Assessment Period: Spring of 2015 Courses Providing Data: LEP 400 and COMM 450 Goals and Learning Outcomes Assessed: LEP Outcome 3 (Creative Thinking): Be able to identify, formulate, and solve problems using interdisciplinary perspectives Overview: Creative thinking was assessed in four sections of LEP 400 and one section of COMM 450 during the spring semester in 2015. Faculty members responsible for teaching these courses assessed a project or assignment that required students to think creatively. Although each assignment/project was unique, the tools used to assess creative thinking were the same. Assessment Strategy and Instrument: Faculty members were given an assessment folder at the beginning of spring semester, which included 10 copies of each assessment tool and a short opinion survey. Each faculty member assessed the work of ten students using two different assessment tools the AAC&U Creative Thinking Rubric and a measurement tool – that ranked each of the LEP 3 sub-outcomes from a high score of 4 to a low score of zero. To ensure a certain degree of randomness in the selection of papers/projects to be assessed, participating faculty were asked to select ten students from the top of their class roster (by first or last name, in ascending or descending order). A total of 47 student assignments/projects were assessed, thirty-seven of which were assessed using both assessment tools. Results: The majority of students demonstrated proficiency in creative thinking. When comparing assessment scores from each of the two assessment tools, the results were very similar. More specifically, both sets of results suggest that the overall performance level of the students sampled was midrange (i.e. Milestone 3 or Milestone 2). The lowest performance levels were in relation to synthesizing, and transforming” and thinking,” which are dimensions of “connecting, “innovative creative thinking in the AAC&U rubric. Results Using the AAC&U Creative Thinking Value Rubric (N=37) Benchmark not Cannot be Capstone Milestone Milestone Benchmark Reached Assessed 4 3 2 1 0 N/A 8 11 16 2 Acquiring Competencies 6 10 16 5 Taking Risks 8 11 12 6 Solving Problems 3 11 7 6 10 Embracing Contradictions 7 5 16 9 Innovating Thinking Connecting, Synthesizing, 4 8 14 10 1 Transforming
Assessment Period: Spring of 2015 Courses Providing Data: LEP 400 and COMM 450 Goals and Learning Outcomes Assessed: LEP Outcome 3 (Creative Thinking): Be able to identify, formulate, and solve problems using interdisciplinary perspectives Overview: Creative thinking was assessed in four sections of LEP 400 and one section of COMM 450 during the spring semester in 2015. Faculty members responsible for teaching these courses assessed a project or assignment that required students to think creatively. Although each assignment/project was unique, the tools used to assess creative thinking were the same. Assessment Strategy and Instrument: Faculty members were given an assessment folder at the beginning of spring semester, which included 10 copies of each assessment tool and a short opinion survey. Each faculty member assessed the work of ten students using two different assessment tools – the AAC&U Creative Thinking Rubric and a measurement tool that ranked each of the LEP 3 sub-outcomes from a high score of 4 to a low score of zero. To ensure a certain degree of randomness in the selection of papers/projects to be assessed, participating faculty were asked to select ten students from the top of their class roster (by first or last name, in ascending or descending order). A total of 47 student assignments/projects were assessed, thirty-seven of which were assessed using both assessment tools. Results: The majority of students demonstrated proficiency in creative thinking. When comparing assessment scores from each of the two assessment tools, the results were very similar. More specifically, both sets of results suggest that the overall performance level of the students sampled was midrange (i.e. Milestone 3 or Milestone 2). The lowest performance levels were in relation to “connecting, synthesizing, and transforming” and “innovative thinking,” which are dimensions of creative thinking in the AAC&U rubric. Results Using the AAC&U Creative Thinking Value Rubric (N=37) Capstone 4 Milestone 3 Milestone 2 Benchmark 1 Benchmark not Reached 0 Cannot be Assessed N/A Acquiring Competencies 8 11 16 2 Taking Risks 6 10 16 5 Solving Problems 8 11 12 6 Embracing Contradictions 3 11 7 6 10 Innovating Thinking 7 5 16 9 Connecting, Synthesizing, Transforming 4 8 14 10 1