Workshops

This workshop is designed to help prepare and implement assessments for large classes (face-to-face, hybrid or fully online).  Although definitions of what constitutes a large class can vary, this workshop will help anyone who needs to develop assessments for a class of 50 or more students, or more simply put, one that is larger than they are accustomed to teaching.  We will cover challenges of assessing large groups of students and appropriate assessment strategies to address those challenges.

By the end of this session, you should be able to

• Identify some of the key challenges associated with assessing a large class.
• Consider alternative forms of testing and assessment to compliment traditional multiple-choice tests.

Multiple-choice tests are traditionally used to assess knowledge and recall of facts. However, in this workshop, participants will learn how to design test items that can capture students’ critical thinking skills (e.g., application, analysis, synthesis, etc.) based on sound student learning outcomes.

By the end of this session, participants should be able to:

• Explain the strengths and weaknesses of multiple-choice tests
• Identify common error in writing multiple-choice test questions
• Write multiple-choice test questions that assess higher order thinking

This workshop is designed to help faculty promote and assess critical thinking in their courses.  A primary objective of the workshop is to define and illustrate critical thinking as an instructional objective from the various perspectives of the disciplines represented by the faculty in attendance.  Participants will review and develop appropriate techniques for promoting critical thinking in their courses.

By the end of this session, participants should be able to:

• Articulate what critical thinking means in their respective disciplines.
• Develop learning outcome(s) that demonstrate critical thinking.
• Develop learning activities that can both promote and assess critical thinking.

Rubrics are excellent instruments for grading students’ work in a consistent, transparent and timely fashion.  In this hand-on workshop, participants will learn how to use free online rubrics programs to develop or construct rubrics and apply them to the grading process.  Further, discussions will center on how to use rubrics to provide students with clarity relative to expectations as well as a better understanding of assignment grades. =

By the end of this session, participants should be able to:

• Develop or construct rubrics for evaluating various types of student assignments
• Find good examples of rubrics to adapt or adopt
• Determine inter-rater reliability or consistency
• Presenting results

Qualtrics is OU’s institutionally supported surveying software. The program allows users to navigate the entire surveying process, including creating surveys, distributing surveys, collecting data, generating reports, and exporting data for further analysis.  Participants will learn the Qualtrics interface, question types, survey options for developing and deploying professional online surveys, and how to obtain customized results using the program.

By the end of this session, participants should be able to:

• Describe the principles of creating effective online surveys
• Create and distribute an online survey using Qualtrics
• Identify and evaluate Qualtrics survey options
• Operate data collection, result attainment, and data export with Qualtrics

Are you looking for interesting and informal assessment strategies to enhance student learning in your course(s)?  Are you interested in finding out how you can make adjustments to your instructional approaches based on valuable feedback from your students?  This session explores a variety of simple, effective, and low-stakes formative assessment techniques that not only provide information about students’ knowledge and skills at a given point in time, but also gives timely feedback that instructors can use to make instructional adjustments.

At the end of the session, participants should be able to:

• Select appropriate assessment techniques to apply in their courses.
• Utilize feedback from students to make adjustments in their instructional methods
• Determine which concepts need to be re-taught to specific students

Curriculum mapping (in the context of program assessment) is a process of systematically aligning program level student learning outcomes with required courses and related educational experiences, as well as corresponding assessments used to measure each learning outcome. In light of this, a curriculum map (or curriculum matrix) can be quite helpful in (1) revealing various levels of relationships between core/required courses and learning outcomes, (2) showing contributions of individual courses to the program curriculum, (3) identifying any gaps that may exist, and (4) providing opportunities to plan program-level assessment.

By the end of this session, workshop participants should be able to:

• Map out required courses to each program student learning outcome
• Interpret the level of emphasis or contributions of each course to each learning outcome
• Understand how curriculum maps can support program outcomes assessment and advising processes

Although student ratings of instruction (commonly referred to as course evaluations) are normally viewed as a summative strategy for evaluating a course and an instructor, they can also be quite beneficial in terms of enhancing teaching and learning.  This workshop focuses on tips to help you extract specific information/feedback from your evaluations that you can use to enhance your teaching while at the same time, improving student learning.

