Student Learning Issues on Campus

April 1998 Newsletter, Vol. 2, No. 4
Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Bowling Green State University

Over the past couple of years, our institution, like many, has focused on the development of the teaching and learning environment. One major emphasis of that focus has been attention to the identification of student learning outcomes by each program of study While many programs are still "feeling their way through this," the university community as a whole continues to move this agenda forward. Of critical concern for continuing success with student achievement assessment is our ability to build capacity for such assessment activity, to focus attention on the completion of assessment activity. How do we, as the academy, accomplish this feat?

It seems logical and cogent to facilitate the development of the ability for student achievement assessment activity with those who are preparing to take a future place in the professorial. In other words, while graduate students are studying their respective disciplines, building research agendas, and finding a place within their chosen area of study, they should also be learning the appropriate pedagogy needed for successful employment in higher education. They should be mentored to develop skills and abilities that will allow them to participate fully in the teaching and learning environment of the college experience, to mold the student experience through the identification of student learner outcomes, and to assess each outcome by employing the appropriate methodology.

They should also observe the connection between results obtained from such assessment and the subsequent revision and improvement of the student learning experience. This is a critical element in utilizing student achievement assessment and is of primary importance in the effort to encourage academic changes that facilitate the attainment of specific, identified outcomes for students.

This goal of the graduate student experience can be accomplished in a number of ways. Here, I will highlight but one. Bowling Green State University, through its Graduate College, has made a major commitment to the improvement of the future professoriat by insisting on graduate student experiences that would improve pedagogical knowledge and skills at the same time that graduate students are studying in their respective disciplines.

This requirement provides ample opportunity to expose students to the skills and abilities necessary for the development of student learning outcomes, and for observation and mentoring with regard to the use of this information in the revision of course-related experiences.

As we, continuing faculty, seek to hire new faculty, we should employ questions during the interview process that pertain to the candidate's use of student learning outcomes, the assessment of such outcomes, and the use of the assessment results in the revision of student learning experiences. Many of us now require prospective faculty to teach a class while they are on campus for their interview. We might follow-up this teaching demonstration with questions pertaining to how the interviewee would assess learner outcomes related to that teaching experience. We will, then, have taken this process full circle. We will have created a higher education system that uses student achievement assessment, and a skilled and able professoriat that possesses the ability to value this emphasis on the teaching and learning environment. For more specifics on candidate interviewing, refer to the accompanying article in this edition.

The first edition of About Campus: Enriching the Student Learning Experience was published in March /April of 1996. Since that time, the number of subscribers has steadily increased and the editors have received a great deal of positive feedback from readers of the publication. Current co-executive editors of the magazine are Patricia King, Professor and Chair of the Department of Higher Education and Student Affairs at Bowling Green State University and Charles Schroeder, Vice Chancellor for student Affairs at the University of Missouri-Columbia. About Campus takes a holistic approach to the responsibility of student learning. The magazine focuses on the effective collaborative efforts among faculty, academic affairs, and student affairs administrators that foster the learning and development of students. "In a sense, the development of this journal is an indication of a great national interest in improving student learning and building community, much like we are experiencing at Bowling Green," Dr. King said. The American College Personnel Association (ACPA) sponsors the publication of About Campus. For subscription information contact Dr. King (pking@bgnet.bgsu.edu).

What happens at your college or university when candidates come to interview for faculty positions? Do they give a presentation on their research? Do they meet everybody who's anything and hear lots of hype about the community? Do they teach a class and/or meet with students?

The questions should get us thinking about how we assess the instructional competence and potential of candidates at the interview stage. Do we do enough, or all that we could do? In most cases the answer is no, even at institutions committed to instructional missions. Most of the time we are far more concerned with candidates' content competence than their instructional prowess.

We got to thinking about this issue when we came across a list of questions that Miami-Dade Community College faculty answer when they prepare teaching portfolios which are used to assess them for advancement.* They must include a narrative in which the following questions are addressed: What challenging [instructional] goals have I set for myself, and what progress have I made toward attaining them?

• How do I motivate students ... ?

• How do I interact positively with colleagues and students?

• How do I create a climate conducive for learning?

• How do I update my own knowledge, professional skills, and resources to make my instruction ... meaningful (professional growth activities)?

• How do I meet or support the individual learning needs of students?

• What information do I have that shows my students' achievement or effectiveness of my service?

For some of us, a set of questions like this just whets the appetite for other important questions about teaching and learning. Some additional ideas are listed below.

• How do you assess student learning, and what is your justification for these approaches?

• What do you consider the key elements of successful course design?

• Describe your favorite assignment and explain the educational rationale behind it?

• What's the most influential source you've read on teaching and/or learning?

• How do (or would) you deal with classrooms where students typically fall into one of two groups: those very well prepared or those hardly prepared at all?

• How do you promote academic integrity in your course?

• If you meet a student five years after that student has taken your course, what would you like the student to remember about your course? Can you identify some specific aspects of your instruction that help to ensure this is what a student remembers?

What about mailing some subset of these questions to candidates who have been invited to campus and telling them that, in addition to a presentation on their scholarly interests (or in lieu of such a presentation), they will do a presentation during which they will address these questions?

Or perhaps the candidate could be invited to write a short paper that addresses some instructional questions. The paper could be submitted and circulated before the visit, so that it could be a topic of discussion and dialog during the visit.

No, answers to questions like these aren't easy or obvious. They will cause candidates some discomfort, but most already sweat their research presentations. Why should they think their colleagues' expectations with respect to instruction are anything less--especially at a place where most of their time will be spent teaching?

*-Note: Article written by Maryellen Weimer (article not reprinted in its entirety).

*Reference: Teaching/Learning Project, 1993, Miami-Dade Community College as reported in Wolverton, M. (1996). Teaching portfolios: The experience at Miami-Dade Community College. The Journal of General Education, 45 (4), 295-305.

Reprinted from The Teaching Professor (August 1997) by permission from Magna Publications (800-433-0499)

Articles and excerpts published in The Student Learner in Focus are occasionally reproduced from The Teaching Professor by permission from Magna Publications. A copy of The Teaching Professor is available in each academic unit for use by all faculty, graduate students, staff, and administrators. The Teaching Professor is published monthly, except July and August by Magna Publications, Inc., 2718 Dryden Dr., Madison, WI 53704-3086.

The Student Learner in Focus is a newsletter published by the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. The newsletter serves to inform the academic community at Bowling Green State University of new and innovative learning strategies at the programmatic and classroom levels. The Student Learner in Focus also summarizes ongoing assessment programs on campus.
Comments, suggestions, and questions are welcome and may be directed to Dr. Steven Russell, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Education and Human Development at 372-7401

Editor : Steven C. Russell
Associate Editor : Leigh M. Hayes

Return to other issues of The Student Learner in Focus

Return to BGSU Assessment Central Homepage