rubrics

In the last few years, the need has increased at UHM for students to more actively engage in educational planning amidst many changes, including the decline of state resources for education and the economy at large. Providing advising and related academic services for over 5,000 A&S undergraduate majors, the Colleges of Arts and Sciences Student Academic Services (CASSAS) has been responding to these changes by determining its goals for assessment before revising programs. As such, this poster session represents the process by which CASSAS faculty have developed assessable student learning outcomes and advising programs in line with the department’s mission and objectives. The process begins with the distillation of student learning outcomes from a broader set of initial outcomes devised during a CASSAS retreat. With the establishment of understandable and assessable student learning outcomes, CASSAS faculty proceeded to build a learning map which charted when, how and through what potential or modified programs students would be given the opportunity to practice the skills that would lead them to master the established outcomes. The beginnings of an assessment rubric are also built into the learning map to identify different stages of knowledge and skill mastery as indicated by the outcomes. Finally, the poster provides artifacts that will be used to assess the quality of student’s internalization of CASSAS’s learning outcomes at various stages of their educational development. The extent to which students achieve the indicators of CASSAS student learning outcomes correlates to the validity of CASSAS advising programs.

Assessment for Advising

In the last few years, the need has increased at UHM for students to more actively engage in …

Assessment for PhD Curriculum Improvement from A Faculty Perspective

This poster will have a strong descriptive element of the process undertaken to assess the doctoral program in …

The Chinese Section at the East Asian Languages and Literatures (EALL) department at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) completed an oral proficiency rubric assessing Chinese B.A. speaking learning outcomes during the Spring semester of 2014. Time has come to address the need for a writing rubric that can indicate students’ learning outcomes (SLOs) and match the program goals. This poster presents the development of Chinese writing rubric, and introduces the adaptation of this rubric in a series of courses where the instructions and SLOs are set for students to produce expected written work. Following the description above, this presentation shows collaborative work engaging all interested faculty members as a sectional program assessment effort. Particular procedures and assessment results are featured in this poster. Examples on implementing various strategies in the organization and conducting assessment activities are highlighted as well. The outcomes and benefits of inviting UHM assessment experts to conduct customized faculty workshops is also discussed. Faculty members’ comments and responses to the hands-on activities at the workshop, such as examining curriculum map, setting up the common goals, identifying assessment evidence, and optimizing data collection methods, etc. are reported as well. Through the collaborations of rubric development and assessment workshop participation, the Chinese Section faculty has deepened their understanding of the nature and benefits of active involvement in program assessment. They have made collective contributions to the Chinese BA program revision, and to the improvement of programmatic course articulation.

Writing rubric development and collaborative assessment work in the Chinese program

The Chinese Section at the East Asian Languages and Literatures (EALL) department at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa …

The Hawai‘i Rehabilitation Counseling program (HRC) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) prepares graduate students to become successful practitioners and administrators in the field of vocational rehabilitation. This 48-credit distance education program leads to a Master of Science degree in Kinesiology & Rehabilitation Science, with a specialization in Rehabilitation Counseling. The HRC Program includes three clinical courses (Practicum, Internship I, and Internship II) that prepare students for participation in the field of vocational rehabilitation counseling. Although a form has been used in the past to assess students’ performance in these courses, the current program director found that the assessment form did not tie directly to accreditation standards and specific student learning outcomes. This poster reflects the process used to evaluate current practices; involve current teaching faculty and community site supervisors to review, revise, and refine the program map, student learning outcomes, and present student evaluation form; and through this process, develop an applicable and relevant clinical student evaluation form. The assessment process and subsequent product will enable students to be more appropriately evaluated in their clinical courses.

Moving Forward with Fieldwork Assessment!

The Hawai‘i Rehabilitation Counseling program (HRC) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) prepares graduate students to …

The Filipino program has engaged in assessment activities in the past but these efforts are limited and uncoordinated. Student learning outcomes are assessed by individual faculty in their courses but assessment tools are not standardized within the Filipino program. These assessments do not follow a specific and unified plan at the program (or departmental) level. There is also a need to move from indirect assessment (exit surveys) to direct assessment of our student learning outcomes. We also need an assessment plan at the program level that supports current assessment activities done at the classroom level. These results will be used to improve teaching strategies and assignments, and to propose/implement curriculum changes, as needed. The Filipino Program Assessment Project's main goals are (1) to confirm and/or tweak the program’s student learning outcomes, (2) to review and reformat the curriculum map, and (3) to create and implement a signature assignment for 300-400 level courses and use this as evidence for direct assessment. The poster will present the process and results of the assessment project as well as reflections on strategies that helped to accomplish our goals.

