Alverno College Research Articles

Textbooks on open reserve: A pilot project

Located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Alverno College is a small Catholic liberal arts college for women that features a unique ability-based curriculum and a rigorous tradition of assessment of student learning. The library plays an important role by providing resources and services that support the unique curriculum. Until recently, the collection development policy specified that library resources not include textbooks. However, in an effort to address concerns associated with rising textbook costs, student retention, and students’ inability to purchase materials needed for their coursework, the library altered its policy and established an open reserve textbook collection.

Unlocking Learning

Welcome to the Journal of Management Education (JME) special issue on Assessment in Management Education. We have talked about the importance of this topic for years and are happy to present a special issue to help our readers think critically about the “what, why, and how” of assessment. Assessment is a reality of life for management educators, but the ideal assessment plan can be quite elusive. Historically we can identify both effective and ineffective uses of assessment. For a positive example, we turn to Alverno College (Alverno College Faculty, 1994; Mulvey, 1992). In 1973, Alverno implemented an abilitybased curriculum that employs competency assessment and faculty feedback to assess students’ performance instead of traditional testing. They focused on eight abilities, including critical thinking, social interaction, and communication, that faculty considered the foundation of liberal arts education. Instead of assessing students at the end of the program, Alverno students begin the assessment process as soon as they enroll in the College. Thus, their assessment process is not a single point in time but spans students’ entire college career. In addition, students are assessed on abilities in the context of real-life situations using specified criteria, and then they receive individualized feedback they can use for further development. These assessments are also integrated into course work and tied to a real-world professional work context (e.g., the integrated competence seminar in the middle of each program).

Leadership and Self‐Efficacy: Lessons from Harriet Tubman

Leadership and Self‐Efficacy: Lessons from Harriet Tubman

Life Is Long: Work Hard, Take Risks, Have Fun

Life Is Long: Work Hard, Take Risks, Have Fun

Review of "Measuring college learning responsibly: Ac- countability in a new era"

Shavelson, Richard J. (2010). Measuring college learning responsibly: Accountability in a new era. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Pages: 238. Price: 25.50 CAD (paper).In his book, Measuring college learning responsibly: Accountability in a new era, Shavelson sets out to provide a summary and critical evaluation of creating learning assessment and accountability systems that support the improvement of teaching and learning and at the same time systems that will provide external accountability. He claims that this book presents alternatives to existing methods of learning assessment and accountability systems that aim to significantly improve college teaching and learning and for delivering information to external audiences. He has been developing the ideas for this book with targeted groups such as policy makers in educational, governmental, and public institutions, for almost 20 years. The history of learning assessment and its development is chronologically organized and smoothly transitions into the topic of accountability. A summary of each of the book's chapters follows.In Chapter 1, the policies regarding post-secondary learning assessment are discussed, followed by Chapter 2 where Shavelson explores measuring learning in post-secondary education. In Chapter 3, readers are provided with a history of learning assessment from the 19th century to the present. Here, the author refers the College Learning Assessment (CLA), which he helped to develop. All of chapter 4 is devoted to a more in-depth discussion of CLA. Chapter 5 provides the author calls two exemplary campus assessment- of-learning programs. Here, readers are introduced to these programs along with the post-secondary institutions (Alverno College and Truman College) that host them. The chapter also provides a case study of four universities. Chapters 6 through 10 expand the discussion of the topic of learning assessments and their accountability in post-secondary institutions. Chapter 6 stresses the importance and urgency of increasing the accountability of information in post-secondary institutions. Chapter 7 explains accountability is and as suggested by the chapter title, State Higher Education Accountability and Learning Assessment, Chapter 8 explores state universities and assessment policies. Finally, Chapters 9 and 10 deal with post-secondary institutions' accountability outside of, and within, the United States. Here, the author presents the importance of measurement tools to evaluate teaching effectiveness due to the need for assessing postsecondary institutions' accountabilities.For some time now, there has been a serious need to develop instruments that assess the quality of learning and teaching. However, the questions of who should be held accountable for such developments and how should they be held accountable serve as roadblocks to quality assessment instruments and accountable conductors. We also know that learning is a quality that is intangible. Consequently, parts of learning should be assessed has been a question rather than what learning should be assessed and in ways (p.133). Moreover, those accountability measurement instruments currently available are at times overused and in some cases, deemed as inadequate. Thus, Shavelson takes this historical background as his opportunity to provide some possibilities for previously unanswered questions.The author is considered extremely credible in this field; however, since the author was involved closely with the development of CLA, his vision and opinion regarding CLA could be considered biased. Therefore, additional assessments of CLA would likely add to the assessment of the accountability and validity of the instrument. …

