EVENTS

Presentations and Workshops

 

2019 - December. SACSCOC Annual Meeting (Houston, TX). 

• "Use of results" and "seeking improvement" are key terms in the SACSCOC Principles of Accreditation. Unfortunately, most institutions struggle to connect assessment results with efforts to improve student learning. This workshop is designed to unpack "improvement" and how to achieve it in a collaborative way. Attendees will work through the logistics of an example learning improvement initiative and then consider how to adapt the underlying framework (PLAIR) at their home institutions. This workshop is reflective of James Madison University's ongoing transformation from an assessment institution to a learning improvement institution. JMU's approach, which is being replicated at many other institutions, was recognized in 2015 with a national CHEA Award for Outstanding Institutional Practice in Student Learning Outcomes. Keston Fulcher, Kristen Smith, Chris Coleman

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2019 - October. Assessment Institute (Indianapolis, IN). 

• Assessment for Learning Improvement. The purpose of learning assessment and the intended use of results guide the assessment process—from who is involved and the initial assessment question to actions taken on the assessment results. This session explores how the typical assessment cycle, the people involved, and the rules associated with assessment may change when faculty engage in an assessment process aimed at demonstrating learning improvement. Monica Stitt-Bergh

  • Download the Session Slide Deck​

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2019 - June. Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (St. Paul, MN)

• Assessment that Supports Learning Improvement: Stories and Strategies. What’s the purpose of a learning assessment project? Monitor learning? Guide curriculum changes? Improve learning? In this session participants analyze vignettes that illustrate purposes of assessment: monitor, tune assessment processes, guide learning environment changes, support learning improvement.Because an often-stated purpose of assessment is to improve student learning, participants will discuss how to change the vignettes into learning improvement stories by applying appropriate strategies. Charles Blaich, Keston Fulcher, Yao Z. Hill, Monica Stitt-Bergh, Kathy Wise

  • Download the Session Handout​ (PDF)

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2019 - spring webinar series. Co-sponsored by The Center for Assessment and Research Studies at James Madison University, Virginia Assessment Group, Research & Practice in Assessment, and WeaveOnline

 

Watch the webinars (requires free registration with WeaveOnline)

• Assessment Paper Pusher to Improvement Hero: The Journey Begins. Dr. Keston Fulcher, James Madison University and Dr. Megan Good, Auburn University

• The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same: New Challenges to Using Evidence to Improve Student Learning. Dr. Charles Blaich and Kathleen Wise, The Center of Inquiry and the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium (HEDS

• Foregrounding Learning Improvement in Assessment. Dr. Monica Stitt-Bergh, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and Dr. Jillian Kinzie, Indiana University Bloomington

• Why Assessment and Faculty Development Need Each Other: Using Evidence to Improve Student Learning. Michael Reder,  Ph.D., Connecticut College and Cynthia Crimmins, M.S. Ed., York (PA) College

• Considerations and Resources for the Learning Improvement Facilitator. Dr. Kristen Smith, UNC Greensboro and Dr. Natasha Jankowski, NILOA

• Example of a Successful Program Improvement Effort. Dr. Tom Dillon, Dr. Diane Lending, and Dr. Keston Fulcher, James Madison University

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Featured Publications

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• Special issue on learning improvement, Research & Practice in Assessment. K. Busby and K. Fulcher, Editors. Volume 13, Winter 2018

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• A Simple Model for Learning Improvement: Weigh Pig, Feed Pig, Weigh Pig. K. H. Fulcher, M. R. Good, C. M. Coleman, and K. L. Smith. National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment, Occasional Paper, December 2014. 

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