Graduate Student Assessment Fellows Program (2.0)

Temporarily on Hold

About the Program

Increasingly, conducting program-level assessment and utilizing assessment data to improve teaching, curriculum, and student advising are becoming an integral part of what faculty and higher education professionals are asked to do. The Graduate Student Assessment Fellows Program supplements your graduate preparation by offering opportunities for you to gain training in assessment of undergraduate student learning and evaluation of educational programs on the Berkeley campus. The goal of this Fellowship program is to provide you with opportunities to gain the following knowledge and skills: 

  • In-depth understanding of assessment practices in higher education 
  • Knowledge and strategies to articulate learning outcomes
  • Application of use- and user-driven principles to design and implement program-level assessment 
  • Ability to analyze and interpret qualitative and/or quantitative data 
  • Ability to report assessment data in digestible ways 

These assessment training will be useful for those who will be seeking a position in higher education and also for those who seek employment in any type of educational program.

For the 2019 cohort, we will be tackling on Discovery Learning in undergraduate education, a signature educational initiative as part of UC Berkeley's Strategic Plan. The entire cohort will engage in a project that will contribute to our understanding of what it means to "Discover" in Berkeley undergraduate education; generate reflection prompts and performance indicators to capture Discovery; and validate instruments with freshman to senior students across disciplines. 

Up to 4 Fellows will be selected and will engage in the project from spring 2019 to spring 2020.  

Expectations & Responsibilities

The workload for this Fellowship will be approximately 5 hours per week during semesters for individual and team project work and cohort meetings. 

The Fellows are expected to... 

  • Engage in the Discovery Learning study project from spring 2019 to the end of spring 2020 (excluding summer). Average workload during the semester is 5 hours per week. 
  • Attend ALL workshops and meetings with the Center for Teaching and Learning. Regular weekly meetings will be scheduled based on cohort's semester availability. 
  • Attend faculty group meetings on Discovery (March 6, April 3, May 8: 12--2pm) 
  • Present the project findings and deliverables at the showcase session on December 11th 12--2pm. 

Project tasks you will be engaged in:  

  • PHASE I: DEFINE DISCOVERY LEARNING (February & March): Review of literature on undergraduate discovery learning (Generate literature summaries). Gather learning outcomes, indicators, and assessment instruments from peer institutions. Review of discovery learning definitions from campus survey. Triangulate learning outcomes between campus data and literature. 

  • PHASE II: CREATE PROMPTS AND RUBRIC (April & May): Create a few oral presentation prompts and focus group reflection questions that elicit Discovery Learning. Create a rubric with detailed performance descriptors. Get feedback from faculty. Pilot-test the prompt and rubric with one fora.

  • PHASE III: TEST & REFINE (Fall, 2019): Identify end-of-semester capstone project presentation events/fora. A total of 4-6 fora from humanities, social science, and STEM (Ideally poster or oral presentations where raters can ask questions.). For performance arts, 2-4 focus group reflection sessions will be conducted. Follow up undergraduate students with a short survey for individual insights. 

  • PHASE IV: ANALYZE & REPORT (Spring, 2020): Code and analyze student performances and responses. Refine and generate a prompt and rubric that can be applied/adapted across disciplines. Write up findings as a paper. 

Upon completion of the training and the program-level assessment project, the Fellows will receive…

  • A recognition of completion 
  • $2000 per semester stipend for three semesters 

Eligibility

  • Minimum: 
    • Must have spent at least one full academic semester of graduate studies at UC Berkeley. 
    • Must have at least a 3.0 grade point average and be in good academic standing. 
    • Interest in pursuing a position in higher education (faculty, instructor, student advisor, etc.) or aspiration to pursue a career in education.
  • Desired: 
    • Taken a quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods research methods course
    • Undergraduate teaching experience at Berkeley. 

Those who have fulltime GSI or GSR appointment can also apply as long as they can balance their academic obligations with the program requirements

Application procedures

Please submit your application and send your Curriculum Vitae and unofficial graduate transcript(s)as an attachmentto yukikow@berkeley.edu(with an e-mail subject line: CV+Transcript for Grad Student Assessment Fellowship). 

Application: https://berkeley.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8BxmsP6hTAHT1oV

DUE: January 31st, 2019 

Facilitator

Yukiko Watanabe, Ph.D. is a senior assessment and evaluation consultant at the Center for Teaching and Learning. She has extensive experience researching and designing assessments in higher education. Her mission is to enrich assessment culture, capacity, and practices on the Berkeley campus and beyond.