Valuing in Decision-Making Ability: Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Across the Curriculum and Campus Culture at Alverno College

For the past 40 years, Alverno College faculty, staff, and students have collaborated in the creation of an integrated learning and assessment model that requires students to demonstrate, and faculty to assess, eight core abilities: Communication, Analysis, Problem Solving, Valuing in Decision-Making, Social Interaction, Developing a Global Perspective, Effective Citizenship, and Aesthetic Engagement. This article features a description of Alverno’s Valuing in Decision-Making Ability Department, which oversees curricular and co-curricular activities related to the teaching, learning, and assessment of the ability. Another primary focus is to describe and illustrate the valuing ability, how it is defined as a process, how it relies on interdisciplinary collaboration and cooperation for curricular innovation, and how it emphasizes the development of faculty and students as purposeful professionals and community members.

Expeditionary Learning: The Alverno College Teacher Education Model

Many would say that while there are two ways to enter the teaching profession—traditional and alternative—there seems to be a common way to leave it: quickly. Across the board, more than half of be...

Enhancing Group Interactions and Reducing Classroom Cliques

Author Affiliation: Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Correspondence: Alverno College, 3400 S 34th St, Milwaukee, WI 53234 ([email protected]).

Alverno College

AbstractThis chapter provides a glimpse of student affairs assessment at Alverno College including a specific example of assessment, tips to implementing assessment at your institution, and barriers encountered when implementing the process at Alverno College.

Toward a Coherent Curriculum: Teaching and Learning History at Alverno College

Over the years, discussions on teaching American history have generally focused on con tent and teaching methods. Some teachers advocate including more voices in the story; others complain of having to squeeze more content into an already-tight calendar. Using a global framework to teach the American past gets growing emphasis today. Some pro fessors value such a reorientation as an innovative response to globalization; others see it as a distracting add-on that truncates important lessons about key American institutions. Wrapped within these debates are questions of teaching style. To lecture or not? To rely more on primary sources or secondary sources to fashion the story? To give students more hands-on experiential learning or more practice in developing abstract thinking?1 Those fundamental questions about teaching American history can be answered only when we first settle on how (and not what) we want our students to learn. To consider this question requires the historian as teacher to shift away from teaching the topic and toward teaching the student. Such a change does not come easy because many of us teach the way we were taught. In a tradition-bound discipline, graduate courses focus on con tent with little or no pedagogical discourse, and doctoral work remains centered on re search and writing. The classroom serves as a testing ground for our research, students as a captive audience for our findings. What training we have as teachers usually comes hap hazardly We might be fortunate enough to have a teaching mentor, but more often than not we suffer on our own as teaching assistants and adjuncts. Even when as classroom historians we want to be more student centered, the internal demand to publish or perish tamps down the pedagogically adventurous. But accrediting agencies and state depart ments of public instruction continually press for new methods of history teaching that stress inquiry-based learning and for assessment models that go beyond time-honored testing of knowledge. The demand for engaged students and a faculty more attentive to

