An e-publication of the two- and four-year public higher education institutions in Washington State, eWAG seeks to provide educators with thoughtful and informative articles on the issues, complexities and realities of assessment and its connection to teaching, learning, and student success.

To Our Readers:  The next issue of eWAG will be posted to the Web in October 2004 shortly after fall quarter/semester begins.  Until then, we hope you have a really great summer, one that brings you back refreshed and renewed to meet new students, challenges and opportunities!
 

This Month in eWAG

Moore's Musings:  

Sadly, I'm delinquent once again with my "Moore's Musings"--getting our new Transition Math Project up and running is an interesting challenge but it's also consuming far more of my time and energy at the moment than I thought it would, so I've gotten behind in some other things, including my eWAG duties :-( As creative as ever, though, Anna Sue thought it would be a good opportunity to dust off something from the archives as a substitute, figuring if we find something old enough, most of you wouldn't have been around to read it the first time, and even if you were around (and actually read it:-) you probably wouldn't remember it!! I think this is a brilliant strategy and I'm not sure why we haven't come up with it before. So here's a piece from 1995 "Moving General Education & Assessment From the Margins to the Middle" that I think is still timely and relevant--I'm not sure whether to be depressed by that or not! Have a great summer--I promise to be back with something new in the fall!!

Composition in the New Millennium -Reflections from four faculty at the Composition in the New Millennium working retreat held April 29 and 30 in Leavenworth, WA. The retreat afforded participants an opportunity to focus on current developments and issues in composition courses, both in Washington state and nationally about the nature and role of composition in higher education. Specific sessions covered...[more]

Faculty Association for Community and Technical Colleges Website - Readers may want to check out the Faculty Association for Community and Technical Colleges (FACTC) website at http://factc.org/.  FACTC is a statewide network that provides two-year faculty opportunities for ongoing discussions around critical instructional issues related to two-year colleges. To get more information and to voice your opinion, click on their "Discussion Board" link.  Of particular note is their second annual "Tools for Teaching" Conference set for October 29, 2004 at Lake Washington Technical College (just click on the "Professional Development" link from their home page for more information).

Classroom Assessment Projects - A new feature of eWAG is Classroom Assessment Projects (CAP), one in which we hope you will share with readers your classroom assessment projects and techniques.  As in the May issue, June's  CAPs come from Whatcom Community College and focus on the college's Core Learning Ability "Integrating" this time looking at self-appraisal. 

The first project comes from a Chemistry 122 class that looked at  increasing students' awareness of what they were thinking during an exam. The second project is a questionnaire used in a Geology 150 class that seeks to assess the effectiveness of using “small groups” to approach homework problems.

Using "Think Alouds" to Evaluate Deep Understanding by Lendo Calder and Sara-Eva Carlson - “Deep understanding” is what teachers want for students.  But how do we know when it has been achieved?  And are certain assessments better than others at shedding light on what students really know and understand?  Few would defend the method used by a deaf English public schools inspector who, after listening to student recitations, would rise and declare, “I have not been able to hear anything you have said, but I perceive by the intelligent look on your faces that you have fully mastered the text.” This essay describes the authors’ experience with ineffective student learning assessments and their subsequent employment of an effective technique called the think aloud method. [more]

"A Matter of Degrees": New Report from The Education Trust - A Matter of Degrees: Improving Graduation Rates in Four-Year Colleges and Universities, includes a new analysis of a comprehensive federal database of six-year graduation rates from every degree-granting higher education institution in the United States.  The data, collected by the U.S. Department of Education’s Graduation Rate Survey (GRS), has been disaggregated by race/ethnicity for the first time this year.  News Release  Report

Teaching Goals Inventory from the Center for Teaching at the University of Iowa. Links to a free online self-assessment of instructional goals developed by Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross.

Innovate, Journal of Online Education - Call for Submissions - This is a call for submissions for a special issue on the future of electronic education (eEducation) in K-12, higher education (both undergraduate and graduate), and extended learning. Innovate seeks manuscripts on leading edge practices [more]

A Bit of Humor: "Rules for Teachers in 1915 in the U.S." I came across this on the web and thought it would be fun to share!

Website of the Month - Beginning this fall, a website will be featured each month in eWAG that speaks to education (K-12, higher education, literacy, workforce education, life-long learning).  If you know of a site you would like us to highlight please email
Anna Sue McNeill

WA State's two- and four-year college and university websites and newsletters

Events
and
Publications
on Assessment, Teaching and Learning

Websites related to Assessment, Teaching and Learning, Educational Effectiveness, Institutional Research

Two-and four-year Assessment Liaisons and Coordinators

Faculty Association for Community and Technical Colleges

The courage to imagine the otherwise is our greatest resource, adding color and suspense to all our life.

Daniel J. Boorstin