Feeling LO? Making Connections Through Curriculum Mapping Assessment Workshop Fall 2015 Swarup Wood Professor of Chemistry California State University.

Feeling LO? Making Connections Through Curriculum Mapping

Assessment WorkshopFall 2015

Swarup WoodProfessor of Chemistry

California State University Monterey Bay

Background

CSUMB is developing systematic assessment of our newly adopted ILOs

We will need to develop high quality assessment of MLOs, GE outcomes, and to understand how programmatic courses support mastery of the ILOs

Beholding to our stakeholders as well as our accreditors

Assumptions Curriculum mapping can be an engaging

effective way to align curricular resources to achievement of learning outcomes (student success)

Teaching is valuable in so far as it produces learning

Very very very rarely a course’s curriculum is better connected to a faculty’s interest than to the programs MLOs…

Think about the classrooms and institutions where most of us grew up

Continued Outcomes-based environments require

alignment between the institutional, program, and course level learning outcomes

Outcomes-based environments require alignment between learning outcomes and what is actually going on in class

How do we know?

If Student Success Relies Upon Mastery of Program Learning Outcomes… Assumes MLOs are well developed up through the

curriculum Assumes that course learning outcomes are well

aligned with core skills and knowledge areas embedded in the MLOS

Assumes students are provided adequate exposure and multiple opportunities to practice these core skills and knowledge areas

Curriculum mapping is a way of testing these assumptions

Why Develop Curriculum Maps?

To meet the demands of your accreditors? Because your dean requires it? To determine which courses address which

outcomes? To develop and scaffold your outcomes up

through your curriculum? To make meaningful connections between:

– ILOs, MLOs, and CLOs– Course learning outcomes and the teaching,

learning and assessment resources devoted to those outcomes

Outcomes for Today Understand several uses of curriculum

mapping Deconstruct several of your MLOs into skill

and content areas Use curricular mapping strategies to connect

MLOs to:– ILOs and CLOs– Teaching, Learning, and Assessment resources

that serve those outcomes

Understand how curriculum mapping can be used to map pedagogical approaches, etc

Deconstructing Outcomes into Discrete Skills and Content Areas

Outcome: Analyze the concepts of power relations, equity, and social justice using examples of each concept in the US society, and other societiesOn your own, imagine yourself an 18 year old

– Identify skills and content areas you would need help with in order to master this

With Colleagues

Describe one of the skills at different levels

100, 200, 300, 400 or… Introductory, developing, mastery Effective curriculum mapping assumes

that we are able to do this– And can help facilitate being able to do it

With a Colleague

Deconstruct at least two of your program’s MLOs into skills and content areas

For two skills– Use the grids towards the back of your handout:

Where in your program is this skill introduced, developed, and mastered

What is going on in a given course to support acquisition of that skill?

Does a faculty lecture on it?– If so, is lecture an effective way to work that skill?

Does the course use images that illustrate the process of that skill

Do students practice it?– In class?– Through assignments?

What is the Basis for Marking That Cell: Guiding Questions?

Do Students Receive Feedback on Development of the Skill?

Once? Twice? I have no clue if or where this skill is

taught…and less understanding how much feedback students receive

What would it take to find out?

Course Title A

Course Title B

Course Title C

Course Title D

100 level x

200 level x x

300 level x x x

400 Level X

Internship X

Co-curriculum x x

Alignment of an MLO With Courses Throughout the Program: MLO 1

Alignment of an Outcome-embedded SkillIn Courses Throughout the Program: Skill___

List the Evidence

Course Title A

Course Title B

Course Title C

Course Title D

100

200

300

400

Aligning MLOs with ILOs

Look back at the two MLOs you deconstructed into skills and knowledge areas

Use the grid at the end of the handout to align those skills and knowledge areas with those that comprise one of our Core Competencies: Critical Thinking

Explanation of issues: Establishes or requires student to consider issue/problem critically, state clearly and describe comprehensively.

Evidence: Establishes or requires students to take information from source(s) with enough interpretation/evaluation to develop a comprehensive analysis or synthesis. Viewpoints of and selection of experts are questioned thoroughly.

Influence of context and assumptions: Establishes or requires students to thoroughly (systematically and methodically) analyze own and others' assumptions and carefully evaluate the relevance of contexts when presenting a position.