On following Your Bliss: An Interview with Jane S. Halonen

Jane S. Halonen is the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of West Florida, where she insists on teaching introductory psychology each fall. She was employed in various roles at Alverno College for 17 years and also served for 5 years as the Director of the School of Psychology at James Madison University. Past president of both the Society for the Teaching of Psychology and the Council for the Teachers of Undergraduate Psychology, Jane has been an avid supporter of teaching conferences in the discipline. Her scholarship includes work on critical thinking, assessment, and faculty development. She won the American Psychological Foundation Distinguished Teaching Award in 2000 and was named an “Eminent Woman in Psychology” in 2002. She coordinates the international Improving University Teaching conference and also serves as Chief Reader for the Psychology Advanced Placement exam. Jessica G. Irons is a new assistant professor of psychology at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She earned her BA and MS degrees from Augusta State University where she worked with Dr. Stephen H. Hobbs. She earned her PhD from Auburn University in 2007 where she worked with Dr. Christopher J. Correia studying the interactions of drugs and behavior. Jessica also worked with Dr. Bill Buskist to pursue her research interests in the scholarship of teaching. She has taught introductory psychology, research methods, and drugs and behavior. She earned recognition for her teaching efforts departmentally and campus-wide while at Auburn and won the Wilbert J. McKeachie Teaching Excellence Award in 2007.

Self-Assessment in Pharmacy Education

Self-Assessment in Pharmacy Education

Outstanding Teacher Education Programs: What Do They Have That the others Don't?

TEACHER quality is a central pillar of the No Child Left Behind Act for good reason. Without high-quality teachers, we cannot realize the goal of high achievement for all students. In turn, if preservice teachers do not receive the highest-quality teacher preparation, then we cannot meet the demand for high-quality teachers. Few would argue with this logic, but it does invite the question, How can teacher preparation institutions determine whether their programs effectively prepare graduates to help all students achieve academically? To help answer this question, in 2000 the U.S. Department of Education (ED) established the National Awards Program for Effective Teacher Preparation. The awards are to recognize teacher preparation programs that have compelling evidence of their effectiveness in readying teachers to help all students meet high academic standards. ED also envisioned the awards program as encouraging further discussion of the elements of effective teacher preparation. To that end, the awards specifically require programs to describe how they systematically gather and use a variety of data for monitoring their activities and improving their efforts. Winning programs detailed their size, focus, goals, objectives, components (such as courses and field experiences), and criteria for judging effectiveness. Of the 19 programs that applied for the award in 2000, four were selected: * Alverno College, Elementary Education Program, Milwaukee, Wis. * East Carolina University, Middle Grades Mathematics Program, Greenville, N.C. * Fordham University Graduate School of Education, Initial Teacher Education, Elementary Program, New York, N.Y. * Samford University, Elementary Education Program, Birmingham, Ala. AN OVERVIEW OF THE PROGRAMS Whether part of a large public institution or a small private one, each of these programs has specific structures and processes in place to ensure that it continually improves. The programs share a commitment to monitoring and evaluating their effectiveness, yet each is unique in terms of size, focus, and how its evaluation system evolved. Alverno College. This small private college for women prepares teachers for urban settings. The curriculum focuses on eight abilities (such as communicating effectively through a variety of media or working collaboratively with others), and all of Alverno's programs use performance assessments to determine students' proficiency in these skills. Faculty members across the seven major divisions of the college collaborate on the curriculum, performance assessments, and evaluations. The evaluation system began and continues as part of Alverno's systematic, campuswide improvement efforts. East Carolina University. The award-winning teacher preparation program at this large public institution focuses on preparing middle school mathematics teachers. This program relies on strong collaboration with P-12 partners, and many program graduates teach in rural schools. The program's evaluation system is more highly developed than that of other teacher education programs at the university. Fordham University. Fordham, a relatively large private institution, offers three graduate teacher education programs. The award-winning program prepares teachers for urban settings. Faculty members had a twofold reason for developing the program's evaluation system: not only did they recognize a need for change, but they also wanted to meet accreditation requirements. Samford University. This small private university uses a problem-based curriculum, and its evaluation system, which is in place throughout the university, is built on the principles of total quality management. The school of education developed the Quality Education Comprehensive Assessment Program as its model for planning and evaluation. Faculty members and advisory groups that include candidates, graduates, practitioners, and employers provide input into the planning process. …

