
•  Students demonstrate mastery at intervals
•  Encompasses two of our institutional
assessment requirements
What makes it a Signature
Assignment
š  Contextualized
š  Holistic
š  Culminating
Reporting Data
Embedded Rubrics
š  Every assignment has a
standard agreed upon embedded
rubric attached to it
š  For institutional data reporting
we can run a rubric analysis in
Blackboard
š  Flexibility to use data
You may be
thinking
how…
•  May seem like an abstract
idea
•  Takes too much effort or
coordination
•  Or your set up doesn’t work
this way
•  Or……. you could be way
smarter than me and already
have an idea.
In Summary, Signature
Assignments and Assessment
š  Flexible
š  Holistic
š  Reliable
š  Non-intrusive
š  Contextualized/relevant
š  Two birds, one stone
š  Meaningful
š  Align with the art of teaching and learning
Joselyn R. Gonzalez
Professor and
Division Coordinator,
Student Success
El Centro College
801 Main St. Dallas,
Texas 75202
[email protected]