Mission-Centered Learning Outcomes: Overcoming the Assessment Challenge

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Mission-Centered Learning Outcomes Overcoming
the Assessment Challenge

• Diane Jonte-Pace, Vice Provost, Undergraduate
  Studies
• Carol Ann Gittens, Director of Assessment
• Tom Plante, Professor of Psychology

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The Santa Clara Vision

• Santa Clara University will excel in educating
  men and women to be leaders of competence,
  conscience, and compassion. By combining teaching
  and scholarship of high quality, an integrated
  education in the Jesuit tradition, and a
  commitment to students as persons, we will
  prepare them for professional excellence,
  responsible citizenship, and service to society,
  especially on behalf of those in greatest need.

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Challenges and Strategies

• Developing operational definitions of broad
  conceptual learning outcomes
• How do we know we are graduating knowledgeable,
  compassionate, and engaged global citizens?
• WASC Self Study Theme Competence, Conscience
  and Compassion
• Assessment of the Core Curriculum
• Strategic Planning Process
• Engage in meaningful and manageable assessment
• Develop measureable student learning objectives
  language
• Use existing data whenever possible
• Seek combination of benchmark data and self-study
  data to triangulate
• Engage the campus community in the effort

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Triangulation Three Examples

• SCU Core Curriculum
• Development of Learning Goals and Objectives
• Example of Experiential Learning for Social
  Justice
• Assessment Strategies being piloted in 2008-09
• National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
• Campus-wide survey of Compassion

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Educating students of Competence, Conscience, and
Compassion for a globalizing world

• Santa Claras new Core Curriculum prepares
  students for professional excellence, responsible
  citizenship, and service to society, especially
  on behalf of those in greatest need.
• Developed by a faculty committee during the
  2006-2007 academic year, and approved by the
  Santa Clara University Board of Trustees in May
  2007
• Phased in over a two-year period starting in fall
  quarter 2009
• Emphasizing knowledge, habits of mind and heart,
  and engagement with the world, the Core explores
  relationships among ideas and cultures
• Encourages intentional choices that bring
  coherence to the undergraduate experience and it
  develops students commitments to intellectual
  inquiry, moral reflection, and active engagement.

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Overarching Core Learning Goals

• Knowledge
• Habits of Mind and Heart
• Engagement with the World

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Learning Goals in the Core
KNOWLEDGE Global Cultures Arts and Humanities Scientific Method Science and Technology Diversity Civic Life HABITS OF HEART MIND Critical Thinking Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning Complexity Ethical Reasoning Religious Reflection Communication ENGAGEMENT WITH THE WORLD Perspective Collaboration Social Justice Civic Engagement
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The New Core
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Engaging Faculty through Core Committees

• The role of the Faculty Core Committees (FCC)
• Clarify goals articulate learning objectives
• Measureable learning objectives statements
• Utilize Blooms Taxonomy
• Encourage faculty participation and curriculum
  development
• Provide general recommendations for course level
  assessment
• Review proposals for Curriculum Development
  funds work with faculty who receive funding
• Develop criteria for submission of syllabi for
  core approval
• Review syllabi, recommend approval when
  appropriate

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Developing Measurable Learning Objectives

• Experiential Learning for Social Justice
• 1.1     Be able to recognize the benefits of
  life-long responsible citizenship and civic
  engagement in personal and professional
  activities. (Civic Life)
• 1.2     Be able to interact appropriately,
  sensitively, and self-critically with people in
  the communities in which they work and to
  appreciate the formal and informal knowledge,
  wisdom, and skills that individuals in these
  communities possess. (Perspective)
• 1.3     Be able to recognize, analyze, and
  understand the social reality and injustices in
  contemporary society, including recognizing the
  relative privilege or marginalization of their
  own and other groups. (Social Justice)
• 1.4     Be able to make vocational choices in
  light of both their greatest gifts and the
  world's greatest needs. (Civic Engagement)

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A Direct Connection to Mission

• Experiencing the gritty reality of the world,
  thinking critically about the world, responding
  to its suffering, and engaging it constructively.
  
• Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J.
• Experiential Learning for Social Justice (ELSJ)
  cultivates Social Justice, Civic Life,
  Perspective, and Civic Engagement. All ELSJ
  courses involve substantial contact with
  marginalized groups.
• Advanced Journalism
• Globalization and Inequality
• Globalization and Culture Change
• Teaching the Performing Arts
• Intercultural Communication
• Psychology of Aging
• Management 8
• Casa de la Solidaridad, El Salvador
• Housing and Homelessness Policy
• Some Campus Ministry experiences
• Ulistac Natural Area Restoration and Education
  Project

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Core Direct Assessment of Student Learning

• Inform Core Area faculty of learning objectives
  and process
• Provide Core Rubric(s) in advance to faculty
• Request student permissions
• Randomly select student participants and
  communicate names to faculty
• Gather five work products from each class (a
  single assignment)
• Schedule and invite participants to Rubric
  Scoring Party (compensated with stipend)
• Host rubric scoring parties (begin with
  calibration on rubrics)
• Analyze data and prepare Core report
• Distribute for FCC and faculty comment
• Make report public to campus community post on
  the Web

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Triangulation Using Existing Data NSSE

• A national effort to assess student behavior and
  effective educational practice (four-year
  institutions)
• Five Benchmark Scales
• Level of Academic Challenge
• Active and Collaborative Learning
• Enriching Educational Experiences
• Supportive Campus Environment
• Student Faculty Interaction
• Peer comparison group of other NSSE-participating
  Jesuit universities (i.e. the Jesuit consortium)
  selected in 2005. Consortium-specific questions
  administered starting in 2006.

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NSSE Indicators Contribution to Educational and
Personal Growth

• Quite a Bit or Very Much

First YearStudents Seniors
Understanding people of other racial and ethnic backgrounds 61 67
Solving complex real-world problems 69 77
Developing a personal code of values and ethics 71 80
Working effectively with others 80 88
Developing a deepened sense of spirituality 46 51
Contributing to the welfare of your community 62 74
Understanding yourself 70 78
Comparison group information provided by NSSE to
aid interpretation
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Examples of NSSE Jesuit Consortium Questions

• Mean comparisons FY Freshmen SR Seniors

Santa Clara Jesuit
Devoting effort to help others in need FYSR 2.963.03 3.023.00
Understanding the Jesuit principle of being men and women for others FYSR 2.792.79 2.902.88
Increasing your awareness of the relationship between global and local issues FYSR 3.063.16 2.912.94
Actively working to further social justice FYSR 2.872.97 2.852.84
Demonstrating respect for others differences FYSR 3.223.21 3.133.11
Leading by example FYSR 3.113.18 2.963.03
Actively working toward a more inclusive community FYSR 2.972.89 2.822.75
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Internal Campus Surveys Compassion

• Compassion is identified as that state in which
  one is being moved by anothers suffering, and
  wanting to help (Lazarus, 1991, p. 289).
• Relative lack of direct research on students
  compassionand the impact of college experiences
  on development of caring for others.
• The Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale (Hwang,
  Plante, Lackey 2008)
• Compassion scores found to increase after
  Immersion experience (Lackey, Plante Hwang)

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The Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale

• 1. When I hear about someone (a stranger) going
  through a difficult time, I feel a great deal of
  compassion for him or her.
• 2. I tend to feel compassion for people, even
  though I do not know them.
• 3. One of the activities that provides me with
  the most meaning to my life is helping others in
  the world when they need help.
• 4. I would rather engage in actions that help
  others, even though they are strangers, than
  engage in actions that would help me.
• 5. I often have tender feelings toward people
  (strangers) when they seem to be in need.
• Currently being assessed longitudinally among
  freshmen and seniors as well as graduate /
  professional students on campus

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Strategies and Solutions

• How can we effectively assess the ineffable
  learning outcomes that appear in our mission
  statements and core institutional commitments?
• Engage in meaningful and manageable assessment
• Specificity Develop measureable student learning
  objectives language
• Efficiency Use existing data whenever possible
  Seek combination of sources of evidence to
  triangulate
• Effectiveness Engage the campus community in the
  evidence collection and utilization of result

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SCU Resources on the Web

• Core 2009
• http//www.scu.edu/Core2009
• WASC
• http//www.scu.edu/WASC (select Resources)
• Office of Assessment
• http//www.scu.edu/provost/assessment/