Student success in college: creating conditions that matter

Kuh, George D., Kinzie, Jillian, Schuh, John H., Whitt, Elizabeth J., and Associates, 2010. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. $30.00 ISBN: 978-0-470-59909-9Student Success in College: Creating Conditions That Matter offers a closer look into the U.S. system of higher education, seeking to answer the following question: What policies, programs, and practices promote student success? The authors embark on this journey examining a group of 20 four-year colleges and universities (e.g. schools included eight private and 12 public institutions representing 17 different states, with populations ranging from 682 to 23,063 students) that have fostered educational environments where engagement and success have transformed the experiences of enrolled students. For the purpose of this review, we organize our thoughts in the following two sections:Promoting Student SuccessThe book thoroughly describes necessary conditions for student success and provides guidance for how institutions can create those environments. The authors reiterate throughout that the policies and programs described in the book are not unique to these institutions. What sets these 20 institutions apart is that when they design and implement policies and programs, they take serious consideration of their environment (e.g., campus location, setting, student demographics, traditions, history) and make sure that decisions taken align with the mission and vision of the institution. For example, the authors describe in detail how the University of Kansas begins stressing the importance of success to freshmen students during Hawk Week. This weeklong schedule of activities at the beginning of the year teaches incoming students the traditions on campus, and encourages them to become part of those traditions, hence encouraging student success by creating a strong campus community.The authors argue that these schools work to offer opportunities that are tailored to their students, creating a meaningful learning experience centered on engaged and involved students. Among several examples, the authors describe how Evergreen State College (small public liberal arts college) provides affordable childcare to accommodate a large number of students who have dependents. They illustrate how Manchester College (a small private liberal arts college), a school located in a large urban area, has designed its campus around creating an intimate community atmosphere with the use of small buildings and classrooms. They also highlight how Alverno College (a private women's college) connects nursing students with the local Hmong community in Milwaukee, providing crosscultural experiences right at home.Within each of the sections and chapters, the authors achieve a conversational tone that incorporates these rich specific examples, includes commentary by faculty and staff, and provides detailed accounts of how and why the work of these institutions is worth replicating. This approach makes the book personable and provides an encouraging message to schools looking to improve student engagement, satisfaction, and personal development.Lessons Learned:Working with International StudentsA feature defining these schools is that they continuously attempt to develop a campus that offers opportunities for all students to enhance their educational experience. Thus, a question that must be asked is how institutions fulfill the needs of an increasingly diverse student body, especially one that represents a myriad of backgrounds and characteristics? In 2011, the number of international students increased to 723,277 in the United States. As a group, it is argued that international students can bring diverse global perspectives to the classroom, provide a renewed perspective on global education, and open a valuable window for cross-cultural interaction with local students. While these and many other educational benefits are associated with the presence of international students on campus, it is important to remember that international students also confront adjustment challenges (e. …

A Comprehensive Approach to Program Development and Assessment

Abstract Curriculum development for family science programs can be approached in a systematic, thoughtful manner. One approach that can assist us in attaining educational excellence for our students and our program is the Continuous Process Improvement model (CPI). This model was successfully implemented at Alverno College (2003) and Central Missouri State University (Mullin & Grelle, 1994). In each context, the campus culture was transformed to “focus on student learning, explicitly driven by performance-based learning outcomes, integrated by systematic and continuous assessment and feedback” (Mullin & Grelle, 1994, p. 4). In this article, we will illustrate how professionals can use this approach to evaluate family science curriculum, by demonstrating how we used a “quality” process model to assess our own human development and family science program.

Training community-responsive physicians.