Filipino Program Assessment Project

The Filipino program has engaged in assessment activities in the past but these efforts are limited and uncoordinated. …

To address the 2013 Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions for Teachers in the areas of leadership and collaboration, the MEdT Program faculty in the College of Education were invited to develop an assessment instrument to be piloted as early as spring 2015. Currently, MEdT teacher candidates are assessed with a Student Teaching Evaluation instrument during student teaching in the third semester of the four semester program. This instrument includes dispositions criteria and descriptors for leadership and collaboration. The MEdT Program is in the process of incorporating signature assignments to prepare candidates for the educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA). Whereas the Student Teaching Evaluation includes a few rubric descriptors aligned with leadership and collaboration, the edTPA does not. Due to adoption of the edTPA assessment system and the requirement to address InTASC standards, the MEdT faculty created an end of program written reflection assignment to give MEdT Program Completers an opportunity to reflect on their growth in the areas of leadership and collaboration. This new assessment has been created to not only address the 2013 InTASC Standards for teacher preparation programs but also to assess the MEdT Program’s ability to develop teacher leaders and effective collaborators which are fundamental intended learning outcomes for program completers. The newly developed MEdT Teacher Leadership & Collaboration Assessment instrument will be presented at the poster session to illustrate the ongoing efforts of MEdT faculty to improve their assessment system.

Assessing MEdT Teacher Candidates’ Leadership and Collaboration

To address the 2013 Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions …

The Intercollege Nutrition PhD Program is a relatively new program, begun in Fall 2007. The Program has recently redoubled efforts to communicate at all levels - in student recruitment, among enrolled students, and among faculty across the participating colleges. This effort includes enhancing student and program monitoring and evaluation at all program and academic milestones. The effort involved revising the program’s student learning outcomes (SLOs) for the program and development of rubrics and other assessment tools that are used monitor and evaluation student completion of SLOs. These rubrics and assessments tools have been implemented and summary of results will be presented to program faculty annually. These results will inform any necessary program changes and the implementation of those changes. Monitoring and evaluation tools serve to enhance program communication and development.

Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation in the Intercollege Nutrition PhD Program

The Intercollege Nutrition PhD Program is a relatively new program, begun in Fall 2007. The Program has recently …

This poster describes the program's project to develop doctoral level program learning outcomes mapped to required courses and evidence of student learning that are defined by direct measures using signature assignments. The program aims to monitor and support on-time graduation using milestones identified as integral to the development of a nurse scholar that are mapped to the program completion timeline.

Direct Measures of Doctoral Student Learning Supporting On-time Graduation

This poster describes the program’s project to develop doctoral level program learning outcomes mapped to required courses and …

The mission of the instruction program in FDM is to provide students with appropriate knowledge and skills for career positions in apparel and fashion-related industries; to promote understanding of the effects of global social, economic, and political issues on apparel and fashion-related industries and on modes of dress; to foster appreciation of the role of dress and appearance as these reflect and shape individual behavior, social and economic exchange and cultural conditions; to nurture intellectual growth and creativity, and to support the mission of the College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources by fostering student acquisition of problem-solving, analytic, and communication skills. The assessment of FDM program will evaluate FDM graduate of the FDM program demonstrate knowledge and skills in the fashion and/or textile industry. All faculty members are evaluating graduates’ final presentations and portfolios. A 5-scale was used to evaluate students’ oral and portfolio from all seven goals and ten student learning outcomes in their final semester.

The Assessment of Fashion Design Merchandising Program

The mission of the instruction program in FDM is to provide students with appropriate knowledge and skills for …

This poster is going to present how faculty in the Academy for Creative Media undergraduate program utilized an efficient and collaborative process of rubrics development for program assessment that led to program improvement. The Academy for Creative Media undergraduate program has three tracks: Cinematic Digital Production, Critical Studies, and Animation. After developing program SLOs and the curriculum map, the faculty felt the need to develop rubrics for each track to evaluate student learning products. Accordingly, the faculty broke up into sub-groups using examples of exemplary student work from each track to discuss the reasons these works were excellent. These ideas helped the faculty develop descriptions of excellent work for each track’s rubric. The faculty from the Animation and Critical Studies tracks also developed descriptors of other levels of work (e.g., good, average, poor). The process took three department meetings’ time with one hour each.

Collaborative Rubric Development for Program Improvement

This poster is going to present how faculty in the Academy for Creative Media undergraduate program utilized an …

This poster will present the results of efforts to develop a robust program for assessment of the graduate degree programs in Civil Engineering (CE) at UHM. Prior to the start of this project, CE had outdated program outcomes for MS and PhD programs that were difficult to assess and a very simple and inadequate assessment system. This project involved creation of new program-level student learning outcomes (SLOs) for both MS and PhD using better descriptions and Bloom’s taxonomy verbs and then finalization in an interactive faculty department meeting. This was followed by development of rubrics for the SLOs to be used for assessment of graduate student work. The rubrics were worked on in an interactive CE Assessment Committee meeting followed by presentation/modification in a CE Department meeting. This was followed by development and adoption of a plan for analysis of results, determination of necessary program changes and implementation of changes. The products of this project will be presented as well as lessons learned regarding the process.

