Integrated Assessment to Improve Instructional Practices and Curriculum Design

As the course Coordinator for English 220 (Introduction to Writing about Literature), I oversee a comprehensive training program for our new faculty and an ongoing development program for all of our instructors. Ranging from syllabus construction, writing pedagogy, and teaching the literary genres to assignment design, classroom management, and group work/peer review methods, the hands-on program provides teachers with essential tools for creating a successful course. But what does a successful course (which is to say a substantial and meaningful educational experience for students) look like? What does it do? And how do we know that the course is successful? To begin to answer these questions, we devote a good deal of time to discussing what I call integrated assessment. That is, we examine how curriculum, instructional, and assignment design coordinate with assessment design and implementation. I am struck every semester by how little new teachers have thought about assessment beyond the need to assign and grade papers, and to decide on the percentage of the final grade each assignment is worth. I am also struck by how enthusiastically they embrace the idea of assessment as a way to measure their effectiveness and to improve teaching.

Using assessment as a way to improve our instructional practices, assignment design, and curriculum design is one of my main interests in participating in this blog. But it's not the only one. I would also like to engage discussion across the disciplines, to explore, for instance, how assessment can and should differ in the humanities and the social sciences. Other questions that come to mind: How can we make use of more qualitative assessments? Is the language of Learning Outcomes  effective in emphasizing student understanding? And what are the differences (beyond the semantic) between learning and understanding? Between knowing and understanding? When we say that we want students to know certain things, to what extent does that imply doing certain things? In short, when we use words like learning, knowing, doing, and understanding, what assumptions are we making about each separately and all together?

Enough questions for now. I'm happy to  be part of the conversation and look forward to the exchange of ideas.