As April quickly draws to an end, let us reminisce: it was Autism Awareness month, it rained, it was National Poetry month, and it rained some more, the professional baseball season started, and now only 10 days until the Assessment Matters Conference. I’m so excited!
Just think, you can enjoy presentations like Assessing Course Assignments to Allow for Quantitative Evidence-Based Decisions about Teaching Methods presented by Dr. Jamie Dyer of Rockhurst University during the day and a Kansas City Royals baseball game at night.
In order to make informed, evidence-based decisions about pedagogical methods that increase learning and retention in a General Biology I course, quantitative assessment analyses were performed to determine the effectiveness of using creative 3-dimensional simulation assignments to improve understanding and learning of specific basic biological topics. Comparisons of student learning and retention with and without the simulation assignments were performed for same student populations to control for differences among student populations and across semesters. Overall, this 4 year assessment project provided insight into which methods increase student learning and retention of basic biological information in this General Biology I course.
The $85 conference fee does not include Royals tickets (sorry); however, it does include lunch and a presentation by Heather M. Seitz of Johnson County Community College entitled Utilizing a Concept Inventory to Facilitate Data Driven Course Improvement.
Faculty driven assessment is the most meaningful to our students and this presentation will discuss how to utilize a concept inventory to drive an assessment effort. Concept inventories are research driven validated assessments that measure expert like thinking and are a valuable tool to measure student learning gains. In this presentation, you will learn about the background and process used to create a concept inventory. The presentation will include information on how to incorporate a concept inventory into your course design and how to utilize the data to improve your course. Finally, the presentation will provide information on creating a faculty learning community to focus on data driven course improvements that faculty find most meaningful.
Other topic selections on May 5th are Automating Data Collection and Reporting to Promote Faculty Engagement in Assessment; How an Assessment Framework helped revitalize Program Review at JCCC; A Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Journey: From Concept through Dissertation; and Course Level Assessment Reporting System at Neosho County Community College.
The day starts at 8:30 am with a continental breakfast, breakout sessions begin at 9 am, the keynote speakers present at 11 am, lunch is at noon, the vendor fair starts at 1 pm, and more breakout sessions begin at 1:30, and we wrap the day with a panel discussion at 2:30 pm.
Assessment Matters Conference, May 5th from 8:30 am – 4 pm, registration
Preconference, May 4th from 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm, registration (hurry, only 9 spots left)