1. Building a Community of Practice Through Assessment
Moving the needle means more students passing classes & achieving their goals.
And this means that we need to work on improving student learning.
And this means – we need a community of practice.

2. other possible titles included
“Rethinking Assessment” “Making Assessment Part Of The Solution” “Getting Together Regularly To Discuss Our Work Will Be Fun, Useful, And Helpful To Our Students”
definition

3. what is a community of practice?
“a group of people who share a craft and/or a profession” – “through the process of sharing information and experiences with the group [the] members learn from each other, and have an opportunity to develop personally and professionally.” (thanks Wikipedia)
definition

4. a community of practice needs
the group of people sharing the craft things to talk about a forum where they can talk a routine to keep the talk going some documentation to keep a record
We’ve got the people, the things to talk about, but we need the last three.
And that’s where the “assessment cycle” comes in.

5. why through “assessment?”
“The overriding purpose of assessment is to understand how educational programs are working and to determine whether they are contributing to student growth and development." – Palomba and Banta (1999)
Here’s WHY we do assessment.
(Note: “program” = any sustained course of study.)
Assessment, then, is a process – a conversation.

6. we talk about student learning
how are we doing? = how are students doing? what can we do better?
The conversation is about teaching and learning.
NOTE: Lots of problems with student learning aren’t really the purview of assessment. Sometimes students fail because they don’t have textbooks, or can’t afford to drive here. Not a learning assessment issue.
And yes, of course, we spend about 80% of our working lives assessing student learning – it’s called GRADING!
But grades are focused on specific student performances in particular courses. The kind of c-of-p assessment we want has some unique qualities.

7. what distinguishes assessment
its perspective
Assessment is distinguished by its perspective
- Not institutional (i.e., students failing because they can’t afford textbooks); - not teacherly (i.e., not just course grades – how’d they do in my ENGL 100?); and not departmental, exactly (“how’d they do in English?”)

8. assessment is defined by outcomes
1. the students’ goals -
I want to transfer to UC Davis
I want to get an AA in business administration
I need advice on finding money for college
Students don’t come to campus saying, “I want to do well in MATH 100” or “I want to pass the philosophy department courses.” They have their own end result in mind, and it’s not defined by department.
NOTE: The assessment movement, and indeed college pathways, is in many ways an invitation to us to rethink traditional departmental boundaries, bc they don’t really make much sense to students.
I want to be a cop
I want to get a cosmetology license

9. 2. – and our goals for students
Independent learning and development
Quantitative reasoning
Social awareness and diversity
Effective communication
Along with the student end-point, we have our own ideas of what we’d like them to take away with them, expressed in our own ILOs (here they are). These represent OUR idea of what it means to be educated – something we’re entitled to define and defend.
Ethical responsibility / effective citizenship
Critical thinking

10. assessment emphasizes connections
3. - between disciplines, between instruction and other support services
marketing
business
history
math
computer science
ethnic studies
info competency
anthropology
spanish
the learning center
And so, assessment really stresses interdisciplinary perspectives. All these courses need to amount to something; many of them support the same ILOs.
volleyball
accounting
financial aid
the library
english
art history

11. assessment is a process
“Assessment is at its base a conversation.”
“I think we could improve learning in higher ed in short order if we… [only] required programs to document that they spend at least one hour per year actively talking about how to improve student learning.”
A couple of ways of thinking about assessment, that emphasize that the conversations we have, whatever their results, are VALUABLE. We’re not looking for magic solutions: we’re just trying to establish the community of practice.

12. assessment + community of practice
ongoing conversations
focused on improving student learning
based in concrete experiences / research / data

13. yes, the quantitative data
course grades
rates of persistence, retention, success in licensure exams, transfer, withdrawal, etc.
student surveys
SLO results
OK, so what sort of information do these conversations trade in? We can talk in abstractions sometimes, but not always. So what do we use to answer the question, “How are we doing, and what can we do better?”
Broadly, two kinds. Not going to dwell on this one – it’s familiar.

14. but also qualitative data
experiments with teaching strategies
team-teaching / learning communities
interdisciplinary discussions / student activities
research
(your idea here!)
Here’s what we’re focusing on: all the things that make up the community of practice.

15. the best part is we already do this.
We do these things! We’ve asked this question, and it leads to projects.

