Program Evaluation
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Using Canvas New Analytics to see how students are doing in your course.
Having to teach remotely may have left some of us feeling like we are teaching in a vacuum. Without the usual cues that face-to-face teaching provides, it can be difficult to tell whether students are engaging or participating with their course materials. Even if you feel like you have a good sense of how your students are engaging with the course, New Analytics can help confirm these feelings. What is New Analytics? New Analytics is a tool that can track and report student activity within Canvas. Student activity is defined by two data points: Page Views and Participations. The table below shows the difference between the two. How to access New Analytics. You can easily access New Analytics through the course Home Page or from the course navigation menu (if you have set it to…
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Me and Program Evaluation
[social_share/] [social-bio] I genuinely enjoy working as a Program Evaluator because the idea of efficiency and effectiveness genuinely appeal to me. In addition, being an applied and use-oriented person, the ability to use all my theoretical knowledge to help others is extremely fulfilling and appealing. Program evaluation allows for effective resource allocation, documentation of need, improvement of effectiveness and efficiency, test novel small-scale interventions, address political issues and accountability. The different types of program evaluation are mainly about determining whether or not a program is needed, or being implemented as intended or achieving intended outcomes. Needs in the context of program evaluation refers to the needs of the clients or…
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Beauty II: Defining the Big, Bold and Beautiful
[social_share/] [social-bio] By Carolyn Hoessler Getting lost in the beauty of our discipline and sharing it with our students raises the challenge of what to cover within the limited time of our course or program. With all that is beautiful about our discipline, what do we focus on? One approach is to focus on the fundamental perspectives and approaches that define a discipline – the building blocks of a field! These building blocks can be identified and prioritized through several lenses: Celebrating what’s Unique: What makes your discipline unique? What are the key premises, approaches, conceptions, or methodologies not found in other disciplines? What is the unique contribution that…
- Assessment and Evaluation, Curriculum Development, Instructional / Course Design, Instructional Strategies, Program Evaluation, SoTL
Being More Efficient
[social_share/] [social-bio] By Carolyn Hoessler “efficient |iˈfiSHənt| adjective (esp. of a system or machine) achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense (of a person) working in a well-organized and competent way [ in combination ] preventing the wasteful use of a particular resource” –(New Oxford American Dictionary”, 3rd Edition, 2010, Oxford University Press) Efficiency focuses on the level of relevant output achieved relative to the amount of effort. Perhaps it is like the phrase “Work better, not harder” or “lift smarter, not harder”. So what does being efficient mean for teaching? What does being efficient mean for curriculum renewal? Set your goals: Focus energy on the…
- Academic Integrity, Assessment and Evaluation, Curriculum Development, General, Instructional / Course Design, Instructional Strategies, Program Evaluation
The Academic Honesty Bonus: Another Advantage of an Aligned Curriculum
[social-bio] In my role as a Curriculum Development Specialist, I get to talk with faculty about their programs and the many reasons to examine and renew curricula in higher education. In recent months, another advantage to an aligned curriculum has come to mind for me: academic honesty. I posit that the three following relationships hold generally true, and promote academic honesty among students. When faculty alert students to the progressive nature of the curriculum and convey to students how what they are learning now prepares them for, not only life after graduation but for future courses, students can better recognize the benefit of deep learning. For example, students can come…
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Is the Unexamined Program Really Worth Offering?
[social-bio] As we are being invited to take a vigorous look at the programs we are offering, I can’t help but wonder, haven’t we always been doing that? I mean, really, in this information age with new perspectives and burgeoning bags of “what we know” bursting at the seams on every possible topic, can we actually NOT be refreshing our program content annually at the very least? What was known last month is different than what we know this month! “Truth” is being regularly being rediscovered. Do you remember when the brontosaurus went the way of the dinosaur (so to speak) to be replaced by the new “truth” of the…
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What is CAT 1.0?
[social-bio] By Carolyn Hoessler So what is “CAT” beyond our nickname for our Curriculum Alignment Tool? It is an online software for academic programs and instructors to fill in information about your courses, connect those courses within a program, and review what you are teaching your students. Designed as one approach to gathering data about programs, CAT fits into the inventory stage of the curriculum renewal cycle (see Susan & Sheryl’s dynamic video or diagram ). Focusing on an instructor’s approach to their course, CAT asks about instructional strategies, assessment methods and timing, course outcomes and connection with program outcomes. CAT is particularly good at displaying trends and allowing for…
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Developing CAT 1.0
[social-bio] By Carolyn Hoessler When I first arrived at the GMCTE one of the first curriculum development projects I got involved in was the curriculum inventory tool. Initially called Currimap, it was in its initial feedback and trial stages and still growing: over the next few months, feedback from colleagues and faculty led to additional capabilities, refinements and flexibility being built into the code by our programmer. This fall we were pleased to launch our Curriculum Alignment Tool (CAT) 1.0. CAT is now an open-source resource available for those on our campus, and also with the code available for other institutions. Throughout CAT’s development we have strived to balance…
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Why Program Goals?
[social-bio] I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch this short video about the importance of goals as the foundation for the architecture of your programs. If you have any questions about program goals—or house renovations—let’s be in touch.