Engl 101 beginning of semester oa for instructors
- 1. ENGLISH 101 OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT PROCESS FOR INSTRUCTORS BEGINNING-OF-SEMESTER
- 2. WHAT IS • Outcomes assessment (OA) is the process assesses student writing at the end of each semester to determine if students have met the course outcomes. • The OA process applies to all students in ENGL 101, and the students must pass the OA process in order to pass the course. • English faculty at CWI collaborate to design the OA essay prompt for each semester, which is typically argument essay, 4-6 pages not including Works Cited. • The OA essay will be the last of four essays taught during each semester. Note that the OA is counted in the total page requirement: at least 16 pages for 101. • Each student’s essay is assessed anonymously by 1-2 CWI English instructors other than their own. • Essays that do not pass the initial reading are flagged for portfolio review, where all the student’s major essays are assessed by at least two English instructors to determine if they have met the outcomes.
- 3. HOW DOES • The OA essay is taught like any other essay, including drafting, peer review, Writing Center consults, etc. • The OA counts toward the student’s grade, but instructors will not provide grades on OA essays until the process is complete. • Students who pass the OA process are eligible for the grade they earned in the course, which is determined by the instructor. • Students who do not pass the OA process but finished the course are assigned a final grade of “NC” (No Credit) and will repeat ENGL 101 (and 100, if applicable). • The “NC” does not impact a student’s grade point average.
- 4. BY WEEKS 11/12 Distribute the OA assignment to students WEEKS 11/12-WEEK 14 Students read, draft, and revise OA essays WED/THURS OF WEEK 14 Students submit OA essays. WED-WED OF WEEKS 14-15: Read and assess OA essays online and communicate results to students BY THURS OF WEEK 15: Gather portfolios for students flagged for review. Some instructors collect portfolios from all students, but this is not required. FRIDAY OF WEEK 15: Attend portfolio review; all 101 instructors are required to attend WEEK 16 (FINALS WEEK): Many instructors use this time to hold final conferences, reflect with students, return portfolios, and/or have a class celebration. WEEKS 3-4 Review the Student Outcomes PPT with classes. Post the OA prompt for students at any time. OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT TIMELINE Weeks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 BY TUES OF WEEK 14 Enter P/NP recommendations for students based on their work in the course so far.
- 5. BEGINNING-OF-SEMESTER OA CHECKLIST 1. Post the ENGL 101 Course Outcomes and OA Policy Statement in your course syllabus* 2. Consult the PRODEV: Department of English Blackboard site for that semester’s OA due dates and prompt. 3. Plan your course schedule to teach the OA essay, which should be a minimum of two weeks before the due date. We recommend at least three weeks. 4. Plan to cancel the first class session of Week 15 to allow yourself time to read OA essays (optional but recommended). 5. Add the English 101 Portfolio Review date to your personal calendar and plan to attend (typically 10 a.m.-2 p.m. the Friday of Week 15. *See Appendices A & B for language, or visit the PRODEV: Department of English organization on Blackboard for the ENGL 101 Curriculum Guide
- 6. Remind students to keep everything. • Students need to keep copies of all draft work to be included in the For online sections, one earlier draft is sufficient. • Remind students regularly and consider putting a statement about it in your syllabus. PORTFOLIOS AVOID SURPRISES AT PORTFOLIO REVIEW
- 7. AVOID SURPRISES AT PORTFOLIO REVIEW 1. Ensure that the major essays are worth enough of the total grade • If the essays are not worth enough, students could fail the essays (which would cause them to fail portfolio review) yet still have a passing grade for the course • Students could potentially do grade appeals • Avoid awarding too many points for anything besides the essays (quizzes, discussion, participation) • Make the essays worth roughly 80% of the total grade
- 8. 2. Provide a clear evaluation scale for all major essay assignments and provide clear feedback. • If you do not use traditional grades, at the least, students should know if an essay is not proficient/failing. • Check for understanding about grades with students regularly. • Telepathy doesn’t work. The instructor understanding a paper is failing does not equal the student understanding a paper is failing. • Some students have been confused when they fail portfolio review because they their essays were passing due to unclear evaluations from the instructor. • Students could have potentially done necessary revision if they knew they weren’t passing. AVOID SURPRISES AT PORTFOLIO REVIEW
- 9. AVOID SURPRISES AT PORTFOLIO REVIEW 3. Beware of the generous or sympathetic “C” • Students expect a grade of C or higher to indicate the paper would pass at portfolio review • The generous C may mislead the student and cause major problems if the portfolio fails • Assess the writing itself rather than the student’s potential, progress, or effort.
- 10. QUESTIONS? If you have any questions about preparing for outcomes assessment, please feel free to contact your dual credit liaison, faculty point-of-contact, or the composition coordinator, Meagan Newberry, at meagannewberry@cwi.edu
- 11. APPENDIX A: ENGL 101 COURSE OUTCOMES 1. Write thesis-driven, analytic essays for an academic audience. 2. Demonstrate rhetorical awareness through use of structure, paragraphing, voice, and tone. 3. Evaluate, analyze, synthesize own ideas and the ideas of others. 4. Read critically for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating. 5. Make basic but effective use of sources in an academic documentation format, including in-text citation and a bibliography. 6. Develop flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proof-reading. 7. Demonstrate awareness of grammar and usage conventions in academic writing. 8. Demonstrate basic computer literacy skills 9. Learn to critique own and others’ works.
- 12. APPENDIX B: OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT POLICY STATEMENT Policy Statement on English Department Outcomes Assessment Outcomes assessment is a departmental process that determines whether students pass English 101, while ensuring that each student’s work is fairly reviewed. Here’s how it works: By the fifteenth week of a semester, composition instructors have evaluated enough student work to confidently recommend that a student pass the class or repeat it. Instructors indicate their recommendations as either “P” (Proficient) or “NP” (Not Proficient). In both situations, students will be able to participate in the Outcomes Assessment process. In some instances, however, students may be ineligible to participate because of excessive absences, incomplete work, or plagiarism; these students must repeat the course. The Outcomes Assessment (OA) Essay To verify instructors’ recommendations, all students enrolled in English 101 are given a common essay assignment. This essay is graded by the instructor and counts towards the course grade, and it also submitted anonymously online for OA review. The CWI English Department uses the OA essay to assess student proficiency across sections. OA Essay Evaluation and Portfolio Review Each essay is evaluated by two readers, neither of whom is the writer’s instructor; readers assess each paper as “P” (Proficient) or “NP” (Not Proficient). If an instructor recommends a student as P and at least one reader agrees with that recommendation, the student is eligible to pass the class. If an instructor recommends a student as NP and at least one reader agrees with that recommendation, the student must repeat the course. If the assessment of both readers conflicts with an instructor’s recommendation, the student’s portfolio will be assessed during the portfolio review process. Students and/or instructors compile a complete portfolio (a folder containing the prewriting, draft, and revised versions of all of the essays they have written during the semester). Portfolio review readers assess folders as P or NP. If two review readers assess a folder as P, the student is eligible to pass the class just as if they had passed the initial OA essay reading. If two review readers assess a folder as NP, the student must repeat the course. A portfolio with a P and NP will be given to a third deciding reader.