The
College of DuPage
Student
Outcomes Assessment Newsletter
Volume 4 Number 1 Fall Quarter, 2000
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Q. I keep hearing
about CAT’s. What are CAT’s?
A. CAT’s is an acronym for classroom assessment techniques. Classroom assessment is a method faculty can use to collect information on how well their students are learning what they are being taught. CAT’s provide faculty and students with information to improve teaching and learning. They focus on the immediate learning situation. An individual assessment might reflect what students already know, what they are confused about, ways they have modified their learning behavior, or what more would they like to know. Faculty can share feedback from the CAT’s with their students and perhaps make changes to reflect the responses on the CAT.
Q. Where can I locate
CAT’s?
A. College of DuPage’s
Outcomes Assessment Web Site, www.cod.edu/outcomes
, is a great place to begin. There you will find copies of the Assessment
Newsletter, links to a variety of online assessment resources, and an overview
of the history and goals of the College-Wide Assessment Committee. The Teaching
and Learning Center has resources in their library, including multiple copies
of the assessment “bible” Cross and Angelo’s, Classroom Assessment
Techniques. Other potential resources are the Faculty Development course
offered through the Teaching and Learning Center.
In response to the General Education Assessment, Ken Gray has begun offering Reading Tips for his students to use at the beginning of each chapter in his Psychology 100 classes. In addition to classroom presentation, Ken’s reading tips are available on his web page at http://www.cod.edu/grayke/readtips/readhome.htm Ken’s tips include previewing the chapter before reading, explaining text material to oneself, predicting what will come next, reading with a dictionary, reading each
See Reading Tips
Page 2
College of DuPage is beginning to take a leadership role at several important conferences. Four presentations providing an overview of the assessment process at College of DuPage were made by members of the Student Outcomes Assessment Committee beginning in April. Jan Geesaman, Peter Klassen, and Russ Watson presented to approximately 200 attendees at the 105th annual meeting of the North Central Association in Chicago as well as addressing 130 attendees at The 2000 Summer Assessment Academy sponsored by The Council of North Central Two Year Colleges in Michigan. Jan and Russ also presented at the Pacific Rim Conference on Higher Education Planning and Assessment in Hawaii. Finally, Russ and Peter presented at the American Association for Higher Education Assessment Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. Russ, Peter, and Ingrid Peternel will be making a presentation on November 7, at the 2000 Assessment Institute in Indianapolis.
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Who
serves on the Student Outcomes Assessment Committee?
Lesli Barger Rene Kovala
Connie Canaday Howard Lucia McGinn
Terry Fuller Ingrid Peternel
Jan Geesaman Tom Roesing
Ken Gray Harlan Schweer
Mary Hill Russ Watson
Marianne Hunnicutt Helen Zaleski
____________________________________________
Reading Tips continued
from Page 1
day, and relating reading material to oneself. These techniques help students become involved with the material they are reading thereby promoting deeper understanding and memory. Since some of the material on his exams comes from the text only, students are motivated to read and these tips help provide support for the less skilled readers in his classes. Ken hopes that his students will be able to read the textbook critically and discriminate essential from nonessential material.
Try our web-page. From the COD homepage, click on Academics, then Student Outcomes Assessment under Faculty. The URL is:
http://www.cod.edu//Outcomes , here you can click on the various tabs for more information.
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General education reflects learning that occurs as a result of multiple experiences and courses. College of DuPage has decided to emphasize seven areas of general education and administer assessment tests during fall and spring quarters utilizing a stratified, random sampling of class-sections. Fall assessments are made in 100 level classes while spring assessments are made in 200 level classes. ACT-CAAP tests were used to assess three general education areas: quantification, communication, and analysis. In any single course-section some students complete each of the six ACT-CAAP subject areas within a fifty-minute period. No students complete the entire battery.
The ACT- CAAP assessment measures attainment of skills in quantification (mathematics). COD students performed at significantly higher levels than national norms for entering freshman and completing sophomores. Additionally, there were significant increases between freshman and sophomore average scores.
Attaining skills in communication includes three aspects of the battery. College reading scores suggest our students enter and exit at the national average. Changes from freshman to sophomore reading levels were not statistically significant. Writing skills measured through multiple-choice questions indicated that freshman were significantly below national averages, and completing sophomores scored at the national average, reflecting statistically significant improvement. The essay-writing portion (excluded in 2000-2001 assessment) indicated students enter and exit at the national average with no significant increase in writing skills from freshmen to sophomores.
Attaining skills in analysis involves two aspects of the ACT-CAAP battery. In the critical thinking portion of the assessment, freshmen scored significantly higher than national norms, sophomores exit at the sophomore two-year public college national average, and there was no statistically significant change from freshmen to sophomores. In the scientific reasoning portion, COD students enter and exit with scores at the national average and significant increases between freshman and sophomore average scores occurred.
One of the identified areas of general education (attain skills in synthesis) requires Gestalt approaches not yet designed or implemented and was not assessed. Self-report survey responses reflect student attitudes on course impact on three areas. Understanding and appreciating the students’ culture, the environment, and development of a system of personal values based on accepted ethics leading to social and civic responsibilities were surveyed. In general there was an increase in percentage of students reporting “meaningful or significant impact” from entering freshman to exiting sophomores.
The ACT-CAAP assessments suggest that our students are demonstrating a strong pattern of acquisition of mathematics skills and writing skills as well as an acceptable pattern in acquisition of essay writing and science reasoning. We still face a challenge to help our students improve the acquisition of college reading skills and college thinking skills.