Board 25: Enhancing Learning by Assessing More than Content Knowledge

Renee Cole; Juliette M. Lantz; Suzanne Ruder; Gilbert J. Reynders; Courtney Stanford

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Conference: 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Publication Date: June 23, 2018
Start Date: June 23, 2018
End Date: July 27, 2018
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topic: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 11
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--29991
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/29991
Download Count: 899

Paper Authors

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Renee Cole University of Iowa orcid.org/0000-0002-2807-1500

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Dr. Renée Cole is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Iowa. Dr. Cole earned a B.A. in chemistry from Hendrix College, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physical chemistry from the University of Oklahoma. Her research focuses on issues related to how students learn chemistry and how that guides the design of instructional materials and teaching strategies as well on efforts related to faculty development and the connection between chemistry education research and the practice of teaching. She is a PI for the Increase the Impact Project, which is developing resources for PIs to improve the propagation of their innovations, as well as a PI for the ELIPSS Project, which is developing resources for STEM instructors to assess professional skills in the classroom. Dr. Cole is also an associate editor for the Journal of Chemical Education.

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Juliette M. Lantz Drew University

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Suzanne Ruder Virginia Commonwealth University orcid.org/0000-0001-9094-4010

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Suzanne Ruder, Ph.D., is a Professor of Chemistry at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. She has been active in the POGIL project for 15 years, using POGIL in large organic chemistry classes, developing and facilitating faculty workshops, and serving on the POGIL steering committee. Suzanne is PI of the NSF funded project Eliciting and Assessing Process Skills in STEM and has authored two books, “Clickers in Action: Increasing Student Participation in Organic Chemistry” and “Organic Chemistry, A Guided Inquiry”.

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Gilbert J. Reynders III University of Iowa orcid.org/0000-0003-1981-922X

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Gil Reynders is pursuing a Ph.D. in chemistry education research at the University of Iowa. Gil earned a B.A. in chemistry from Lake Forest College and an M.S. from the University of Rochester.As part of the ELIPSS (Enhancing Learning by Improving Process Skills in STEM) Project, Gil’s research focuses on creating resources to assess student process skills and provide feedback to both students and faculty on the students' process skill development. Gil's other research interests include: organic chemistry students' understanding of reaction mechanisms (i.e. arrow-pushing), the alignment between a course's intended learning outcomes and assessments, and gender-based differences in STEM retention and course performance.

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Courtney Stanford Virginia Commonwealth University orcid.org/0000-0002-1159-0320

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Dr. Courtney Stanford is postdoctoral researcher at the Virginia Commonwealth University and will begin as assistant professor of chemistry at Ball State University in Fall 2018. She earned an M.S. in organic chemistry from the University of Connecticut and a Ph.D. degree in chemistry education from the University of Iowa. Her current research has focused on designing resources to assist in the identification, development, and assessment of workplace skills in STEM classrooms, and investigating the connections between information processing and symbolic representations used in organic chemistry. As part of her graduate work she examined the influences of instructor facilitation and course materials on student argumentation, and the propagation of STEM educational innovations.

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Abstract

Skills such as communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and problem solving are frequently cited as intended learning outcomes for STEM degree programs. While these skills, sometimes referred to as workplace or process skills, are highly valued, they are rarely explicitly assessed in the classroom. Assessment serves two purposes: (1) it provides a measure of achievement, and (2) it facilitates learning. The types of assessment used by an instructor also telegraph to students what is valued in a course. However, in many instances, the lack of alignment between instructional methods and assessment detracts from the added value of engaged student learning environments.

This NSF IUSE project focuses on the development of resources for instructors that facilitate providing feedback to students and informing the instructor as to the effectiveness of their instructional strategies in supporting process skill development. This feedback supports adoption of evidence-based active learning strategies that foster skill development in addition to content knowledge. To date, resources include rubrics for multiple skills to assess either student written work or student classroom interactions, as well as an implementation guide to support optimal use of these resources. These resources have been created and refined by a multidisciplinary team using a collaborative development approach to ensure validity, reliability, and utility in multiple STEM disciplines. They have been classroom tested in a variety of courses (including both upper and lower division courses) and at a broad range of institutions. Data collection from each implementation is a multifaceted process in order to gain feedback from faculty as well as to gather artifacts for further study to create the implementation guide. The initial work of the project has generated valuable insights on rubric development and implementation that will inform not only the drafting of further rubrics, but also the crafting of the implementation guide and faculty development workshops. For example, it is critical to familiarize even experienced faculty with an operationalized view of process skills in their STEM classrooms, and to provide opportunities for them to visualize what a process skill would look like in student interactions or student written work.

Citation
Format

Cole, R., & Lantz, J. M., & Ruder, S., & Reynders, G. J., & Stanford, C. (2018, June), Board 25: Enhancing Learning by Assessing More than Content Knowledge Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--29991

TY - CPAPER
AB - Skills such as communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and problem solving are frequently cited as intended learning outcomes for STEM degree programs. While these skills, sometimes referred to as workplace or process skills, are highly valued, they are rarely explicitly assessed in the classroom. Assessment serves two purposes: (1) it provides a measure of achievement, and (2) it facilitates learning. The types of assessment used by an instructor also telegraph to students what is valued in a course. However, in many instances, the lack of alignment between instructional methods and assessment detracts from the added value of engaged student learning environments.

This NSF IUSE project focuses on the development of resources for instructors that facilitate providing feedback to students and informing the instructor as to the effectiveness of their instructional strategies in supporting process skill development. This feedback supports adoption of evidence-based active learning strategies that foster skill development in addition to content knowledge. To date, resources include rubrics for multiple skills to assess either student written work or student classroom interactions, as well as an implementation guide to support optimal use of these resources. These resources have been created and refined by a multidisciplinary team using a collaborative development approach to ensure validity, reliability, and utility in multiple STEM disciplines. They have been classroom tested in a variety of courses (including both upper and lower division courses) and at a broad range of institutions. Data collection from each implementation is a multifaceted process in order to gain feedback from faculty as well as to gather artifacts for further study to create the implementation guide. The initial work of the project has generated valuable insights on rubric development and implementation that will inform not only the drafting of further rubrics, but also the crafting of the implementation guide and faculty development workshops. For example, it is critical to familiarize even experienced faculty with an operationalized view of process skills in their STEM classrooms, and to provide opportunities for them to visualize what a process skill would look like in student interactions or student written work.

AU - Renee Cole
AU - Juliette M. Lantz
AU - Suzanne Ruder
AU - Gilbert J. Reynders III
AU - Courtney Stanford
CY - Salt Lake City, Utah
DA - 2018/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Board 25: Enhancing Learning by Assessing More than Content Knowledge
UR - https://peer.asee.org/29991
DO - 10.18260/1-2--29991
ER -