Final Posting

a. What did you learn in the sixth week about your course assessment experiments? This is the posting that I used as the Cat called electronic mail feedback: “This posting is a bit different and I will value your honest responses. It is part of obtaining assessment information about the internship in order to make changes in the future so it can be the best possible experience for future students. What can Dr. Lidstone, Mrs. Jarriel, and I do now to help students find internships; to make the posting assignments more useful; to enhance the learning experiences within the internship (postings, presentations, projects, portfolios, etc.)?

Knowing what you know now, at the half-way point in your internship, if you were hired to do this job, what would you do to help students find internships; what would you do to make the posting assignments more useful; what would you do to make the learning experiences more meaningful; and in general how would you make the internship a better experience for future students?
I only have on response so far and as I feared, it was not very helpful. Very generic, mainly said did not like the request to respond to other student’s postings. I’m open to feedback on how to make this more effective. Of course there will be the course SALG so that will help.
b. Talk about two or three strategies you are going to try to accomplish to help your peers/department/program to begin infusing classroom assessment techniques (one-to-one conference, presentation, workshop, publication). I want to meet with my Health Education colleagues who teach in CHHS area and talk about assessment strategies and potential changes in courses and in the program. I have to write a CPR report (Continuous Program Review) and the assessment data and outcomes that I compile as I write this will help guide these conversations.
c. What was your one sentence summary about assessment that you shared with your group during the sixth session? “Begin with the end in mind and remember that this applies at the course level, program level, and professional level”.
d. Talk about your self-reflections in planning classroom assessment techniques in other courses you are teaching (maybe in the summer or next fall). What kinds of plans are you beginning to contemplate? What do you want to accomplish in classroom assessment after this semester? I want to add to the concept above, but I had to move to D. so as to not exceed my one sentence. J In UGA’s MPH internship rationale, they show the inputs, outputs (which includes internship), program outcomes, then public health outcomes (based on the benefit of having well-trained professionals bettering the profession and society). Understanding that all the pieces contribute to a much larger outcome is essential. Starting with a class activity in a particular class (did it work, did the students learn what I wanted them to learn, how do I know if that happened) all the way through skills revealed in internships to employer evaluations of our graduates one year and five years after graduation. I would like to use the SALG in more classes and use it as part of my teaching portfolio as one way of having a second measure of teaching evaluation. It is still student feedback but it is customized to the class. Autumn gave a great suggestion to keep track of the SALG results, document course changes, and use it to show future students and supervisors. I also look forward to using some CATS when I have an actual class sitting in front of me.
d. What are the core skills, dispositions, and knowledge sets exhibited by a faculty member who is engaged in learner-centered assessment activities? Very committed to student, program and professional outcomes and will to do the hard work that is required. One who has the foresight to see that their classes are just a branch of the tree of the degree program. When they shut that classroom door, they may have their academic freedom but it does not separate them or give them license to function completely autonomously from helping create the type of student who will be a successful graduate and professional.
f. What do you need to do to be ready for your presentation next week? Writing this posting has helped. I’ll start on a PPT now and see if that feels like the right approach. I keep thinking about analogies but don’t want to get TOO trite. Since Dr. Moore is new to the FDW, I hope to clearly illustrate its potential impact.