CAPSTONE PRE-ASSIGNMENT

Diane Hartman, Baylor University, Waco, TX

I attended the Summer 2014 Assessment Residency. Upon returning home I was very discouraged, frustrated and disappointed. This was not what I had anticipated. There were no truly tangible assessments that I felt confident about using in my large introductory biology and microbiology classes of 100+ students.

My position as lecturer does not come with teaching assistants or undergraduate student worker funding. Many of the activities and rubrics work best with more one-on-one interaction. Colleagues evaluated my classes as part of my 2013 performance review. The overall summary was positive. One professor said that watching me “run around the room” to help the groups exhausted him. Another said that this was “exactly what we are supposed to be doing for active learning”. A third noted that several students were checking email and shopping during the group work time. It is very challenging to incorporate active learning in the context of large classes with fixed seating.

Grades for the larger classes are based primarily (80%) on summative assessments (multiple choice exams) with i<clicker quizzes, mastering homework and 4 active learning projects comprising the remaining 20%. The active learning assessments were easy to distribute, but extremely time consuming to read and evaluate. Meaningful, timely feedback was a major problem for me.

This past year a colleague and I have developed our version of the Small World Initiative at Baylor. We had 13 students working in groups of 3-4. These students worked in a BSL-2 lab, developed oral presentations on ESKAPE pathogens, and oral/poster presentations about their specific lab research. All groups presented their posters at one or more scientific meetings this spring. This has provided a unique opportunity to “engage” students in life-long learning. At this level, development of learning goals and learning objectives was greatly simplified. Student engagement was outstanding.

References:

1. Handelsman, J., C. Pfund, S. Lauffer, C. Pribbenow. 2008. Entering Mentoring. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin.

2. Phillips, A., Robertson A.,Batzli,J,Harris,andMiller, S. 2008. Aligning Goals, Assessments, and Activities: An Approachto Teaching PCR and Gel Electrophoresis. CBE-Life Sciences Education 7: 96-106.

Date / Activity
Summer 2013 / Returned to the Mountain West Summit as the “alum” from Baylor University 2012 Team
Summer 2013 / Attended training program at Yale for training as a Pilot Partner for the Small World Initiative
Spring 2014 / Initiated the first cohort of students in the SWI at BU
ASMCUE: Biosafety
Microbrew: SWI- Crowdsourcing Antibiotic Discovery
ASM Poster: SWI - Crowdsourcing Antibiotic Discovery
Fall 2013-Spring 2014 / Baylor University’s Academy for Teaching and Learning (ATL) has a two-fold mission: globally, to support and inspire a flourishing community of learning; locally, to promote the integration of teaching, scholarship, collegiality, and service in a Christian environment. This program includes FIG (faculty interest groups) luncheon presentations, SET (seminars for excellence in teaching) lectures and a Lecturer Mentoring Program. I have attempted to attend as many of these sessions as possible. FIG Topics included: Compelling Scholarship: review and generate scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). The primary aim is to strengthen the connections between teaching and learning on Baylor’s campus. Transformational Education: The purpose of this FIG is to promote active, engaged, and innovative learning across all schools and disciplines. Judicious Stewardship: The purpose of this FIG is to learn and utilize peer and course assessment techniques to increase the value and quality of a Baylor education. Low-stakes assessments, teaching observations and feedback, student evaluations, and learning goals and objectives will be among the topics discussed.
SET: Alexander Beaujean. EVIDENCE-BASED CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT Testing improves long-term retention of material. Testing has a cumulative effect, meaning that the more tests a professor administers throughout the semester, the better the learning outcomes. One great way of administering repeated tests is to use a practice format, such as short quizzes. As a result of repeated assessment, students are more likely to remember the material and they become aware of their own knowledge of the subject. Professors are also more aware of the student’s knowledge. In general, testing helps student to organize their knowledge conceptually and can contribute to their ability to apply knowledge in more complex contexts. Finally, testing promotes great study habits. Ultimately, tests are cheap, effective and undeniably beneficial for learning.
LM: Dr. Marty Harvill “Incorporation of Student Accountability into the Planning of a Course”
LM: Dr. Nicole McAninch “Making Student Course Evaluations Work for You”
Presenter / LM: I presented the April 2014 Lecturer Mentoring Topic: “Strategies for Pursuing Undergraduate Research as a Lecturer”.