16. large projects WEZ mana honors puente umoja Year One
learning communities
Project Change
honors
puente
umoja
Some bloom into large projects

17. small projects your question here teaching circles
experiments
teaching circles
your experiment here
grade norming
team teaching
Some stay grassroots
student feedback
research
your idea here

18. behold: the assessment cycle
three flex sessions a year dedicated to teaching and learning opening day: brainstorm fall flex session: follow up spring flex session: review opening day: share out / brainstorm
What we need, then, is the forum, the routine, the habit – time cleared away to have this conversation, and someone (hello, guys!) who organizes and follows up on interesting stuff.

19. behold: the assessment cycle
Opening Day
fall flex
spring flex
Opening day
The idea, hopefully, is to start something that maybe will lead to things being shared out in Fall 2018.

20. ecce! experimentation:
Four teachers get together to try different strategies for getting students to read more effectively. Next semester, they compare notes: what worked? What didn’t?
collaboration:
Three teachers from different disciplines, each of which teaches critical thinking, collaborate on one assignment, bringing students together to see critical thinking from different angles.
communication:
A group of faculty meet over two flex sessions to share their ideas and experiences on how to promote ethical responsibility in the classroom.
exploration:
Why do students plagiarize? Let’s conduct an anonymous survey, and share the results.
YES, you can just have a discussion and never particularly do anything with it (that’s valuable too). But you can also maybe cook up some ideas, try something new, share a strategy or an idea. For example:

21. set menu
interdisciplinary discussion groups organized by institutional learning outcome (ILO). Meet with colleagues to discuss independent learning, critical thinking, communication, quantitative reasoning, ethical responsibility, or diversity.
independent projects. Have you had an idea for an experiment, a small-scale collaboration, or a research project, focusing on student learning? Here is where you can pursue it.
the student ILO discussion forum. Help plan and/or observe a general education-oriented student activity.
discipline- or course-based discussion groups. Touch base with some colleagues teaching the same course as you, or teaching in the same discipline, to reflect on your concerns.
program review. Use the Fall flex times (especially in even years) to reflect on your discipline, department or program.
We don’t need to be inventive all the time, obvies. So there will be a set menu of things to do during the “Assessment” flex days.
And note, btw: one great use of this, in even years, is to prep for program review. Because yes, that should be the ultimate place where we ask ourselves, “How are we doing?”

22. example
9 – 10:30 a.m.
Morning Session A (Choose one)
A1: Teaching physics using a human cannonball
This is a really bad idea, but the students will love it.
A2: The Pedagogy of the Undressed
Teach in your bathrobe. Who will know? Go online and you can do anything.
10:45-12:15
Morning Session B (choose one)
B1: ILO discussion groups
Discuss how to promote and assess (pick one group)
independent learning skills
effective communication
critical thinking
quantitative reasoning
ethical responsibility & effective citizenship
social awareness & diversity
B2: Project groups
Follow up on a project or experiment with colleagues or alone (ex: teaching circles, interdisciplinary discussions, research, etc.)
B3: ILO Student activity
Join colleagues to observe a student round-table discussion, and join the follow-up conversation about the students’ performance.
1:30 – 3:00
Afternoon Session C (Choose one)
C1: Creating an Effective Assignment in Canvas
You can do it! Canvas rocks.
C2: Creating An Effective Assignment Out Of Actual Canvas
Cloth – it’s romantic, it’s the ultimate biosphere disruption. Without cloth, we don’t have circus tents, majestic sails billowing in the wind, or nuns. More cloth!
Here’s what your flex agenda might like. Note how one of these slots is focused on teaching & learning discussions. (That doesn’t mean, of course, that other slots can’t address this stuff too. If someone thinks of a really interesting project, or has info to share, or whatever, by all means, use more slots!)

23. in sum the assessment cycle creates a space for
structured, ongoing interdisciplinary discussions
individual or group experiments in teaching and learning
individual or group research focused on teaching and learning
sharing out ideas / findings to the rest of the college
reflection
the chance to build, and to communicate to our community, our vision of education
Summarize. Stress the last point: we need to tell our story – students are not raw material, colleges aren’t factories, and education isn’t a process with manufacturing-level reliable results. Yet that is how many people see it, and we need to tell our story more assertively.

24. what next? look out for workshops email updates division visits
a site on Canvas
Summarize. Stress the last point: we need to tell our story – students are not raw material, colleges aren’t factories, and education isn’t a process with manufacturing-level reliable results. Yet that is how many people see it, and we need to tell our story more assertively.