Assessment in the Arts & Humanities Workshop

A day of workshops and conversations with Laura Rosenthal and Donna Heiland, editors, Literary Study, Measurement, and the Sublime:  Disciplinary Assessment.

Assessment in the Arts & Humanities I: Why? How? For Whom?

Presentation by Laura Rosenthal,
Professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park

This session focuses on big picture. It begins by discussing the myths about assessment that can get derail the process. Focusing in on the actual demands, history, and politics of doing this work, it also attends to some genuine concerns and controversies. It explores the very different sources for our current focus on assessment: national and state politics on the one hand and concerned professors on the other, with accrediting agencies in the middle and reflecting the concerns of both. Then it moves on to discuss what’s at stake in assessing student learning, and for whom, and how assessment can be integrated into a broader focus on student learning. The morning’s work closes with consideration of the state of the art: what assessment instruments have been developed? How useful are they? What else might be needed?

4.4.14 Assessment Session I PowerPoint–Rosenthal

Laura Rosenthal is a Professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park. She chairs the Committee on Student Learning in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland, and has worked with the Modern Language Association on issues of assessment.

Please note: The sound on this video may be low on some computers; if so, it is helpful to wear headphones while viewing.

Assessment in the Arts & Humanities II: A Workshop in Practice

Presentation by Donna Heiland,
Vice President and Special Assistant to the President at Emerson College

The afternoon session is a workshop designed to help participants design methods for assessing whether their students are achieving their programs’ stated learning goals. It aims to work through a couple of design rounds, with participants presenting the results of their first round of work to others in the workshop, and then revising based on feedback from the group. Sample rubrics and other assessment tools will be available for participants to work with, if they desire. Participants should leave the workshop with a better sense of measurable outcomes and how to follow through with a good assessment practice. We will also discuss ways to “close the loop”; that is, to use assessment projects to generate productive department discussions and bring about systematic change.

4.4.14 Assessment Session II PowerPoint–Heiland

Donna Heiland is Vice President and Special Assistant to the President at Emerson and former Vice President of the Teagle Foundation. She was Associate Professor of English at Vassar before joining Teagle.