MS/PhD Outcome Assessment Program Development

This poster will present the results of efforts to develop a robust program for assessment of the graduate …

Swine Production is a senior capstone course in which students integrate concepts learned in courses such as nutrition, genetics and reproduction and apply them to practical swine production. Most animal science students at the University of Hawaii at Manoa are urban students interested in veterinary medicine, and little knowledge of or interest in swine production. The department learning objectives include applying principles to livestock production, but having students engage in learning the course material is a challenge. The extension specialist teaching the course tried a new approach in fall, 2013, integrating instruction and extension. Instead of traditional classroom instruction and written reports, teams of three students were sent out to work with a cooperating farmer. The teams described their farm using a list of required information on general farm description, breeding program, feeding program, housing, waste management, health program, production management and economics. The farms were carefully selected to represent different management approaches including varying use of local food waste and agricultural byproducts in the swine rations and different types of housing and waste management. The teams presented the results of farm visits and farmer interviews in class presentations and written reports, which were revised before being submitted in final form to both the instructor and the farmer. The course was designated as developing both oral and written communication skills. Course evaluations indicated that 78% of the students felt that the farm visits and interactions with the farmers were the most valuable part of the course, and 44% mentioned hands-on laboratories (artificial insemination and baby pig processing), while others mentioned constructive feedback, small class size, having to think, oral presentations, and writing. Student journals indicated a strong rapport with and a very positive view of the farmers and farm practices. The farmers changed some of their practices based on student recommendations, most notably adjusting feeding according to condition score. Student grades were assigned using posted rubrics and were equal to or better than in previous years in a more traditional learning environment. The new structure had some challenges. Since this was the first time the course was taught using student engagement with producers, students were informed that some adjustment to assignments and grading rubrics might be made part way through the class and this in fact needed to be done. One example was development of a tool in which the relative contributions of the team members to the group reports were evaluated by all members of each team. Additionally, students were required to sign liability waivers and confidentiality agreements. Students had to use their own cars and to find times when all team members were available for farm visits. Students indicated that the amount of work justified 4 rather than 3 credits for the course.

Integrating Teaching and Extension: Swine Production

Swine Production is a senior capstone course in which students integrate concepts learned in courses such as nutrition, …

This study was intrigued by the needs to assess oral performance more systematically and to motivate students to take assessment more seriously. The participants of the study were students and faculty of Korean Language Flagship Center (KLFC) MA program in the department of East Asian Languages and Literatures. There was a brief criterion for oral assessment in the program, but it was not enough to meet the aforementioned needs. Therefore, the researcher with the help of faculty in the program and center developed a detailed rubric, Flagship Rubric. Utilizing assessment evidences such as video recordings and student feedback sheets, development phases were as follows: 1) rough version, 2) revision, 3) pilot test, 4) second revision, and 5) ‘Flagship Rubric.’ The poster session will show this process and the product, and how it will be incorporated in the program with a dissemination plan.

Flagship Rubric for Oral Performance

This study was intrigued by the needs to assess oral performance more systematically and to motivate students to …

In the last 6 months, the Department of Psychology has initiated a new plan that is expected to provide useful information that will eventually assess our Psychology Undergraduate Program. This new Undergraduate Assessment Plan (UAP) emerged from training in Assessment Leadership Institute at UHM, which highlighted major principles and strategies to assess academic programs. With this training knowledge, an undergraduate curriculum map was developed with faculty input that incorporates the most recent Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) from the American Psychological Association (APA). These SLOs that graduating psychology majors should know include: psychological knowledge of key concepts; scientific inquiry and critical thinking using scientific reasoning to interpret psychological phenomenon; ethical and social responsibility in diverse settings; communication development for effective writing and oral presentation; and professional development for meaningful direction after graduation. The curriculum map is important in describing specific SLOs associated with each Psychology undergraduate course taught at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Effective Fall 2014, all instructors will include SLOs in their syllabus that reflects their course content. Another feature of the UAP in development is the incorporation of a rubric to assess student writing. To do so, a rubric for writing to meet the APA communication SLO was obtained from the American Association of Schools & Universities and modified to assess the writing occurring in our Psychology W courses. Pilot work is being conducted to determine the feasibility and reliability of a rubric to assess student writing in a small sample of student papers. On the basis of this study, the scoring and assessment method of papers may require modifications before presenting a working rubric to the department faculty for discussion. The UAP is to eventually require a final paper written in Psychology W courses to be assessed by the instructor using a rubric accepted by the Psychology faculty.