The "community-responsive" primary care provider has a population health perspective and is prevention-oriented, culturally competent, collaborative, and an active community leader and patient advocate. To encourage residents to value this level of community involvement and possess the requisite knowledge and skills, St. Luke's family practice residency program has developed a longitudinal community medicine curriculum designed to teach the four domains of physician-community involvement: (1) insight into sociocultural aspects of patient care, (2) familiarity with community health resources, (3) community-oriented primary care skills, and (4) community involvement.(1) Training physicians with the desire and skills to practice in medically underserved communities is a program goal. The three-year community medicine curriculum begins during residency orientation with a windshield survey of the communities served by the campus-related clinics. During the first year, all residents participate in a four-week community medicine rotation. By providing health education and clinical services to diverse populations in community clinics, agencies, and schools, they begin to develop community health-improvement skills, while observing role models, developing advocacy skills, expanding cultural awareness, and experiencing interdisciplinary collaboration. At the end of the first year, residents select a community clinical site, where they will see patients and develop a community health-improvement project during the last two years of training. A required "capstone presentation" describes the scope and nature of each resident's project by focusing on process and outcome measures. Innovative qualitative evaluation tools include a written portfolio of reflections and sequential "video journaling." An attribute-based progression matrix developed by Alverno College was adapted to facilitate serial identification and tracking of resident growth in eight domains: communication, analysis, problem solving, aesthetic responsiveness, global perspectives, valuing in decision making, social interaction, and effective citizenship.(2) Support for this program is provided by HRSA, Wisconsin AHEC, Aurora Health Care, and the medical school. A recent program graduate, now a faculty member, demonstrated the potential for this educational strategy by developing a local "Reach Out and Read" program. Targeting literacy as a factor related to the cycle of poverty and poor health, she implemented an intervention in which residents read with their pediatric patients during each visit and give the child a book to take home. As each residency class implements health-promoting interventions, this longitudinal community medicine residency curriculum will improve community health through "service learning," as well as develop a cadre of young physicians who practice community-responsive clinical medicine and have the skills and confidence to choose to serve underserved populations.

Learning that Lasts: Integrating Learning, Development, and Performance in College and Beyond (review)

Alverno College has long been recognized as an institution serious about learning and assessing learning outcomes. Learning that Lasts tells the multifaceted story of Alverno's twenty-five-year endeavor to understand, foster, and assess student learning. It is simultaneously a report of a comprehensive longitudinal research study of learning through and beyond college, a careful review of literature and practice on learning, and a remarkable story of long-term intensive collaboration among a college faculty in defining learning and crafting a curriculum to achieve it. Each of these facets is explored in great detail throughout the volume, and they are integrated to form a comprehensive model of "learning that lasts." Alverno's credibility in fostering learning that lasts is high: documented learning outcomes indicate that Alverno students and alumna advance in critical thinking, intellectual and moral complexity, and self-evolution in the context of the broader world. Similarly, alumna performance in adult work, civic and personal life show that alumna are self-reflective, act on their values, can take other perspectives, and engage in analytical and collaborative thinking and action.

The Alverno College Experience: A Case With Many Levels of Interpretation

The Alverno College Experience: A Case With Many Levels of Interpretation

Associate Editor's Note

With a quick glance at the Contents page of this issue, readers will note that Virginia Lee offers a review of Learning That Lasts, by Marcia Mentkowski and Associates. As Lee attests, this book is a compelling account of the passion with which Alverno College undertakes its educational endeavors and a revelatory beacon to other institutions that may wish to pursue educational reform.

Assessing Quality in Social Work Education: focus on diversity

ABSTRACT This paper reports on the development and implementation of the ability to Value a Diverse World in an American school of social work. The paper begins with a review of assessment in social work education, and then a framework for assessing learning is presented that builds on the pioneering work done at Alverno College and elsewhere. Prior to developing the diversity ability, faculty identified a set of eight abilities they wanted graduates to have, based on input from 14 stakeholder groups. The ability to Value a Diverse World was selected for implementation first, and a detailed description of the ability was developed which includes six developmental levels and possible assessment activities. Appropriate curriculum revisions were made based on the ability description and implemented in pilot sections of a new course. The paper concludes with a discussion of the impact implementing the diversity ability has had on curriculum and teaching in general.