Assessment

"The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure." ~ Sven Goran Eriksson

Summary of How Students are Informed of SLOs in My Classes

by Sue Moses, Education Division
Spring 2013

I typically teach ED 330 Classroom Management, ED/PY 300 Education Psychology, ED 301b Reading Methods, and courses as part of the UOG/COM-FSM BA Partnership Program including ED 489 Evaluation, ED 486 Building Effective Strategies for Teaching, and ED 334 Solving Discipline Problems. For the past eleven (11) years I have used the system summarized in this paper to ensure that students in these classes are aware of the SLOs (formerly known as objectives) in each class.

The SLOs for each course are included in the syllabus which is provided to students and discussed on the first day of class. Each student is provided with a folder with the SLOs stapled in the folder along with the assignment associated with each assessment strategy and the accompanying point value of each. Students insert assignments in the folders and leave the folders in the classroom after each class; they retrieve the folders at the beginning of the following class period with graded assignments inserted. Points are recorded in the student folders so students can determine their grades at any given time during the course. Below are pictures of the outside and inside of one folder being used this semester.

Student folder – ED/PY 300 Spring 2013

Inside student folder – ED/PY 300 Spring 2013

Prior to the start of each class a list of the activities and topics to be included in that class period is written on the board. Embedded in each list are references to the SLO(s) to be learned that day. At the bottom of each list is a summary of the assignments associated with the SLO(s). Below are pictures of the list of activities and associated assignments with the embedded SLO.

List of activities for ED/PY 300 class on board

List of assignments for ED 330 class on board (SLO)

Each assignment or exam in each class is linked to the associated SLO of the course syllabus. An example from a fall class is shown below.

Performance Assessment

Directions: You have been assigned to a group of 3 or 4 classmates. Each group will conduct research and create a poster to depict a topic related to motivation. The poster should not simply summarize the topic in writing. Instead, be creative. Use pictures, diagrams, and/or highlighted key words to use as a basis for sharing your topic with the class. Use the text, but also search the Internet for additional information on your topic. The topics, groups, and scoring rubric follow. All members of a group will be awarded the same number of points. You are encouraged to do your part to contribute to the work of your group. Be prepared to present your topic to the class on Tuesday, November 24, 2011.

Group	Members	Topic
1	Cassandra, Sernida, Yvonne, Arleen	Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
2	Serlynn, Aileen, Ruth, Cheryl	Expectancy X Value Theory
3	June, Nancylynn, Steward, Juleen	Maslow's Theory
4	Jayceleen, Janet, Kimberly, Gracelyn	Vygotsky's Theory of Motivation
5	Carter, Donia, Dexter	Piaget's Theory of Motivation
6	Agatha, Yasko, Monaliza, Brian	Skinner's Theory of Motivation

Scoring Rubric

Criteria	Very Good (3 pts.)	Good (2 pts.)	Fair (1 pt.)	Poor (0 pts.)
Key points	Poster and presentation cover all points	Poster and presentation cover most key points	Poster and presentation cover some key points	Poster and presentation fail to cover key points
Creativity	Very creative poster	Creative poster	Somewhat creative poster	Poster not creative
Presentation	All members presented	Only two members presented	Only one member presented	N/A
TOTAL / 9

Course level assessments are linked to each SLO of the syllabus (and course outline). These course level assessments are on file with the Dean of Academic Programs and are used to improve the student learning in subsequent offerings of the course. An example is the teaching of SLO 3.1 of the ED/PY 300 course first in the Spring 2013 semester because of poor student performance on this SLO in the Fall 2013 course and comments on student reflection papers that indicated that insufficient time and attention was devoted to this SLO in the course due to the fact that the SLO appears during the last part of the syllabus.

NOTE: I wish to thank Professor Sue Moses for granting permission to publish her work on assessment of SLOs in this web site.

Rafael Pulmano
2-9-2013

RAFAEL A. PULMANO

Accounting Professor

Assessment

Summary of How Students are Informed of SLOs in My Classes

Performance Assessment

Scoring Rubric

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