Department of Psychology Undergraduate Assessment Plan

In the last 6 months, the Department of Psychology has initiated a new plan that is expected to …

In fall 2014 and spring 2015 the Botany faculty at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa devised programmatic Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and linked them to courses via a curriculum map. This poster outlines how the Botany faculty implemented assessment after such steps were taken. A summary of the assessment plan is presented in this poster along with SLOs, a sample rubric, examples of how exams and courses relate to SLOs, and tips for engaging faculty in assessment.

Advancing Program Assessment Beyond the Curriculum Map: Recent Progress in the Department of Botany

In fall 2014 and spring 2015 the Botany faculty at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa devised programmatic …

In Spring 2008, the English Department began assessment of student writing for the University’s Foundations Requirement in Written Communication, which must be fulfilled by all UHM undergraduates. Assessment of FW was to be based on four SLOs devised by the UHM Foundations Board, and approved by the UHM General Education Committee in Fall 2007. As presently articulated, the four SLOs are the following: 1: Compose a text to achieve a specific purpose and respond adeptly to an identifiable audience. 2: Provide evidence of effective strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading a text in order to produce finished prose. 3: Compose a text that makes use of source material that is relevant and reliable and that is integrated in accordance with an appropriate style guide. 4: Compose writing that expresses the writer's viewpoint and is supplemented by outside sources. In Spring 2008, relevant student writing (208 essays) was gathered from the four courses that satisfy the FW requirement: English 100 (Composition I—which makes up about 90 % of FW sections), English 100A (Composition I for Honors students), English 190 (Composition I for transfer students), and ELI 100 (Expository Writing: A Guided Approach—for students whose first language is not English) for assessment of SLO #1, and a report on levels of student success was generated for a Spring 2008 English Department Colloquium and discussion. In Spring 2009, 80 essays were randomly selected from papers submitted by FW instructors that were to be assessed for level of achievement in meeting SLO#3 (Information Literacy): “Students will be able to compose a text that makes use of source material that is relevant and credible and that is integrated in accordance with an appropriate style guide.” A team of six faculty scorers read the papers, with two raters scoring them independently along a 4-point scale according to the following traits: (1) making use of source material, (2) relevancy of sources, (3) credibility of sources, (4) style integration. Overall, student preparation for future writing tasks involving outside sources was measured as follows: “well-prepared” (6%), “prepared” (48%), “partially prepared” (26%), “not prepared” (21%). About 84% of students were at least partially prepared to make use of relevant and credible sources, but only about 65% were at least partially prepared to meet information literacy expectations in their future writing (“adherence to citation rules”). A full report on the results of this SLO Assessment, which has been drafted by the Review Team, will be disseminated to English and E.L.I. faculty and will be discussed at an English Department meeting on December 3.Meanwhile, assessment of SLO#4 and SLO#2 is anticipated in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, respectively. A rubric for assessing SLO#4 will be discussed at the December 3 meeting and further discussion of student achievement of this Student Learning Outcome, as well as SLO#3, will follow at a January 21 meeting. Additionally, all Spring 2010 English 100, 100A, and 190 instructors have been directed to include all four SLOs on their Spring 2009 syllabi, with the expectation that classroom activities and paper assignments will engage students in achieving these four Student Learning Outcomes.

How Well are First-Year Students Composing? Assessing the Foundations in Written Communication Program

In Spring 2008, the English Department began assessment of student writing for the University’s Foundations Requirement in Written …

The poster gives the Assessment Tools that we use in our department to assess our department Program Objectives and Outcomes. We have both Internal and External Assessment Tools and within each category, we have either Direct or Indirect tools. The Internal tools are those assessed within our department and External are those assessed outside of our department. Direct assessments are those assessed by sources other than students, and Indirect are those assessed by the students or the Alumni. In addition to the Surveys that are direct questions such as “how well a particular Outcome is achieved?”, we have developed Rubrics based on those Outcomes which are basically metrics that dissects our Outcomes into a number of Concepts which are broken, each, into a number of Performance Criteria, which, in turn, are measured, each, by various levels of achievements such as 1 being Worse and 4 being Best (i.e., the Rubrics).

ABET (Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology) Assessment Tools

The poster gives the Assessment Tools that we use in our department to assess our department Program Objectives …

LILO (Learning Information Literacy Online) is a project of the UH Libraries Information Literacy Committee (UHLILC) for the UH System. LILO is a productivity application that guides students’ research process using library and Web resources. Students create and add to an online Research Journal, documenting their research on a topic over a period of weeks. Assessment is central to LILO. Most questions in LILO can be assessed using over 200 4-level embedded rubrics. See How Others Answered This Question links above text input boxes provide actual student responses modeling each rubric level, and defining what constitutes excellent, satisfactory, partial, or incomplete answers. LILO questions are mapped to national information literacy standards and outcomes developed by the Association for College and Research Libraries of the American Library Association. Instructors participating in LILO may now request an Information Literacy Assessment Report rating each student's response for any or all LILO modules used, along with a discussion section describing how students did overall.

