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Examples of Assessment by Institution |
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Lawrence University: One of the main goals of the Lawrence Freshman Studies program is to introduce students to the conventions of academic writing. To chart progress toward this goal, the University periodically collects papers written at different points in this two-term course. Faculty are asked to score these papers according to a set of criteria focusing on argumentation, organization, and style. The project has been conducted four times and each time the results helped identify students’ strengths and weaknesses while also creating opportunities for faculty discussion across a wide range of disciplines. Lawrence hopes to use this project as the basis for an ongoing discussion of effective teaching throughout the curriculum.
Individualized learning is another defining feature of the curriculum. Lawrence University recently joined The College of Wooster and Williams College in a two-year project, funded by the Teagle Foundation, to develop and test a method for the formative and summative assessment of tutorial education. Although there is general agreement that tutorials in liberal arts subjects support students’ abilities to think creatively and independently, there are no current methods to assess these outcomes. Lawrence faculty and administrators will develop a shared assessment model for student work at all stages of the tutorial. |
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Lawrence University |
