What is program assessment?
Because the University Writing Program values student-centered learning, it is important for us to know where our students are coming from and how we can best support them in developing as critical thinkers, writers, and lifelong learners. Our program assessment practices have been designed with this in mind. We regularly collect random, anonymous samples of student writing and a group of instructors reads and assesses them according to prescribed rubrics that follow the mission and values of the program. The rubrics are based on the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)’s Essential Learning Outcomes. In response to information gleaned from this assessment, the University Writing Program regularly updates its practices in order to better encourage writing throughout students’ academic careers and beyond.
Why do program assessment?
What sometimes gets lost in conversations about assessment is the experience of the assessment. This is an experience of valuing student work, discussing that work, and thinking about how we can improve how we teach to elicit better learning. The experience of assessing translates to improved practice.
For students, assessment is an opportunity to demonstrate their abilities. Each student brings their own knowledge and experience to the program and this is a chance for students to share both what they bring to university writing courses and what they leave with. It is a chance for them to be reflective about what they know and their own learning.
For teachers, the program assessment is an opportunity to know more about their students on an individual level and respond to student needs. The Self-Assessment Prompt in particular is a chance to get familiar with the experience and knowledge that students bring to the classroom so that those tools can be built upon to support our students in becoming better writers. All the program assessment assignments offer the possibility of examining the ideas that students have about writing in order to delve more deeply into assumptions, beliefs, and doubts that students might hold.
For the University Writing Program, the assessment is a way of keeping abreast of students’ abilities and needs so that we can design curriculum accordingly. Program assessment may be used to develop training for new teachers and continuing education for experienced instructors. It also may inform curriculum design, course sequences, and which components of writing should be emphasized to best support students in their development as writers.
It’s possible that students may not be motivated to complete this work if it’s framed as “program assessment.’ To elicit the best responses, and to enable the best indicator of what our students have learned, it’s important that instructors value the prompts and assignments. We hope that they work because they are helpful for the students and the teachers as well as for what we do as a program.
What have we learned from past assessments?
In spring of 2014, the University Writing Program initiated a program assessment with the goals of learning more about our students and adjusting our curriculum to better support them. All English-111X classes taught on Fairbanks West campus (12) participated in the assessment by submitting Diagnostic essays, Research papers, and Reflective assignments as an electronic course portfolio through Google Drive. The University Writing Director then led a group of 6 teachers in applying the program-designed, AAC&U-based rubrics to student work in course portfolios. To find out more about the process, take a look at the rubrics we used and the AAC&U VALUE rubrics, from which we built ours. This is a process that will be updated and revised as we learn more about our students and the practices that we can enact to better support them.
Assessment findings from Spring 2014 are available here.
What is my responsibility, as the instructor, in the assessment process?
As a writing teacher at UAF, you are required to participate in program assessment by incorporating it into your course. It is important that teachers value the writing assignments. This may be done by responding to them, by using them in your class, or by referring back to them in conversations with students about writing. Also, instructors are entrusted with the task of informing students of the program assessment and what it is used for. In addition to speaking with your students about it in class, include a description of program assessment in your syllabus. Here is an example:
Students are required by the English Department to participate in the University Writing Program Assessment. This assessment will be used for ongoing improvement of our First and Second Year Writing Program. The English Department appreciates your cooperation and assistance in this process. Your participation will help to ensure that the courses you take meet their stated guidelines and serve your educational needs.
Your responsibility is to assign the prompts, collect student responses, and submit them to the program assessment committee at the end of the semester. We are working to make this process as simple as possible for you. Please follow the step-by-step instructions below and contact us if you have questions or feedback.
Procedures for instructors of English-111x:
- Within the first week of class, assign the “Self-Assessment Writing Prompt” as a take-home assignment. All student writing should be typed and submitted to you digitally.
- Read and respond to your students’ work. It’s not necessary to grade the writing, but value it by incorporating it into the ongoing conversation between you and your students in your course.
- Create a single doc with all of the responses and submit it to the Google classroom.
- At the end of the semester, preferably as your final writing assignment, assign the “Reflection Prompt” as a take-home assignment for your students. All student writing should be typed and submitted to you digitally.
- Create a single doc with all of the responses and submit it to the Google classroom.
PART 3:
- As part of the final exam period, all 111x students should complete the University Writing Classes Student Questionnaire. This survey is anonymous and gives us a chance to learn more about student experiences of taking a 111x class. Teachers may choose to distribute this link during their final exam meeting for students to do in class or distribute the link through email. The University Writing Program is aiming to get feedback from 100% of 111x students. This survey was co-created with the Vice Provost and the information from this survey will help us be a more responsive program.
Procedures for Instructors of English-211x & 213x:
NOTE: There is no “Self-Assessment Prompt” for 200-level courses
- At the end of the semester, preferably as your course’s final writing assignment, assign the “Choices in Communication Prompt” as a take-home assignment for your students. All student writing should be typed and submitted to you digitally.
- Create a single doc with all of the responses and submit it to the Google classroom.
What are the assessment writing prompts?
The writing prompts for program assessment were created by the assessment committee with careful consideration of national standards and the program outcomes being assessed. You can learn more about these outcomes by reviewing our Spring 2014 findings and the rubrics we use in assessing the student writing. Please distribute these prompts to your students as they appear below, as it’s important that the prompts and guidelines are standardized.
Assessment Prompts for English-111x:
Self-Assessment Prompt (beginning of semester)
Explore your previous learning experiences with critical reading, thinking, and writing. How have these experiences consciously or unconsciously shaped your view of what it means to succeed or fail as a writer? Analyze your experiences and apply them to your own developing writing process in answering this question.
Please type your response and submit digitally to your instructor. This is a timed writing assignment — spend 45 minutes in your writing process.
Reflection Prompt (end of semester)
Please re-read your first response. How has your view of what it means to succeed or fail as a writer developed over the course of this semester? How has your view impacted your writing process? Please use as evidence one piece of your own writing from this semester to help you illustrate your position.
Please type your response and submit digitally to your instructor. This is a timed writing assignment — spend 45 minutes in your writing process.
Assessment Prompts for English-211x & 213x:
Choices in Communication Prompt
Analyze one rhetorical design choice you’ve made in your writing this semester and chart what about this choice mattered to your writing project. How would this choice be affected in a future and/or different rhetorical situation? Would you make the same choice? Why? Defend your answer with examples from your writing this semester.
Please type your response and submit digitally to your instructor. This is a timed writing assignment — spend 45 minutes in your writing process.
What if …?
If you encounter any challenges as the instructor in fulfilling your responsibilities for program assessment, please contact the Director of University Writing directly. The assessment program is an important part of the university writing program in its relationship with students and with the undergraduate curriculum at UAF. Thank you for supporting this program.