Assessing Information Literacy Online

LILO (Learning Information Literacy Online) is a project of the UH Libraries Information Literacy Committee (UHLILC) for the …

The poster gives the Assessment Tools that we use in our department to assess our department Program Objectives and Outcomes. We have both Internal and External Assessment Tools and within each category, we have either Direct or Indirect tools. The Internal tools are those assessed within our department and External are those assessed outside of our department. Direct assessments are those assessed by sources other than students, and Indirect are those assessed by the students or the Alumni. In addition to the Surveys that are direct questions such as “how well a particular Outcome is achieved?”, we have developed Rubrics based on those Outcomes which are basically metrics that dissects our Outcomes into a number of Concepts which are broken, each, into a number of Performance Criteria, which, in turn, are measured, each, by various levels of achievements such as 1 being Worse and 4 being Best (i.e., the Rubrics).

ABET (Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology) Assessment Tools

The poster gives the Assessment Tools that we use in our department to assess our department Program Objectives and …

Assessing Civic and Community Engagement in Ethnic Studies

Ethnic Studies was born out of community demand and community engagement has had a central place in the …

Assessing Written Communication Skills across Food Science Courses with a Common Rubric

The Food Science and Human Nutrition (FSHN) Undergraduate program has established an ad-hoc committee to assess written communication …

Creating a Rubric of Critical Thinking for Writing Intensive Courses

This poster reports an ongoing project collaborated by a team of Chinese faculty who teach writing intensive (WI) …

Kumu, Kuleana, Kaona: Assessing Multiple Viewpoints

The faculty of Hawaiian Studies (HWST) developed a blended assessment plan for our undergraduate program over the past …

Life Sciences Uniting in Assessing Student Writing

Student learning outcome (SLO) statements made by an educational program serve as targets for achievement and openly communicate …

Oral Communication for Language Teachers: Assessment Rubric Development

Scholarship on language teacher education emphasizes teaching language skills. Yet preservice language teachers must learn more than grammar …

Strength in Numbers: Facilitating Faculty Learning Communities for General Education Student Learning Outcomes Assessment

Reaching consensus on curricular issues and learning outcomes is challenging, especially in attempting to achieve campus-wide agreement on …

Development of a Signature Assignment in Filipino Cultural Courses

This project presents a signature assignment for Indo-Pacific culture courses to assess the students’ cultural competency by discussing …

Graduate Program Learning Assessment: Processes, Tools, and Resources

This workshop is co-sponsored by the Assessment and Curriculum Support Center, Graduate Division, and the Graduate Council. Wondering …

This poster outlines the process through which faculty examined how the embedded assignments, field components, and signature assignment across a three-course sequence aligned. The course sequence of the three Learner in the Environment courses are outlined. Faculty utilized the federal funded Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEEDAR) Center tools to ensure that across the three courses students engaged in meaningful course and field assignments aligned with current research. Scoring criteria are provided along with initial and post-implementation ratings and a sample report. The courses were examined using the Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices, the Classroom Management, and the High Leverage Practices rubrics. Finally, from identified areas in need of additional clarity or additional coverage, this poster highlights how results from the report were utilized toward syllabi revision, which increased the number of elements addressed across the course sequence.

Course Series Alignment: Examining a Three Course Sequence

This poster outlines the process through which faculty examined how the embedded assignments, field components, and signature assignment …

Rubric Bank

We would like to share your rubric too. Please email it to us. Repository of Graduate Program Rubrics …

The poster will describe the process that the dietetics program faculty and staff underwent to develop a systematic and streamlined process for assessing student learning of 22 accreditation-required outcomes. The process includes collaborative curriculum mapping, assignment refinement, rubric development, and the establishment of an electronic professional portfolio system.

Streamlining student learning outcome assessment through ePortfolios in Dietetics Program

The poster will describe the process that the dietetics program faculty and staff underwent to develop a systematic …

The poster describes the content mapping process that aligned the learning priorities in the problem-based-learning pre-clerkship medical curriculum to accreditation standards and JABSOM’s graduation objectives. The resulting map serves as a resource for course directors to monitor content themes, determine curriculum gaps and redundancies, and address accreditation requirements.

Content Maps of Health Care Problems in the Pre-clerkship Curriculum: Monitoring Themes, Gaps, Redundancies and Accreditation Requirements

The poster describes the content mapping process that aligned the learning priorities in the problem-based-learning pre-clerkship medical curriculum …

This poster describes a systematic process of developing the assessment of student professionalism in Speech-Language Pathology. The process highlights: (1) developing professionalism indicators using the core values of the University and Department; (2) validating the indicators through reviewing professionalism described in peer programs and professional organizations, and (3) systematic data collection, tracking, and analysis.

