Conference on Writing; Presentation on Assessment

Another conference has come and gone! This one was the TYCA (Two-Year College English Association) Northeast Conference in Boston, Nov. 13, 14. Once again several of us from QVCC (Brian Kaufman and myself this time, with video input from Mark Szantyr) shared a presentation/discussion about collaborations in assessment of writing across the curriculum. Our presentation was based on the ongoing process we are cultivating at QVCC, to develop a systematic, consistent, and 'evidence rich' approach to learning assessment in general, with a current emphasis on assessment of writing where and when it happens.

At QVCC we have been cultivating learning-assessment as an institutionally supported, faculty defined practice that

1)defines the outcomes and standards of learning
2)makes explicit where these are meant to appear throughout the curriculum
3)uses these to assess actual student learning as it is demonstrated and achieved
4)gathers the resulting assessed evidence
5)uses that evidence to improve teaching, learning at all levels of practice.

In the process, we are clearly engaged in a multi-faceted, multi-leveled process of culture change that is no easy, quick matter of adopting a new technique or a new research approach.