The%20Outcomes%20Assessment%20Process%20Applied%20to%20International%20Students:%20An%20Important%20Yet%20Undeveloped%20Tool%20%20Fred%20Hildebrand,%20SUNY%20Morrisville%20and%20Peter%20Thomas,%20System%20Administration

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The Outcomes Assessment Process Applied to
International Students An Important Yet
Undeveloped Tool Fred Hildebrand, SUNY
Morrisville and Peter Thomas, System
Administration
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Stakeholders

• Parents
• Students
• Administrators
• Faculty

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Natural Sciences

• Mathematics
• Sciences

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Social Sciences

• Sociology
• Psychology

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History

• American History
• Western Civilization
• Other World Civilization

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Humanities

• The Arts
• Humanities

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Languages

• Foreign Language
• Basic Communication

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Competencies

• Information Management
• Critical Thinking

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Purpose of Assessment

• Accountability
• Improvement

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• The fact that international students differ from
  native students leads to the conclusion that
  outcomes assessments need to be more discretely
  focused.
• We seek to answer two questions

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• 1) What has SUNY done for the student?
• Adapt Open Doors questions
• Student satisfaction with sojourn
• Gains in language proficiency
• Academic achievement gains
• Gains in personal development
• Gains in intercultural proficiency
• Career-oriented outcomes

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• 2) What has the student done for SUNY?
  Institutional impact such as
• Curricular reform
• Marketing of the institution
• Financial effects
• Impact on enrollment and retention
• Effects on faculty

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• But how to get that information from a
  population of widely varying backgrounds?
• Many mechanisms exist in the international
  education sphere, but none is exactly on point.

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Various Techniques and Instruments

• Bolen Transnational competencies, plus
• Need demographic data baseline separate
  experience and background
• Add standard demographic measures to filter
  Age, Ethnicity, Race, Religion, Semester level,
  Socioeconomic status, Home city/country
• Corbitt Global Awareness Profile (GAP Test)
• Meyers and Kelly Cross-Cultural Adaptability
  Inventory (CCAI)
• Bennett Intercultural Development Inventory
  (IDI)
• Middle States Broad range of examples

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• To build an appropriate assessment process, we
  need to
• Better understand/describe the incoming
  international student, then
• Create a more appropriate assessment mechanism
  to gauge outcomes

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• Our selection process for international students
  is not too different from the generic,
• and the integration of international students
  into our mainstream has meant little discrete
  baseline information

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• Look to the examples of entities around the world
  that have addressed the issue of
  internationalization and analogize
• Multiple benefits
• Better assessment processes
• Well-tuned links with overseas partners
• Study Abroad/Exchange
• Transfer and Articulation
• Middle States overseas initiatives

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• There are a good number of approaches to explore
  
• Canada CICIC
• UK Council of Validating Universities
• US IESMAP
• WES
• Middle States
• EU Socrates/Erasmus
• Lisbon Credential Recognition
• ECTS
• Tuning Program
• TEEP

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Canadian Information Centre for International
Credentials (CICIC)

• General Guiding Principles for Good Practice in
  the Assessment of Foreign Credentials
• Broadly framed .. Education/jobs/professional
  practice
• Looks into the status of an institution and
  underlying program as well as the credential

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Council of Validating Universities

• A very comprehensive system in the UK that
  ensures quality and predictability in the
  operation of student exchange programs

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Institute for the International Education of
Students (IES)

• IES/MAP Model Assessment Practice Developed
  as a mode of assessing Study Abroad students
• International and cross-cultural program
  components
• Three challenges
• Mission/goals per cross cultural learning
  experience
• Non-academic elements
• Differing academic cultures
• Set of standards for assessment

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World Education Services (WES)

• A very active provider of a range of support
  services in the admissions and transfer fields

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Middle States

• Increasingly active in the inclusion of overseas
  universities in the accreditation process, thus
  building linkages with assessment of learning
  outcomes

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Socrates/Erasmus

• Longstanding program supporting/facilitating
  student and teacher mobility
• Full academic recognition agreed before departure
• Joint curricula
• Joint development of study programs
• Joint development of European modules
• Implementation and dissemination of curricular
  development projects