Using a Systematic Process to Develop a Method for Assessment of Professionalism in Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Students

This poster describes a systematic process of developing the assessment of student professionalism in Speech-Language Pathology. The process …

Improving Oral Communication of Undergraduate Research Results

We demonstrate how faculty use efficient and effective assessment of learning to improve the written and oral communication …

This project was to increase the learning and the assessment capabilities in two core Child and Family courses.

Strengthening the Child and Family Specialization Curriculum through Developing Standard, Explicit, and Sustainable Assessments and Outcomes

This project was to increase the learning and the assessment capabilities in two core Child and Family courses. By …

This poster describes the effort of the Ph.D. Committee in Social Welfare in investigating and improving students’ performance in the qualifying exam. Motivated by an analysis of students’ (cohorts Fall 2010 – 2014) pass rate, faculty reviewed the exam questions, analyzed the course syllabi and exam questions. The committee changed the exam timeline and revised the exam questions so that the exam better reflected the curriculum.

Improving Qualifying Exam Performance—From Assessment Data to Curriculum Alignment

This poster describes the effort of the Ph.D. Committee in Social Welfare in investigating and improving students’ performance …

The poster describes the steps and resulting standardized student admission procedure for the Communication Sciences and Disorders’ Master program. The process features: (1) admission interview questions crafted based on agreed-on desirable student qualities and (2) the evaluation rubric stemmed from the department core values.

Standardizing admission process to defy the “crystal ball” in student selection to Communication Sciences and Disorders’ Master Program

The poster describes the steps and resulting standardized student admission procedure for the Communication Sciences and Disorders’ Master …

A process to conduct an overhaul of the JABSOM curriculum map of the medical education program was conducted, in part, to address a recent accreditation citation. The curriculum map was revised by faculty, reviewed by the Curriculum Committee, and will be utilized at the upcoming annual Curriculum Committee retreat.

JABSOM Medical Education: A Systematic Review Process for a Medical Education Curriculum

A process to conduct an overhaul of the JABSOM curriculum map of the medical education program was conducted, …

Using Rubrics in Program Assessment

In this workshop, participants will learn about finding good examples of rubrics to adapt or adopt; working with …

How to Use a Rubric for Program Assessment

In this workshop, the presenters will discuss how to use a rubric for program assessment, and how to …

Techniques for Using Rubrics in Program Assessment

This workshop lets participants evaluate their programs’ learning outcomes (SLOs) related to critical thinking, problem solving, oral communication, …

Rubrics: Save Grading Time & Engage Students in Learning

In this workshop, participants will learn how to construct and use rubrics to save time and engage students …

Exploring possibilities for, and effects of, Integrated Performance Assessments (IPAs) in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, this poster reports an action study using IPAs in an undergraduate beginning Mandarin program. The poster first features a review of IPAs, followed by an overview of curriculum redesign and IPA test reconstruction. The poster then presents a concrete model for IPAs in a Chinese 101 and 102 Beginning Mandarin. Successful teaching activities and assessment task samples will be presented. The effects of this adaptation are demonstrated using quantitative and qualitative data, including oral assessment videos, writing samples, supplementary listening and reading materials, rubrics for scoring, test scores, student self-reflections, and more. The data show that students (1) generally favored using IPAs, (2) took initiative to review the IPA rubrics and to reliably engage in filling out "can-do" checklists, (3) demonstrated a positive correlation between IPAs and traditional test scores. The poster concludes that IPAs can be equally successful, and can offer more, in university foreign language classes.

Implementation of Integrated Performance Assessments (IPA) in Beginning Level Chinese Language Classes

Exploring possibilities for, and effects of, Integrated Performance Assessments (IPAs) in the Department of East Asian Languages and …

This poster describes strategies to build faculty capacity in curriculum design and alignment and ways to plant the seeds for faculty collaboration and engagement in program assessment within the newly formed Astronomy BA & Astrophysics BS program in an effort to address the challenge of the difficulty students face in engaging faculty in discussion and planning of teaching and learning due to the nature of the program schedule. This poster provides personal insights and observed impact from efforts to effect change. In addition to providing examples in skill mapping, writing rubrics, curriculum alignment, and course deisgn, effective ways to engage willing faculty in using course assignments to investigate progress towards key student learning objectivese are also outlined.

Engaging science faculty in program assessment – planting seeds and cultivating growth

This poster describes strategies to build faculty capacity in curriculum design and alignment and ways to plant the …

The undergraduate programs from two departments, Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences (TPSS) and Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences (PEPS), merged into a single, new program that began in Fall semester 2016. In this poster, the development of grading rubrics for the signature assignments associated with the various tracks of this new program, named Tropical Agriculture and the Environment (TAE), are presented. The signature assignments used were: (1) an internship; and/or (2) an internship plus a capstone course (PEPS 495). Rubric assessment, review, revision and subsequently approval by the TAE curriculum committee in November 2016 are outlined. Findings of the assessment project are provided including successful strategies using a top-down approach. Action plans and next steps are also described.

