Learning to be Ourselves: Implementing a Campus and Community - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Learning to be Ourselves: Implementing a Campus and Community Appropriate Assessment Regime in an Era of Educational Standardization Jack Solomon, Professor of English and Director of Academic Assessment and Program Review, CSUN Michael Neubauer, Professor of Mathematics, CSUN WSCUC ARC Topic: Integrative Campus Assessment Practices San Diego April 20, 2017

Abstract • In an era of increasing pressures to standardize American higher education in the spirit of the “common core” (the Lumina Foundation’s recent report, The Emerging Learning System: Report on the recent convening and new directions for action, is a case in point), preserving the particular characteristics and identity of an institution can be a challenge. This presentation will describe how CSU Northridge has sought to achieve such a balance, and recommend strategies for doing so elsewhere.

California State University, Northridge aka CSUN Overview: • Located in the San Fernando Valley of the City of Los Angeles • Fall 2017 Enrollment: 40K; 35.5K undergraduates; 4.5K graduates, credential and doctoral • 18.9K of undergraduates (53%) are Pell grant recipients • 50% Latina/o, 5% African-American, 11% Asian- American, 22% white Data available at www.csun.edu/counts

Background: CSUN Majors

Background: CSUN Financial Aid

Background: CSUN Degrees

The assessment challenge • The good news: The departmental assessment of course SLOs and program SLOs is ongoing and robust across campus. • 56 departments and programs, many with multiple degree options

The assessment challenge • The challenge: Who is assessing the Core Competencies: Written communication, Critical Thinking. Quantitative Literacy, Information Literacy, Oral Communication? • across the institution • near exit

The WSCUC Imperative • Implementing and assessing 5 Core Competencies: • Written Communication • Critical Thinking • Quantitative Literacy • Information Literacy • Oral Communication

The CSUN Difference: Written Communication • Unique to the CSU, and probably uniquely anywhere, first year writing at CSUN is taught by seven different departments, each with their own cultural conceptions of writing instruction: • Africana Studies • Asian American Studies • Central American Studies • Chicano/a Studies • English • Linguistics (for international students) • Queer Studies

The CSUN Difference: Critical Thinking • Not uniquely to CSUN, but somewhat unusually, CSUN also teaches entry-level critical thinking in multiple departments, four of which are guided by the principles of Critical Race Theory: • Africana Studies • Asian American Studies • Central American Studies • Chicano/a Studies • Philosophy

The CSUN Challenge • Finding a common ground for both the teaching and assessment of written communication and critical thinking.

Some CSUN solutions • For written communication, we are now aligning the writing constructs for First-Year Writing courses (Stretch) with the Upper Division Writing Proficiency Exam (UDWPE) • For critical thinking, we have been working on a common what . . . so what then? approach* • *i.e., moving from the identification of a topic, problem, or argument, to a consideration of its ramifications, towards an interpretation, solution, or thesis —a model that is so foundational that it can be found to be at work in most, if not all, academic disciplines.

Assessed through the UDWPE • That is, the writing test that CSUN administers to all students in response to the Graduate Writing Assessment Requirement from the CSU Board of Trustees. • Which we have revised to include assessments of critical thinking, quantitative literacy, and information literacy, as well as written communication.

Sample UDWPE Prompt for a reading on Sparkling Water sales You must respond to both parts of the exam and label each part of your essay accordingly. • Part 1. Written Communication, Critical Thinking, Quantitative Literacy • In a carefully written essay, taking time before beginning to think through your response, reflect on the • topic of the reading and evaluate the information that it presents about the recent growth in the sales of flavored sparkling water beverages. In your written evaluation, discuss the reading’s claims as to the significance of the current sparkling water boom: that is, according to the evidence given, is the sale of sparkling water a significant part of the soda market, and thus, a significant consumer phenomenon? Also discuss whether you agree with the reading’s explanations for the causes of the increase in sparkling water consumption in America. Could there be other explanations, especially with regard to the reading’s claims regarding low-income consumers? That is, are there social status, rather than cost, implications in the consumption of sparkling water rather than Coca Cola or Pepsi? You may also want to consider the role that advertising plays in the consumption of soft drinks. Part 2. Information Literacy • Briefly discuss how would you go about searching for additional sources of information in order to more • fully interpret the sparkling water boom and evaluate the claims in this reading. Make certain to briefly discuss all possible search strategies that you would attempt in order to locate additional sources of information to consult for your response, including Internet and other online search strategies. Note: you do not have to actually expand your discussion of the reading: the task here is to describe what additional information (i.e. sources) you would look for and how you would go about finding it if you were to expand your discussion and analysis of the claims in this reading .

As for writing itself • Here we are pursuing what we call a “bilingual” approach to written communication. • That is, each department entrusted with the teaching of first-year writing remains free to teach writing according to its own cultural codes (including Critical Race Theory), but students must also be taught the fundamentals of effective writing in standard American English (the “constructs), to be assessed both at the department level (through program SLO assessment) and the university level (via the UDWPE).

Being Yourself • If your institution wishes to follow a similar path, the key to doing so is quite simple: perform a what . . . so what then? critical thinking exercise for your campus, beginning with a candid examination of what your campus is and does (using all of your institutional metrics as well as the qualitative knowledge that accrues from institutional experience), and then turning to a so what then? inquiry as a problem solving exercise seeking to determine the best ways you can preserve your identity while complying with external requirements.