What is Good Assessment? A Liberal Education Core Example Laura Suppes Watershed Institute for Collaborative Environmental Studies March 28, 2017

Introduction Course: Global Environmental and Public Health Description: “This course explores endemic and emerging health issues affecting global populations. Topics include vector-borne, waterborne, and occupational illness; air quality and health, food and water security, sexually transmitted diseases, and emerging global health issues. Course lectures, activities, and assignments aim to familiarize students with adverse health outcomes associated with global socioeconomic disparities.”

Introduction LE Outcomes: K2: Use knowledge, theories, methods, and historical perspectives appropriate to the social sciences to explain and evaluate human behavior and social institutions. Introduction R2: Evaluate the impact of systems, institutions and issues in local and global contexts and across cultures. LE Outcomes:

Targets & Measures Proposed and initial artifact for R2 assessment: Exam questions Present artifact: Group discussion Why the switch? Course evolution Not all students exceeded the R2 element benchmarks upon assessment of exam question answers: “Clearer prompts will help students recognize what they have learned relative to each learning element and LE outcome. For example, changing “what impact do social systems have on health across cultures (the prompt used to evaluate if students met element B), might be changed to “analyze and interpret how social systems influence health across the world.” Using words from the rubric I think will help student exceed the benchmark.”

Artifact: Filmed one class discussion for assessment 


Results, Conclusions & Discoveries

“Item 3 in my rubric allows students to exceed the benchmark of Element A because students are comparing population health improvements in different global regions.” 



 “Item 2 in my rubric allows students to exceed the benchmark for Element B because students analyze and interpret social, economic and political systems that impact health in different global regions.”

“It was difficult to transition from identifying to analyzing global implications of decisions. Students exceled at identifying and describing reasons why poverty persists in some countries (ex. lack of education, less economic opportunity, etc.), but had a harder time analyzing how factors contributing to poverty originated. To me, analyzing origins of these factors, like historic government policies and decisions that affect economics, would qualify as exceeding the benchmark for Element C.” 


Results, Conclusions & Discoveries Describe use of results “I would like to provide an opportunity for students to exceed the benchmark for Element C of the R2 rubric. Adjusting the rubric to use "analyze" or "interpret" could help. For example, changing text in my rubric to ‘Discussion leaders propose questions and/or organize activities that make students compare global health situations in each group’s region, leading to a class‐wide analysis of the implications individual or collective decisions have on the health of people throughout the world.”

Biggest Takeaway/Advice to Colleagues Use LE rubric language in assignment prompts Use text in exceeded benchmark column if you want students to exceed the benchmark Easiest to assess writing compared to oral assignments Change prompts right after assessment