New Grading Rubrics for Signature Assignments: Tropical Agriculture and the Environment

The undergraduate programs from two departments, Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences (TPSS) and Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences …

Establishing Signature Assessment For Graduate Programs: The use of the MS. and PhD. proposal as a tool for evaluating Graduate Program performance

Establishing Signature Assessment For Graduate Programs: The use of the MS. and PhD. proposal as a tool for evaluating Graduate Program performance

It is often hard to gauge the performance of a graduate student in a timely manner, or provide …

The Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work (SW) PhD program at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa currently has 16 students and 10 graduate faculty members. Developing and implementing sustainable PhD assessment plans are necessary to reflect student learning and curriculum improvements. Articulating the PhD program rubrics into a program-level assessment plan is imperative. The SW PhD program has developed seven Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs), assessable outcomes, and a curriculum map. In Fall of 2015, the PhD program committee revisited the SLOs and made revisions in alignment with the sustainable assessment plan for the program as a foundational step for creating program rubrics. The committee developed program rubrics for benchmarks—(a) specialization, (b) comprehensive examination (i.e., dissertation proposal), and (c) final exam (i.e., dissertation defense)—that are tied to the SLOs. The committee began collecting data using developed rubrics in Spring 2016 as a pilot to gain additional clarity on the rubrics in order to make them efficient and manageable as key parts of PhD program curriculum. During the process of developing the rubrics, the PhD committee collaborated to facilitate the assessment planning process. During this assessment process, the committee has utilized existing materials and sources, such as student products (e.g., dissertation proposal), evaluation criteria (e.g., dissertation evaluation), yearly advising sessions, and student reviews materials. This poster presents the strategies utilized in the pilot project as well as lessons learned through the project.

Articulating Social Work PhD program rubrics into a sustainable assessment

The Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work (SW) PhD program at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa …

This poster features the development and use of a rubric for program assessment. The Nursing PhD program at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) developed program learning outcomes via best practices of doctoral programs and national documents featuring hallmarks of PhD in Nursing education. The core competencies for Nursing PhD students were developed from the program learning outcomes. This poster profiles the development of three rubrics based on the program learning outcomes and core competencies for the dissertation defense, dissertation proposal defense and the student comprehensive examination. The decision/action process undertaken by the PhD curriculum committee is also illustrated.

Evidence-Based Rubric Development for the Nursing PhD Program

This poster features the development and use of a rubric for program assessment. The Nursing PhD program at …

Pacific Island Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has 6 teaching faculty and 20 majors enrolled each semester, including 85% underserved students. Writing and critical thinking skills are very important to us. In May 2014 faculty collected student course assignments and evaluated them collaboratively using a rough rubric. The results showed that 50% students were not meeting our expectations. Subsequently, we revised SLO4 and explored external learning opportunities (e.g., Eng 100, Writing Center, our own writing intensive courses) and discovered that they are not sufficient in helping students to achieve our expectations. As a result, we developed the Yeah, WRITE! program to enhance disciplinary writing across the curriculum. The program consists of a series of in-class workshops built around reading and note-taking skills, citation, information literacy, and stages of the writing processes for various genres. Further, we used students work to develop and refine an evaluation rubric and aligned the Yeah, WRITE curriculum with the rubric. We also implemented writing intensive designations in all major core courses. Preliminary data showed that the program is successful: students were happy to learn diverse approaches to the writing process; grateful for handouts and models useful for other classes; relieved to have tools to address writer’s block. We plan to systematically assess SLO 4 every two years to monitor the effect of the new program. The poster shares the program curriculum, strategies to engage faculty, and invite collaboration with campus committees in refining and utilizing the Yeah, WRITE! program.

Yeah, WRITE! New Disciplinary Writing Curriculum As Outcome of Assessment Cycle

Pacific Island Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has 6 teaching faculty and 20 majors enrolled …

The Ocean and Resources Engineering (ORE) Department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) is a small, highly specialized graduate department within the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology. Historically it has had 7-8 faculty and approximately 35 students, about one third pursuing a PhD degree and two thirds pursuing a Master’s degree. At the present time, numbers are down slightly because of a general downturn in the field. ORE is accredited by ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology). This rigorous accreditation occurs once every 6 years, requiring a 250-page comprehensive self-study report, a series of fully documented supporting rubrics and a site visit. ORE went through this process in Fall 2015 and received an unprecedented perfect score (the only department at UH to get this). This stellar level of accomplishment is attributed to strong rubrics measuring well-developed assessment procedures and very good support from the Department’s dedicated hands-on external advisory committees. The department has a very high level of satisfaction among its graduates, with virtually 100% of graduates having found good paying positions in the field upon graduation. Our poster highlights some of the department’s efforts to further enhance our procedures. Included is a sample rubric and assessment methods utilized by ORE, along with program outcomes and conclusions drawn from ABET success.

