Posts

Showing posts from December, 2016

Rolling over a course to a new term in Schoology

Image
This is the time of year when I remember how much I forget, the time of year when I am rolling over educational assets in Schoology from one term to the next. I forget and then rediscover that there is a sequence to the work. This article is a broad brush strokes sketch of the process, a set of notes to my future self more than anything else. Start by saving the existing course materials to personal resources from the Materials: Options menu in the pre-existing course. This saves the materials as a folder with resources. My Resources are already set up with separate folders for each subject, I put the new resources folder inside the appropriate existing subject area folder. Next I spawn a new section using Courses: See All: Add Section. The next step is to set term from the Gradebook: Grade setup: Grading Periods & Final Weights by clicking on the Edit button to the right of this section. I often forget to set the term first, and the result is that when I popul

Assessing Learning in Ethnobotany

Image
SC/SS 115 Ethnobotany proposes* to serve four program learning outcomes through three course level outcomes. The course serves learning outcomes in general education, the Micronesian studies program, and the Agriculture and Natural Resources program. PLO SC/SS 115 CLO GE 3.4 Define and explain scientific concepts, principles, and theories of a field of science. 1. Identify local plants, their reproductive strategies, and morphology. GE 4.2 Demonstrate knowledge of the cultural issues of a person’s own culture and other cultures. MSP 2 Demonstrate proficiency in the geographical, historical, and cultural literacy of the Micronesian region. 2. Communicate and describe the cultural use of local plants for healing, as food, as raw materials, and in traditional social contexts. ANR 2 Demonstrate basic competencies in the management of land resources and food production. 3. Demonstrate basic field work competencies related to management of culturally useful plant res

Of course outlines, outcomes, and assessment strategies

Image
There has been some dialog surrounding whether specifying specific course level assessment strategies for student learning outcomes on collegiate course outlines overly constrains instructor flexibility in the classroom. Some instructors have noted that given differences in teaching and learning styles in a campus system that spans four islands and even more languages and cultures, the ways in which the learning outcomes are assessed are likely to differ. The learning achieved will be the same, but the manner of measuring that learning ought be permitted to vary. A portion of the SC 130 Physical Science outline Relationship among institutional, program, course, and specific learning outcomes for SC 130 While outlines have in some cases only listed a single method of assessment, the assessment tracking systems in place can handle multiple assessment methods for each learning outcome. In SC 130 Physical Science there would be a number of different ways an instructor could c

Affective domain feedback in ethnobotany

Image
SC/SS 115 Ethnobotany studies the plants people use and how people use those plants. While ethnobotany courses at some institutions target third year collegiate students who have completed biology and botany courses, SC/SS 115 is an open non-laboratory science/social science elective targeting the general education core with no pre-requisites. The course teaches botanic diversity alongside cultural uses of ethnobotanically useful plants. An equitable mix of the natural science of floral diversity and the social science of the use of plants by people is the foundation for the SC/SS moniker. Although the national campus serves all four states of the Federated States of Micronesia, the national campus has a larger proportion of students from the island on which the national campus is located, Pohnpei. The class enrollment reflects the location of the class as being on Pohnpei. The students make their own first language choices as reflected in the local names by which they identify p

Assessing communication skills in physical science

Image
Since 2013 the SC 130 Physical Science proposed outline * has included a fourth course level learning outcome that focuses on general education program learning outcome: 1.1 Write a clear, well-organized paper using documentation and quantitative tools when appropriate This general education program learning outcome in turn serves institutional learning outcome two: ILO 2. Effective written communication: development and expression of ideas in writing through work in many genres and styles, utilizing different writing technologies, and mixing texts, data, and images through iterative experiences across the curriculum.  This term the written assessment option in Nuventive TracDat had a second evaluation method option added to permit rubrics that directly measure the specific student learning outcomes that support course learning outcome four: Written Assignment [CSLO_4 2013]  Option one : Improvement in core writing skills which underpin basic written communication ski

Assessing Learning in Physical Science

Image
SC 130 Physical Science proposes to serve two institutional learning outcomes (ILO) through four general education program learning outcomes (GE PLO) addressed by four course level student learning outcomes (CLO). Not listed are proposed specific student learning outcomes that in turn serve the course level learning outcomes.  This report assesses learning under the proposed course level learning outcomes which in turn supports program and institutional learning outcomes. ILO 8 . Quantitative Reasoning: ability to reason and solve quantitative problems from a wide array of authentic contexts and everyday life situations; comprehends and can create sophisticated arguments supported by quantitative evidence and can clearly communicate those arguments in a variety of formats. GE PLO SC 130 CLO 3.5 Perform experiments that use scientific methods as part of the inquiry process. 1. Explore physical science systems through experimentally based laboratories using scientifi