Share your passion for teaching, learning, assessment, and providing a quality student experience. We are looking for engaging, informative, and all around terrific presentations on research, best practices, insightful teaching and learning experiences, or innovative assessment methods that speak to academic quality as a driver of assessment. If you have any questions about submitting a proposal, please send an email to Jenell Fritz at jrf99@drexel.edu
Diversity and inclusion
This theme invites contributors to present research and practice on assessment related to tackling aspects of diversity in higher education. It will include investigations into the equality implications of assessment practices and the development of effective inclusion shaped or influenced by assessment.
Pandemic Successes in Higher Education
Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic we have discussed at length challenges we faced and the adversity we have had to overcome. Now, as we start to see glimmers of a light at the end of the tunnel it is important that we discuss successes in regarding assessment and accreditation. How have our challenges been the catalyst for innovation and purposeful change?
Leveraging the Power of Technology
We have all been privy to conversations where we hear “that’s just the way it has always been and that’s the way we are going to keep doing things.” While this is an archaic concept, it is one many of us have heard time and time again in higher education. Technology, in its most basic form, aims to dismantle that old adage. Whether we use a robust assessment management system or have found streamlined ways to visualize data in Excel, technology in all its forms is something that should be embraced for assessment and higher education professionals. How have you leveraged technology to complete a project, present data, to create more streamlined processes that have contributed to the assessment process and closing that loop?
Effectively Engaging with Students
The field of assessment and accreditation isn’t one in which we necessarily have direct contact with students. However, our work is vital for their sustained success. They may never meet us or know who we are but the work we do in the background is inherently student centric. We may think we know what’s best for our students but until we meet them and/or have a conversation with them about their experiences (course evaluation, direct assessments, etc) we are never going to obtain the full depth and breath on a particular topic. Sure, surveys like NSSE aim to solicit student experiences on a broad level but not every institution uses that tool. What methods have you used at your institution to garner effective student engagement beyond the typical senior exit survey or student satisfaction survey?
Accreditation
This theme views accreditation as being transformed from a valued private-sector process—over which the federal government historically has exercised limited control—to a process that is subject to more and more federal involvement. What are the implications of this shift for faculty? For administration? For students? Are institutions experiencing a loss of appropriate authority and responsibility for key academic decisions—that is, judgments about curriculum, academic standards, and general education? Accreditation is a creation of colleges and universities that dates back more than a century. Its fundamental purposes are quality assurance and quality improvement in higher education. A process of self-regulation through peer and professional review, it is the oldest such system in the world. But, are the core academic values on which accreditation is built and in which faculty members invest at risk as the federal government role expands?
Culturally Responsive Assessment
This theme recognizes the critical need to develop culturally responsive assessments to account for differences in students’ cultural identities by being culturally sensitive, culturally relevant, culturally responsive and culturally sustaining while mitigating negative effects of the vestiges of institutional and systemic racism and to measure students’ learning systematically and reflexively. Contributors may connect current pedagogical practices and policies with culturally responsive assessment procedures and promote ways in which diverse cultures can be honored and explored in educational spaces. It also invites research that aligns culturally sustaining pedagogies, decolonized and anti-racist teaching and leadership practices, the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Framework, and Mind, Brain, and Education Science with culturally responsive assessment practices.
Presentation title: Create a catchy title that accurately reflects the assessment teaching/learning focus of your presentation and that makes the reader want to learn more. [15 word maximum]
Identification of all presenters: Full contact information includes name, title, address, telephone, and email address; only one presenter permitted for snapshot sessions.
Biography: For the primary presenter describe relevance of her/his expertise to the presentation topic [100-word maximum]
Proposal Abstract: Answer the three questions below to build your proposal abstract. If accepted, this will be used in the conference program.
- Description: What is your session about? [50 word maximum]
- Currency: Why does this content matter? [50 word maximum]
- Relevance: How will this session improve attendee's day-to-day work lives? [50 word maximum]
Additional Information: If you need more space to augment your proposal answers with more information, data, or references
Session Learning Outcomes [Two]: Articulate two most important outcomes that describe what audience members will gain, not what you want to tell them. What strategies, tools and knowledge are included in these outcomes?
Session Structure: What types of things will be occur in your presentation. Please list them and the time that will be devoted to them. What are the opportunities for active learning and participant interaction?
- Example:
- Discussion: 15 min
- Learning activity: 20 min
- Group discussion: 15 min
- Closing: 10 min
Learning Activity: Will you have a hands on activity that the participants will engage in? Please describe what it is and how it fits in to the success of your presentation.
The audience level is determined by the person(s) designing the presentation. The determination is based on the amount and level of information as well as the pace at which the information will be presented.
Beginner Sessions have the following criteria:
- For individuals with limited or no prior knowledge or experience
- Helps individuals learn about assessment
- For individuals new to the field, just learning or starting out
- For individuals seeking to learn the fundamentals about assessment/teaching/learning
Intermediate Sessions have the following criteria:
- For individuals who have some knowledge of assessment/teaching/learning
- For individuals with experience in assessment/teaching/learning
- For individuals who are mid-level in the field with some degree of competence
- For individuals seeking to build on, apply or enhance knowledge in assessment/teaching/learning
Advanced Sessions have the following criteria:
- For individuals with experience and knowledge in assessment/teaching/learning
- For individuals well beyond the beginning and mid-level
- For individuals with greatly developed knowledge and seeking to heighten their knowledge
- For knowledgeable individuals seeking to move ahead in assessment/teaching/learning
- For individuals seeking the most up- to-date knowledge in the field
- For individuals who could be deemed a potential expert in the field
Members of the planning committee will review proposals on responses to the following criteria. Availability of space, presenter mix, presentation type, and topic coverage will be considered. These criteria will be used by the Conference Committee to select sessions for the conference, and you will receive feedback on your proposal based on these criteria.
- Models Effective Teaching: As much as possible, we prefer sessions that model effective teaching. If you are advising people to use technology, use that technology to show us. If you are advising the use of active learning, be sure to tell us how you will use it in your session.
- Achieves Stated Outcomes: In line with our interest in modeling effective teaching, we also want to model achievable learning outcomes. Please be realistic about what your participants and you will achieve in your session.
- Demonstrates Scholarly Teaching: Where possible, include references to scholarship that you believe supports the topic of the proposed session. Sometimes all you will have (and need) is your own experience, but if you can provide bolstering references, please do.
- Enlarges upon Conference Theme: When developing a session, keep the conference theme in mind and work to connect the session to it in some way. Sessions that significantly enlarge upon or illustrate the conference theme will be more appealing to the Conference Committee.
- Provides Value: Always keep in mind the value of your session to the participants. What will they take away from the session? What will they be able to use in their own practice?
- Adheres to Word Count: In order to judge proposals fairly, we ask that you stay under the requested word count. Proposals that go over the requested number of words may be returned to the submitter for revision