10:30 – 11:15: Outcomes-Based Assessment and Writing Portfolios: Feedback for Students, Insights for Instructors, Guidance for WPAs, and Data for VP

Robert Cummings, Columbus State University English Department, for himself and Ron Balthazor, University of Georgia at Athens English Department

Bob added the following comment, that I want to elevate because you'll find it helpful:

Ron and I would love to hear your opinions, positive or negative. Please feel free to contact us at either cummings_robert1@colstate.edu and/or rlbaltha@uga.edu.

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Nick's raw notes on Bob's and Ron's presentation

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Bob: Evaluating Levels of Cognitive Thought

Context: Spellings leveraging NCLB like practices to go after colleges via calls for accountability assessment.

quote from "No Gr_du_ate Left Behind," James Traub, NYT Magazine, 9/30/07

To anticipate NCLB like tests of learning to "prove" education, testing companies are gearing up. For example, ETS has Major Field Tests. From what Bob and Ron could see, English major questions were cannonical, like GRE questions. Tests designed for broad scale assessment using multiple choice exams.

Purpose is to demonstrate learning outcomes for a field. Administrators go to these tests because they need to meet the purpose test claim to meet. Need to show to some constituent that learning is happening.

Meanwhile, the University System of Georgia is considering moving to outcomes rather than credit hours as way to measure achievement. If outcomes based testing is coming, then it's worth keeping this idea in mind:

"If the proverbial gun is being pointed at our collective heads, how can we improve our current assessment systems to meet these demands without shooting ourselves first?"

What teachers don't want:

Bubble sheet exams to measure outcomes which attempt to nationally normed.

Machine readers for student writing. (Computers are fast, efficient and dumb)

Or human readers in Bangalore (Shorthand for doesn't want to outsource assessment.)

Exams which are external to our curriculm.

Assessment which determines our curriculum.

What teachers want:

assessment that allows us to teach to our strengths and caps on passions to determine curriculm

FYC Directors want:

to see who is learning to write better according to disciplinary measures and consistent w/ values

assessment that helps teachers strengthen their pedagogy.

U. Administrators want
assessment that is quantitative; is independently verified; broad enough to allow comparisons across system institutions so every institution is a winner in some way.

We have to have some type quanitative element to assessment because of ETS/College Board precedents.

How do we meet all disparat these wants?

One idea is to use an Outcomes Based E-portfolio Assessment

At UGA eportfolio requires reflection, two revised essay, bio w/ image, peer review, and so on

End of semester eportfolio is capstone and must be substantial part of course

Reflective intro would be on board of regents first year composition outcomes, describing how writing artifacts from course satisified those outcomes.

Student reflective essay connects course artifacts in portfolio to the BOR outcomes

Persuade the reader the artifacts meet the outcomes.

Instructor of record using wholistic rubric to assess the outcomes reflective essay.

Same essay also read by another FYC comp instructor in USG system and scores reflective essay w/ same rubric as instructor of record.

What would this do?

1. Have departmental discussion about what works
2. Increase student transference, or know what they learned sooner, and are able to appy it only courses.
3. Student, teachers, depts have artifacts to share w/ external stakeholders: parents, employers.

Problems with a portfolio outcome assessment

Students

What if I don't want to switch to portfolios?

What's an outcome?

Teachers

Is this extra grading?

I don't want to use portfolios.

I don't use e-writing platform. I like to hold the paper. I like to grade in bed. I don't like compclass.

Administrators

Will reflective essays yield authentic prose?

Will my teachers suspect the panopticon?

Next step: Create a pilot.

Hardest thing to overcome after a pilot? – most likely the work says Bob.