Developing Additionally Improved Rubrics Following a Very Successful ABET Accreditation of the Ocean and Resources Engineering Department

The Ocean and Resources Engineering (ORE) Department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) is a small, …

The Communication Department’s mission is to meet the challenges and opportunities of communication in the emerging technological, multicultural, and global context of the twenty-first century. Our Master’s Program aims to build and exchange knowledge in the broad field of communication and our specific foci in organizational and intercultural communication, global communication, information and communication technologies, social media, and communication policy. This poster presents our first formal MA assessment using a new rubric. We note our seven program SLOs, linked to draft institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs). In 2015, seven graduating students’ work was assessed (n=7). The Graduate Chair used evidence of successful course completion to assess SLO1, and the remaining SLOs were assessed shortly after the final thesis defense, based on the written document and oral defense. Committee members for each student assessed their work using the rubric. Results for each SLO are presented below. Overall, our graduates are meeting or exceeding our expectations. However, the small sample size dictates that we need to accumulate more evidence over time to document progress and accomplishments. We describe how we used our results and we outline our intended next steps.

Communication MA Curriculum Assessment

The Communication Department’s mission is to meet the challenges and opportunities of communication in the emerging technological, multicultural, …

Observing that many faculty within the Theater Department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa lacked a strong understanding of the assessment process, I developed a plan intending to “advertise” elements of assessment, making visible what is currently in place and seeking to spotlight several of these assessment components. However, because I was representing theatre, it seemed appropriate to use performance techniques to accomplish this. Using Augusto Boal’s suggestion of “Invisible Theatre” I have subtly tried to spark a conversation about assessment with a group that is not always eager to “color in the lines.” Invisible Theatre is a play that is played in a public space without informing anyone that it is a piece of theatre. In this poster, I showcase many of the scripts used in this “visible/invisible” project and display the department’s new SLO layout, curriculum map and assessment rubric.

Using the Invisible to Make Visible

Observing that many faculty within the Theater Department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa lacked a strong …

The Sociology Department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) made significant changes to program assessment during Spring and Fall 2014 as a result of strong leadership from the undergraduate advising staff combined with increased communication with faculty and the direct participation of instructors. This poster offers three key pieces of information: the methods we used during Fall semester to increase faculty buy-in; an overview of results from our pilot undergraduate exit survey; and our program’s initial utilization of results. Key to increasing faculty participation in program assessment were strong leadership and improved intra-departmental communications. Our revised SLOs—now in alignment with University ILOs—allowed us to target our required methods and theory courses to assess student performances. Instructors reported data on students’ final class assignments based on rubrics developed specifically for that purpose. Streamlined data collection led to an increase in the accuracy of responses, a response rate of 100% from instructors, and data on the performances of 78 students. Results from the exit survey of students who had petitioned to graduate during Spring and Summer 2015 were reported to the Department, resulting in several actions. First, there will be ‘strategy workshops’ in which instructors share teaching practices that have helped students improve their written and oral communication skills. Second, instructors were urged to include more opportunities for students to discuss and apply research methods and more opportunities for students to hone their oral presentation skills.

UH Manoa Sociology Department: Undergraduate Assessment in Action

The Sociology Department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) made significant changes to program assessment during …

At the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, the Department of Biology is comprised of over one thousand undergraduate students within five degree programs, seventy graduate students within two degree programs and twenty tenure-track faculty. Recently the faculty created collaborative program-level Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and a new curriculum map for the BS Marine Biology degree, which currently has over two hundred and fifty students enrolled. With the faculty involved in each step of the process, we identified SLOs lacking the minimum coverage on the curriculum map, consulted the instructors for mapped courses and identified curriculum modifications that could be employed to ensure each SLO was covered through the mastery level. We executed the first assessment cycle during the spring 2014 semester utilizing writing samples from BIOL 404 (Advanced Topics in Marine Biology), the Marine Biology capstone courses. BIOL 404 currently incorporates all but one of the program-level SLOs at the mastery level, therefore it is our primary source of evidence for program-level assessment. Following the first round of assessment, which highlighted a need to further reinforce the assessed SLO, and identified curriculum modifications to address it. We anticipate these changes will result in increased student learning, translating to higher scores on the writing rubric used to assess that SLO. The poster presents the process and products of SLO development, curriculum mapping, and capstone writing assignment evaluation activities in the BS Marine Biology program. The challenges and the success strategies along with how assessment aided in program improvement are discussed.

Collaborative program assessment utilizing an undergraduate capstone course

At the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, the Department of Biology is comprised of over one thousand undergraduate …

Creating and Using Rubrics

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