1/23/03
Teaching
and Learning Center and College Associate e-Scholar Teaching and
Learning
Assessment Project
Project
Team: Donna
Albrecht, Jim Buergermeister, Jane Henderson, Clark Leeson,
Lou
Milanesi, Ross Olson, Dan Riordan , Meridith Wentz
Guiding
University Vision Statement and Value Statement
Vision
Statement
UW-Stout,
a respected innovator in higher education, educates students to be
lifelong
learners and responsible citizens in a diverse and changing world
through
experiences inside and outside the classroom that join the general and
the
specialized, the theoretical and the practical, in applied programs leading to
successful
careers in industry, commerce, education, and human services.
We
Value
Excellence
in teaching within
high quality, student-centered undergraduate and
graduate
education involving active learning and appropriate technology.
Source:
http://www.uwstout.edu/geninfo/stratplan.html
Goals
of e-Scholar Program
1.
Improve quality of teaching and learning at undergraduate and graduate
levels.
2. Form
egalitarian communities of excellence in teaching and learning across
the
university.
3.
Utilize technology to create a student-centered environment, where active
learning
is the core approach to acquiring concepts, processes, and attitudes.
4. Create
life-long habits in students in methods of acquisition of concepts,
processes
and attitudes.
Project
Teamıs Definitions of Learning, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning
Learning- permanent acquisition of
processes, attitudes and concepts
Critical
thinking- ability
to relate material from two or more sources
Active
learning - the
acquisition of processes, attitudes and concepts as a result
of
classroom and course activities in which students interact with one another
and the
instructor.
Active
learning is an approach to teaching where faculty become facilitators of
learning
and students become active participants, engaging in a dialog with their
colleagues
and with the instructor. In active learning, knowledge is directly
experienced,
constructed, acted upon, tested, or revised by the learner.
Goal
of Assessment
Assess
learning/critical thinking/ active learning in undergraduate and graduate
education
at UW-Stout. Data collected will be used to create and offer professional
development
opportunities for instructors and outreach programming for students to
improve
the learning experience at UW -Stout.
Goals
of Evaluation
1. To
understand and support best practices used in the e-Scholar
environment;
2. To
document and assess student learning in the areas of process, concept,
attitude
and critical analysis; and,
3. To
confirm and improve the quality of instruction.
4. To
determine whether communities of practice were formed
5. To
determine whether students developed traits that indicate the formation
of the
ability and attitude necessary for life-long learning
6. To
determine whether the laptop/technology tool was used to enhance
active
learning
7. To
determine whether technology-enhanced active learning was used to
acquire concepts,
processes and attitudes --about the content of the
course,
and about learning and the confidence to learn
The
above goals will be accomplished by identifying:
· what students say that they DID in
order to learn in an e-Scholar course
· what students say that they learned
(process, concept, attitude, in particular
critical
abilities)
· what teachers did to enhance student
learning in e-Scholar courses
· what teachers did to enhance their own
learning while teaching e-Scholar
courses
· what outcomes that learning produced in
both teachers and students
· what teachers say that they did to get
students to learn in e-Scholar courses
· what teachers say are the outcomes they
saw in quantity (process, concept,
attitude,
critical abilities) and in quality (how well--the lifelong learner person) in
e-Scholar
courses.
Project
to commence January 2003 with Project timeline to be determined.