By the end of this session, you should be able to:

• Interpret results of your course evaluation(s).
• Identify critical points that can be useful for enhancing your teaching as well as strategies to help you make changes that will help your students to learn more effectively or efficiently.

Effective program assessment often depends on the nature and quality of assessments conducted in required courses and/or program-specific educational experiences, as well as the extent to which those assessments directly address program learning outcomes.  In this workshop, participants will learn how to better utilize assignments and exams already existing in required courses to effectively assess program-level outcomes.

By the end of this session, workshop participants should be able to:

• Systematically align course level goals and outcomes with program level learning outcomes.
• Create a matrix indicating how students’ achievement in assignments and examinations address various program level learning outcomes.

In this hands-on workshop, participants will be guided through the process of completing the Annual Program Outcomes Assessment Report using a simple program level assessment template. The session will include strategies for embedding requirements of the Annual State Assessment Reports and Regional Accreditation (Higher Learning Commission [HLC]). Specifically, the session will focus on how to:

1. Develop program-level student learning outcomes (SLO’s).
2. Develop a program curriculum map.
3. Identify appropriate direct assessments measures or methods for each outcome.
4. Document assessment results.
5. Interpret results and strategize on how to make programmatic improvements.

By the end of this session, workshop participants should be able to:

• Identify key components of a functional assessment process recommended for academic programs at OU.
• Develop assessment plan/report for their respective programs.
• Clarify the similarities and differences between course and program assessment.
• Work with other department faculty to implement recommendations resulting from program assessment process.

This workshop presents various direct assessment methods appropriate for addressing specific learning outcomes.  Participants will have the opportunity to brainstorm and develop techniques for implementing direct assessments, as well as determine when to use specific assessment method to address a learning outcome or outcomes.  Differences between direct and indirect assessment methods will be explored.

At the end of the session, participants should be able to:

• Distinguish between direct and indirect assessment measures
• Develop and implement various forms of direct assessments in their courses.

The purpose of this workshop is two-fold. First, to provide information on how to develop an assessment plan for a certificate or degree program offered 100% online. Second, to present strategies for ensuring comparability of learning outcomes (which is required) if a similar certificate or degree program is traditionally offered using face-to-face (F2F) or blended format.

By the end of this session, workshop participants should be able to:

• Develop assessment reports for degree and certificate programs offered fully online.
• Document techniques for ensuring comparability of student learning outcomes if a similar program is traditionally offered using the face-to-face or blended format.

The above workshop is intended for directors of and faculty teaching in programs offered 100% online.

Please click here to access the documenting assessment activities for certificate and degree programs offered 100% online session presentation.

This workshop is intended for Assessment Liaisons who are new to TracDat and would like to learn how to upload assessment reports for their department’s or school’s certificate or degree program to TracDat. The session will provide an overview of how to document student learning outcomes (SLOs), direct and indirect assessment methods, descriptions of assessment results and details of use of assessment results for continuous improvement.

By the end of this session, workshop participants should be able to:

• Upload contents of the assessment plan (i.e., SLOs and methods of assessment) for a certificate and/or degree program.
• Upload contents of the assessment reports (i.e., descriptions of the student performance and details of the use of assessment results for continuous improvement).
• Revise contents of their assessment plan(s) and/or report(s).

The above workshop is intended for Assessment Liaisons and those charged with uploading assessment reports to TracDat.

Please click here to access the uploading assessment plans/reports to TracDat  session presentation.

As the shift to 100% remote teaching becomes the “new normal” due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one question still persists for faculty: “How do I know what my students have learned?” There clearly are no simple answers, just as there aren’t in face-to-face or blended courses. Thus, assessing student learning online can be quite challenging, especially in courses that were designed to be taught fully in-person or using the blended format. However, finding the right combination of learning activities and assessments can greatly enhance student learning. To that end, this session is designed to offer best practices, practical tips and resources faculty could consider when planning, implementing and/or refining online assessments to effectively measure student learning.

By the end of this session, workshop participants should be able to:

• Develop a simple assessment plan that can be implemented in the online environment.
• Select or design learner-centered assessments that include a variety of practical options and opportunities to engage students and demonstrate learning throughout the course.

The above workshop is intended for instructional faculty.

Please click here to access the effective stratigies for assing student learning online in response to COVID-19 session presentation.