Student’s position: Establishes or requires students’ position (perspective, thesis/hypothesis) to be imaginative, taking into account the complexities of an issue.  Limits of position (perspective, thesis/hypothesis) are acknowledged.  Others' points of view are synthesized within position (perspective, thesis/hypothesis).

Conclusions and related outcomes: Establishes or requires students to develop conclusions and related outcomes (implications and consequences) that are logical and reflect student’s informed evaluation.  Requires students to appropriately rank conclusions.

Explanation of issues

Evidence Influence of context and assumptions

Student’s position

Conclusions

MLO skill or content area

MLO skill or content area

MLO skill or content area

Alignment of MLO Skills and Content Areas with Elementsof the Critical Thinking ILO

Things to Keep in Mind Alignment Layers Building faculty intention between and among

the layers Making connections Faculty’s top complaints around students?

– Where do we go first?

Faculty needs versus student needs Curriculum (learner-centered?) Pedagogy (learner-centered?)

More Ways to Use Alignment Grids MLO Skills and Knowledge Areas vs

Pedagogy MLO Skills and Knowledge Areas vs

Cognitive Domain MLO Skills and Knowledge Areas vs

Depth of Learning Experience MLO Skills and Knowledge Areas vs

Brain Engagement

Curriculum vs Pedagogy

Equity

Pow

er Relations

Social Justice

Writing S

kills

Analysis

US

and

other societies

Outcome: Analyze the concepts of power relations, equity, and social justice using examples of each concept in the US society, and other societies.            

Pedagogy              

Role play power relations  x  x  x      x  

Discussion on NY Times article x   x  x      x

Guest: Rev Monica Galligan    x  x        

Model analysis-what are the component pieces of an analysis?            

Group work on societal norms    x        x  

Lecture-components of an analysis              

Are The Pedagogies We Are Using…

Actually facilitating the kinds of learning we want?

Helping our students learn how to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate?

Giving our students practice with these skills?

Aligning Pedagogy with Cognitive Domains

Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation

Lecture Discussion Video Debate Role play Modeling Practice Group work Problem solving

Pedagogies vs Cognitive Domains (LO: Perform an Analysis of…) Lecture

– Knowledge: meaning of analysis, component pieces of analysis– Model the process of analysis

Group work– Knowledge and Comprehension: Groups read an analysis, diagram

its component pieces, and discuss the meaning and function of each piece

Practice– Application and Analysis: Homework assignment in which students

conduct their own analysis with an additional piece that illustrates their thinking around how they conducted the analysis

Evaluation– Application and Evaluation: Students apply a rubric to several

sample analyses, discussing the positive and negative attributes of each one

Curriculum vs Brain Engagement

Content: E

quity

Content:

Pow

er R

elations

Content: S

ocial Justice

Content: U

S and O

ther

Analysis

Outcome: Analyze the concepts of power relations, equity, and social justice using examples of each concept in the US society, and other societies. In the grid: descriptions of what faculty are doing (curriculum and pedagogies) to engage these areas            

Engage their senses              

Motivation-why important to students              

Leverage their prior knowledge            

Structure for reflection              

Pictures and images            

Structure for story telling-how are faculty working to help students tell their own stories with their new knowledge?              

Aligning Curriculum with Activities, Practice, Assessment

Equity

Pow

er Relations

Social Justice

Writing S

kills

Analysis

US

and

other societies

Outcome: Analyze the concepts of power relations, equity, and social justice using examples of each concept in the US society, and other societies.            

Learning Activities              

….  x          x  

Assignments          

…    x  x        

Assessment            

….  x    x        

….    x      x    

Guiding Questions Who is filling in the X’s? Do we have a common understanding of what

the outcomes mean? To what extent are the courses with X’s

genuinely well connected to the outcomes?– How do you work with part time faculty to facilitate

this? Can you see connections between course

skills/content and the course learning outcomes?– And the MLO?...and the ILOs?

Were the program learning outcomes developed at the same time as the programs courses and curriculum?

What Kind of Experiences Will Your Program Facilitate?

Go back to two MLOs you deconstructed earlier

Using what we’ve discussed today, develop three questions or issues you have about how your program facilitates student mastery of these skills or content areas

Back Out of The Weeds

Making connections Coherent curricula-linking institutional

learning outcomes– To major learning outcomes– To course learning outcomes– to what is going on in class

Thanks