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• Linkage with ECTS (especially Learning Agreement)
• Thematic Networks Define and develop a European
  dimension within a given academic discipline or
  study area (departments, schools, associations,
  professional bodies, other partners and student
  organizations

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Lisbon Credential Recognition System

• Per Lisbon Convention, parties can create a
  standardized supplement to a diploma
• Easily understandable and correctable data about
  the person and his/her attainments
• Useful for benchmarking

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ECTS

• Pre-agreed equivalence
• Credits based on notional year
• Learning Agreement
• Nuance-rich vis-à-vis accommodating disparate
  students

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Tuning Program

• European program to tune education systems
• Seven subject areas Business, Educational
  Sciences, Geology, History, Math, Physics,
  Chemistry 101 university departments in 16
  countries
• Research on generic and subject-specific skills
  and competencies
• Generic competences comprise Instrumental,
  Interpersonal, Systemic
• Specific Skills, Knowledge, Content

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• Instrumental competences
• Capacity for analysis and synthesis
• Capacity for organization and planning
• Basic general knowledge
• Grounding in basic knowledge of the profession
• Oral and written communication in your native
  language
• Information management skills (ability to
  retrieve and analyse information from different
  sources)
• Knowledge of a second language
• Elementary computing skills
• Problem solving
• Decision-making

Tuning
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• Interpersonal competences
• Critical and self-critical abilities
• Teamwork
• Interpersonal skills
• Ability to work in an interdisciplinary team
• Ability to communicate with experts in other
  fields
• Appreciation of diversity and multicultural
  aspects
• Ability to work in an international context
• Ethical commitment

Tuning
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• Systemic competences
• Research skills
• Capacity to learn
• Capacity for applying knowledge in practice
• Capacity to adapt to new situations
• Capacity for generating new ideas (creativity)
• Leadership
• Ability to work autonomously
• Project design and management
• Initiative and entrepreneurial spirit
• Concern for quality
• Understanding of cultures and customs of other
  countries
• Will to succeed

Tuning
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• Looks at educational structures and content of
  studies, not educational systems
• Methodology is designed to understand curricula
  and make them comparable (via Learning Outcomes
  and competences) described in terms of
  reference points to be met
• The Learning Agreement is the baseline for
  assessment
• Level qualifications have been developed, giving
  rise to, e.g., the EuroBachelor in Chemistry

Tuning
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• Assessment includes
• Written exams (predominant mode) Oral exams Lab
  reports Problem-solving exercises Oral
  presentations Bachelors Thesis
• Plus
• Literature survey and evaluation
• Collaborative work
• Posters

Tuning
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• Basic Question
• Can a single set of criteria and elements of an
  assessment system suffice in a multicultural,
  multinational context, absent special actions,
  driven by the heterogeneity of the students
• Phase 4 is now getting underway. Including the
  Assessment elements of the Tuning Program, it
  will be a key mechanism for answering the question

Tuning
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TEEP Project

• Transnational European Evaluation Project (TEEP)
• Flows from the Bologna-based European Higher
  Education Area process built on the Tuning
  program
• Promoter of Quality Assurance with a view to
  develop comparable criteria and methodologies
• Draws support from the Socrates/Erasmus thematic
  networks in History, Physics, and Veterinary
  Science

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• Seeks to develop a European methodology for the
  use of common criteria and Quality Assurance at
  the European level
• Develops a transnational external evaluation
  scheme of program review building on a focus on
  competences and learning outcomes
• Incorporates a self-evaluation process as a
  starter plus a site visit

TEEP
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NEXT STEP .

• Increased dialogue and sharing of
  data/information on international students and
  the assessment of their performance

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• CICIC http//www.cicic.ca/indexe.stm
• CVU http//www.cvu.ac.uk
• IESMAP http//www.iesabroad.org
• WES http//www.wes.org/
• Middle States http//www.msache.org/
• Socrates/Erasmus http//europa.eu.int/comm/educat
  ion/programmes/socrates/socrates_en.html
• Lisbon Recognition Convention http//www.cepes.ro/
  information_services/sources/on_line/lisbon.htm
• ECTS http//europa.eu.int/comm/education/program
  mes/socrates/ects_en.html
• Tuning Program http//www.relint.deusto.es/TUNING
  Project/index.htm
• TEEP http//www.enqa.net/pubs.lasso