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Session Description

Purpose
An overlooked piece of faculty development is helping faculty come to terms with assessment--particularly with the tension between the desire to use assessment to provide feedback on learning, and the cultural and institutional pressures of what “assessment” should look like. The purpose of this special session is to prompt participants to reflect on their assessment practices as examined through a lens of the student-centeredness aspect of effective and inclusive instruction. We argue that feedback and formative goals should be at the core and NOT grading.

Learning Objectives
Participants in this session will:
1. List their current assessment practices along with their summative and formative aim;
2. Identify the institutional, cultural, or contextual circumstances that promote or hinder the alignment of their practices with student learning; and
3. Create a plan to increase the students-centeredness of one important piece of
assessment in their practice;

Learning Activities
1. Presentation of assessment as the often-forgotten piece of instructional design (CAP) and a pivotal concept of SoTL. Refresher of the Assessment Triangle. Impact of the institutional and cultural forces working on assessment practices.
2. In small groups, participants reflect on their own assessment practices. Below are some prompts to help guide this reflection:
a. What is your definition of assessment?
b. What is your experience with assessment?
c. How do you create assessments?
d. How can you improve the authenticity of your assessments?
e. Are there institutional, cultural or contextual forces that push assessments away
from student centeredness?
3. Report out the major takeaways and recurring themes from the reflection.
4. Work on an individual plan to improve the student-centeredness of at least one of their assessment practices.
5. Wrap-up of lessons learned and next steps
6. Present ongoing project on faculty mental models of assessment

Timeline of the session
1. Presentation, 15 mins - short talk on assessment in instructional design, assessment and SoTL, and the Assessment Triangle
2. Small groups discussion, 25 mins - facilitators will circulate to ensure groups are looking at the different prompts
3. Report out, 20 mins - facilitators will record recurring themes and insights to weave them into the wrap-up
4. Individual plan, 10 mins - facilitators will circulate to answer individual questions, although participants will be encouraged to interact with each other as they write their plans.
5. Lessons learned, 10 mins - lessons learned during the session and next steps
6. Mental models of assessment, 10 mins - Discuss ongoing research of faculty mental models of assessment

Why is a special session needed?
The heart of this session is asking participants to reflect on their own assessment practices and make a plan for improving the student-centeredness of at least one assessment.

These are activities that are best accomplished by the highly interactive format of a special session.

Moderated by

1. Dr. Juan David Ortega Álvarez

Speakers

1. Dr. Juan David Ortega Álvarez

   Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

   Juan David Ortega-Alvarez, Collegiate Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering Education, Virginia Tech. Contributes to the session through his research on student-centeredness and assessment and his experience facilitating faculty development workshops.

2. Dr. Ruth A. Streveler

   Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE)

   Ruth Streveler, Professor Emeritus, School of Engineering Education, Purdue University. Contributes to this session through her expertise in instructional design and in helping faculty transition into scholarly teaching and educational research.

3. Matilde Luz Sanchez-Pena

   University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

   Matilde Sánchez-Peña, Assistant Professor, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University at Buffalo (SUNY). Contributes to this session through her experience facilitating faculty development workshops and her research on increasing faculty diversity.

4. Dr. Holly M Matusovich

   Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

   Holly Matusovich, Professor of Engineering Education and Associate Dean for Graduate and Professional Studies, College of Engineering, Virginia Tech. Contributes to the session as co-PI of ongoing research about faculty mental models of assessment.

5. Dr. Karl A Smith

   University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

   Karl Smith, Morse-Alumni Distinguished University Teaching Professor and Emeritus Professor, Civil, Environmental and Geo- Engineering, University of Minnesota and Emeritus Cooperative Learning Professor of Engineering Education, School of Engineering Education, Purdue University. Contributes to this session through his expertise in instructional design and team-based pedagogies. He has presented workshops to thousands of faculty across the globe.