Want to learn about what Fellows accomplished and learned through the assessment project this semester? Come join the Showcase Session on May 3rd (Th) 12:00-1:30 at 117/127 Dwinelle Hall (Acadmic Innovation Studio).
12:00--12:05: Welcome
12:05-1:15: Lightning Talks
12:05---12:25:
- Desiree Valadares (Architecture) Project site: American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Program, Project mentors: Victoria Robinson (Director, American Cultures Center) and Andrea Wise (Associate Director, Public Service Center)
The project aimed to determine if the American Cultures Engaged Scholarship (ACES) courses and pedagogy fit into select departments' curriculum goals, such as in the School of Public Health, College of Natural Resources and the College of Environmental Design which have previously established departmental service learning goals and a strong commitment to engaged scholarship. This suitability assessment was accomplished by extracting course outcomes and department learning outcomes from existing syllabi. Additional qualitative data analysis involved coding of 2015 focus group data, faculty oral histories and an evaluation of two AC/ACES foundational papers which outline past achievements and future goals for expansion of the program.
- Ryan Ikeda (Rhetoric & New Media) Project site: Berkeley Center for New Media, Project mentor: Lara Wolfe (Program Officer, Berkeley Center for New Media)
The project was designed to clarify the educational mission, research contributions, and public impact of the Berkeley Center for New Media. To meet these objectives, we conducted an inductive analysis, including a) faculty interviews to clarify stakeholder interest, engagement, and enthusiasm; b) a faculty survey aimed at clarifying our aggregated research contributions and target growth areas; c) an undergraduate survey to clarify demographics of students enrolled in BCNM electives and our certificate program; d) a graduate student focus group and survey to measure correspondence of student experience to learning outcomes; e) quantified all BCNM, BCNM-affiliated,and BCNM-sponsored public events for the last 3 years; and f) designed a set of “recommended discussions” for BCNM leadership to consider based upon all three stakeholder responses.
- Danielle Poreh (Mechanical Engineering) Project site: Berkeley Certificate in Design Innovation, Project mentor: Dr. Sara Beckman (Teaching Professor, Mechanical Engineering, School of Business)To better understand what students are expected to gain from the Berkeley Certificate in Design Innovation, the following four steps were taken this semester: (a) Gathered course information (syllabus and learning outcomes) for all 50 approved courses; (b) revamped program-level learning outcomes; (c) mapped the relationship between individual courses and the program level learning outcomes; and (d) streamlined student forms to track student expectations/outcomes before, during, and after the certificate. Based on this work, we will explore courses that aren't a good fit and consider where we might introduce different courses to supplement specific learning outcomes.
12:25---12:50:
- Ignacio Escalante Meza (ESPM) Project site: College of Natural Resources, Undergraduate Advising, Project mentors: Rebecca Sablo (Assistant Dean, CNR Instruction & Student Affairs) and Dr. Lynn Huntsinger (ESPM)
Last year, virtual Golden Bear Advising (GBA) replaced the in-person one-on-one advising for incoming students. Through student survey assessment, the College of Natural Resources (CNR) advising staff identified the challenges of this transition, and outlined the need to improve in the areas of information sharing, skill building, and preparation of a class schedule. This project supported CNR’s advising staff by (1) gathering information from students, (2) reviewing the content and presentation of the GBA CNR’s module, (3) suggesting changes and (4) articulating student learning outcomes for the module.
- David Bratt (East Asian Languages and Literature) & Enrique Valencia Lopez (Graduate School of Education) Project site: Discovery Experience Initiative, VCUE/VCR/EVCP, Project mentors: Amber Machamer (Director, OPA), Audrey Thomas (Research Analyst, OPA), Leslie Rae Harlson (Project manager, VCUE), and Yukiko Watanabe (Senior consultant, CTL) By 2020, the campus is aiming at “all” undergraduate students to have an experience that challenges students to question, design, implement, and iterate toward a thoughtful and creative culminating product. Toward that goal, a campus survey was administered to understand discovery learning outcomes and types in different disciplines, to identify what discovery learning courses departments have in place, and to estimate students' current level of discovery learning engagement across campus.
- Landon Reitz (German) Project site: German, Project mentor: Deniz Göktürk (Department Chair, German)In preparation for the department’s upcoming review, a cross-course analysis of the undergraduate curriculum was conducted in order to articulate the program’s student learning goals. A curriculum map was designed to visualize current vertical and horizontal curricular alignment and to locate the strengths and weaknesses of the current model, especially in the transitions from language learning classes to introductory courses and to upper-division seminars. Finally, a capstone requirement was designed to help students achieve mastery of the program-level learning goals.
12:50---1:20:
- Matty Lichtenstein (Sociology) Project site: Law School, Project mentor: Molly Van Houweling (Associate Dean, Law) & Kristen Holmquist (Director of Experiential Education, Law)This project seeks to create a JD curriculum map to identify where in our curriculum each of our varied Experiential Education learning outcomes is taught and assessed. We will gather all available materials related to experiential education simulation courses, including syllabi, course catalog descriptions, and curriculum planner guides, for a comprehensive review. This will allow us to to assess competencies and substantive areas taught in each one, while revealing gaps within the curriculum. We will then compare findings to at least one peer institution to ensure that the courses are obtaining educational goals, and map all relevant courses in a curriculum map that will help project stakeholders learn more about what skills and knowledge Berkeley Law students need in order to successfully launch a variety of law-related careers.
- Taiji Wang (Public Health) Project site: Public Health, Project mentor: Deborah Barnett (Director of Online Pedagogy, Public Health)
The School of Public Health has made a few OOMPH (online) courses available for residential MPH students. The project aims to better inform residential students with information for deciding and choosing an online course over a residential course, streamline registration process, and inform the stakeholders including EPCC, FAC, and SARG Committees by answering the following: How do we identify synergies between and across graduate courses? How can we streamline course offerings moving forward?
- Justine Chia & Mark Stepaniak (MCB) Project site: Molecular & Cell Biology, Project mentor: Abby Dernburg (Chair of Undergraduate Affairs Committee, Molecular & Cell Biology)
The Department of Molecular & Cell Biology is taking a holistic look at the required courses in CDB and GGD majors. We will determine whether the course content and expectations are consistent from semester to semester, specifically for MCB 104. We will identify gaps and redundancies in the course progression from Bio1A to MCB104, and determine whether the content promotes mastery of important skills and concepts, and ultimately aligns with the program learning outcomes.
- Padmini Parthasarathy (Journalism) Project site: Journalism, Project mentor: Roia Ferrazares (Assistant Dean, Journalism)
In 2017, the School of Journalism identified the core competencies a Master’s student can expect to leave the program with. Using this framework, we seek to identify which skills are over and under - emphasized in the course progression. Ideally, this will give instructors a bird’s eye view of their media “track” as well as insights that will allow them to refine their syllabi. The project focuses on the Narrative Writing track, with the intention of creating a model for future assessment researchers to follow for Audio, Documentary, Video, and New Media tracks. The project will also include an update of the “course map” for the required introductory classes, enabling instructors to understand which skills are emphasized and which could be better incorporated into the introductory courses.