EduMetry can assist faculty in the development of
student learning outcomes (SLOs) by translating University/ College
Mission
and Program Objectives into measurable SLOs. To ensure alignment, the process is validated by reverse-mapping SLOs to objectives and the mission statement.
EduMetry has developed a series of workshops to help deans and chairs set
the stage for assessment-of-learning. As part of broader efforts
to embed a culture of evidence, Assesstance™ workshops (either two half-days or a full-day) can show how
program assessment is not faculty evaluation, and
sensitize faculty to the power of outcomes tracking,
intervention etc.
A crucial
determinant of success is the extent of faculty participation in and
acceptance of the process. EduMetry’s D-Cube™ is a facilitated, web-enabled forum that both ensures a
faculty-driven process and expedites the work of faculty
committees. D-Cube™ -- inspired by the venerable Delphi Technique, with
its trademark anonymity and iterative convergence -- helps faculty forge a consensus on key issues in a
span of weeks, not
months or years. A web-enabled forum makes it far easier to get
faculty engagement, without requiring face-to-face meetings ad
nauseum. It can even ensure the participation of faculty on
sabbatical or those who might be traveling. Step One also involves
curriculum mapping, from Program Objectives to Courses and
Courses to SLOs.
RubricShop™
As any researcher
knows, data are only as good as the measuring instrument used to
generate them. Our RubricShop™ service takes EduMetry’s expertise* in rubrics
development and works with faculty subject-matter experts to
design rubrics for each SLO. This
is a critical step in the assessment process as most data
problems arise from rubrics that are
poorly mapped onto SLOs or poorly worded/ anchored. RubricShop™ also calibrates and validates rubrics using a pilot-sample of
student learning artifacts. As with Step One, if a faculty
committee is involved, our D-Cube™ method can
help forge
a consensus, especially on the dimensions that make up a rubric
(i.e., the components of critical-thinking).
* EduMetry has
developed rubrics for assessment-of-learning for, among others, Harvard Business School''s
top-10 all-time-best-selling case studies.
OutScore™ orAssess+™
EduMetry offers two alternative methods for scoring student
learning-artifacts and generating SLO data.
In our OutScore™ service, rubrics
are used to score a representative
sample of learning artifacts. This approach can be used to
generate data at the college-, program- or cohort-level of
aggregation. The SLO data thus produced can help administrators
“close the loop” at the macro level as well as
produce reports for submission to accreditation bodies. This is the
traditional approach, one that permits closing of the loop
only at the macro or program level. However, we have taken this process a step further.
Assess+™,
our signature assessment service, not only provides the SLO data
described above (usingOutScore™),
but also provides students with detailed and actionable feedback
on select learning artifacts as well as provides instructors with summative
reports. The feedback to students and summative reports to
instructors happen in real time (within 2-5 days of our
receiving the electronic submissions). Until now, assessment
has been limited to the macro (college-, program- or cohort)
levels, but not at the classroom level. Assess+™ ensures that a rubrics-based process can benefit students and
instructors in the classroom, while serving as the DNA for
Program Assessment. EduMetry's pioneering approach
generates data to improve student learning at both the macro
and micro levels – all in real-time!
LearningDashboard™
Once SLO data
has been captured, EduMetry carries out detailed analyses
to uncover statistical patterns. These include cross-sectional
analyses across courses or cohorts and longitudinal analyses
over time. LearningDashboard™ is a customized interface for faculty and administrators to
examine SLO data and from which to draw insights. By drawing on
the power of data-analytics, an administrator can use LearningDashboard™ as
a basis for improving an entire curriculum or individual
courses. In addition, administrators can generate specialized
reports to meet the SLO requirements set by accreditors or
state- agencies or, better yet, show a potential donor how
giving to a College is in line with the donor’s priorities.
In conjunction
with Assess+ ™, LearningDashboard™ can deliver to administrators and faculty what
statisticians and industry have known for a long time: tapping
the power of data-analytics to mine data for patterns and
insights. The process must be guided by a theory of learning
(stages of cognitive development). More importantly, imagine
being able to discern students’ strengths and weaknesses and designing
precise interventions in the classroom or pointed offerings
aimed at meeting developmental-education needs!
Triangulate™
The final step
in EduMetry’s Assessment-of-Learning process is deriving
recommendations, where we are guided strictly by the findings
from your SLO data. As an external provider of assessment
services, we bear the added responsibility of producing work
that is beyond reproach and that can withstand the harshest of
scrutiny. At the same time, for your faculty to accept the findings
and for administrators to be able to implement our
recommendations, EduMetry’s work must be sound –
methodologically and analytically – as well as adhere to the
standards of rigorous empirical research, every step of the way.
Finally, we developed Triangulate™ -- a process of synthesizing quantitative and qualitative
insights into a set of cogent recommendations. “Quantitative
data” here refers to the results of statistically analyzing SLO
data, whereas “qualitative data” refers to the insights garnered
from the curriculum-mapping process described in Step One above.
Any recommendation for closing the loop must integrate both sets
of insights in the manner of triangulation, the research method for cross-checking multiple sources, methods
and theories.
