ULO Scholars Program
Assessment is only as good as the conversations it generates.
From the Academic Senate Assessment Committee
Call for 2023 ULO Scholars
All faculty (part-time and full-time lecturers and tenure line) are invited to support student achievement of CSUMB’s Undergraduate Learning Outcomes (ULOs) by applying to be a ULO Scholar and contributing to one or more of the funded projects described below.
Each project will consist of two parts.
- A fall 2023 cooperative (meets for 1 - 2 hours approximately 6 times over the semester).
- A work group that will study student work to inform assignment design, pedagogy, and professional development (meets for 2 - 3 consecutive days in summer, fall, or winter/spring).
Meeting dates and times will be determined by the facilitators and ULO Scholars.
Faculty can apply to either or both activities and faculty can apply and participate in more than one project.
ULO Scholars will receive $300 for participating in the the spring teaching cooperative and $300/day for participating in the study of student work.
Background information
- CSUMB undergraduate and graduate learning outcomes
- Holistic alignment
- ULO assignment guides, rubrics, and threshold concepts
- Using assessment results
- CSUMB assessment philosophy & practice
2023 ULO projects & descriptions
Up to 6 faculty members will be accepted per project.
GE Area A1 Oral Communication Cooperative
Facilitators: Lee Ritscher
Continuing our discussion regarding best teaching practices for the newly developed A1 course, we will reflect on the winter OC assessment results to help guide such practices. The group will also create an assessment question for next winter.
GE Area A2 Writing Assessment Cooperative
Facilitator: Nelson Graff
Building on our investigation of information literacy and diverse epistemologies in the fall, we want to focus this spring on exploring how practices supporting equity show up in A2 courses around the university. We plan to focus on instructional materials in the spring and student work in the summer.
GE Area A3 Critical Thinking Cooperative
Facilitators: Patrick Belanger
One's understanding of the term "critical thinking" is hugely influenced by discipline and academic background. The coop will focus on eliciting how campus groups use the term differently with the intention of developing an understanding of the similarities and differences in the ways we understand critical thinking. These understandings will be used to develop assessment questions for critical thinking. Developing a "common elements of critical thinking" survey for campus-wide implementation Fall 2020.
Information Literacy Cooperative
Facilitator: Sarah Dahlen
Using the SBS program as a model, we will investigate how students' synthesis of information from sources evolves throughout the two-semester capstone process. We will develop a rubric for assessing synthesis in a more granular way than the existing information literacy rubric and consider ways to support students in their development of this skill.
Quantitative Reasoning Cooperative
Facilitator: Jennifer Clickenbeard
Building on our assessment of courses taken after "B4" we will explore ways to support assessment of QR across the entirety of a program and the university curriculum, such as in GE UD B. We will spend time understanding more deeply how to identify where QR occurs within our curriculum and develop reasonable and approachable assessment options for programs.
Personal, Professional, and Social Responsibility Cooperative
Facilitator: Eric Martin
Come and swim with us in these values-rich, complex concepts. We will be revisiting the current RUBRIC AND ASSIGNMENT GUIDE, based on the most recent approved version of the ULO. The goal is to generate a user-friendly rubric that can then guide subsequent work. We will also develop our THRESHOLD CONCEPTS and prepare for the summer assessment work.
Integrative Knowledge Cooperative
Facilitator: Amanda Pullum
ULO3 Scholars will continue to work on the Recommendations and Next Steps identified from the Summer 2019 Assessment Project. Tasks include: developing IK Flyers to disseminate across campus, develop example assignments for rubric guide prompts, explain level differences on IK rubric, develop IK rubric version specific to 100/200 level courses, create IK Google Survey to align with assignment guide and curricular prompts & to determine where IK is happening in programs
Collective facilitation
Participants in this cooperative will review the 2017 CSUMB Capstone Self-Study and develop strategies for advancing CSUMB’s capstone requirement, particularly with regard to how CSUMB’s ULOs can enhance student achievement of MLOs. This group may interact and have shared members with other ULO project groups.