Symposia
2017 Symposium on Assessment of Learning

The third annual Symposium on Assessment of Learning was held on January 27, 2017. This event featured presentations and discussions by faculty, librarians, assessment specialists, and graduate students from UC Santa Cruz and six other campuses.
PROGRAM & MATERIALS
9:00 – 9:10
Welcome remarks by Herbie Lee, Interim Campus Provost/Executive Vice Chancellor, UC Santa Cruz
9:10 – 10:30
Session 1: Undergraduate Education
Presentations focus on how faculty have approached assessment — including posing research questions, designing studies, and drawing conclusions — as well as how they have engaged their colleagues in the various stages of assessment.
Committee-based Approach to Outcomes Assessment, Noriko Aso, History Department, UC Santa Cruz
Facilitating Cultural Change through Programmatic Assessment, Tonya Ritola and Heather Shearer, Writing Program, UC Santa Cruz (slides)
Cultivating Academic Assessment, One Relationship at a Time: Case Study of a Collaborative Partnership between UC Davis’ Department of Communication and Academic Assessment Team, Heather J. Hether , Department of Communication, and Kara Moloney, Coordinator for Academic Assessment, UC Davis (slides)
Assessing Traditional Assessments: How Do We Know What Our Students Know?, Colin G. West, HHMI Postdoctoral Science Education Fellow, Physics Department, UC Santa Cruz (slides)
10:30 – 10:45
Coffee break
10:45 – 12:00
Session 2: Undergraduate education (cont.)
Presentations focus on assessment of Critical Thinking Skills, Writing, and Information Literacy Skills in Writing courses and Senior Seminars. Assessment tools, teaching strategies, and ways to collaborate with university librarians will be discussed.
Teaching and Assessing Analytic Thinking and Writing Skills in the Technology and Information Management Major, Subhas Desa and Paul Vroomen, Technology Management Department, UC Santa Cruz
Contextualizing Criteria to Measure and Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in the Art Major, Enrique Martinez Leal, Art Department, UC Santa Cruz
Information Literacy Learning Outcomes: Collaborative Assessment in Action, Greg Careaga, Head of Assessment and Planning, University Library, and Deborah A. Murphy, Undergraduate Experience Librarian, UC Santa Cruz (slides)
Can a Checklist Help Students Improve Their Information Literacy and Analytic Thinking Skills?, Annette Marines, Librarian, Research Support Services, and Aaron Zachmeier, Instructional Designer, UC Santa Cruz (slides)
12:00 – 1:00
Lunch
1:00 – 2:30
Session 3: Graduate Education
Presentations focus on developing methods for assessing graduate learning outcomes and on the role of assessment in addressing critical issues in graduate education.
Developing a Sustainability Communications Laboratory with STEM Graduate Students, Anne Zanzucchi, Faculty, UC Merced (slides)
Working with Faculty on Graduate Program Assessment of Student Learning, Anna Sher, Assistant Director for Assessment, IRAPS, UC Santa Cruz (slides)
Graduate Students’ Experience with and Preparation for Undergraduate Teaching, Priscilla Sung, GSR in IRAPS and PhD Candidate in Psychology, UC Santa Cruz (slides)
2:30- 2:45
Closing remarks