Assessment and Evaluation of S-L

1. Assessment and Evaluation of S-L Lori Vogelgesang & Adrianna Kezar

2. Purpose for assessment • Improve partnership • Improve learning outcomes • Improve student experience • Understand impact • Understand student or faculty experience • Understand partner perspectives

3. Vision for assessment • Focus is partnership • Focus is school wide • Focus is campus wide • Focus is cross campus comparison • If more local – action based and community based models might be better; also customized tools • If more global – standardized instruments could work better

4. Assessment areas • Partnership • Learning outcomes • Community impact • Faculty and staff or stakeholder outcomes • Higher Education institutional impact • We will focus on two for our presentation

5. Assessment areas- Partnerships • common vision and goals • on–going planning • policies • designated leads and roles • communication • decision-making processes • staffing and resources • Cultural differences

6. Assessment of partnerships – timing and goals • Often done as program unfolds, best not to wait until end • track project implementation efforts • make changes to plans and efforts along the way • understand what went well, what didn’t, and why

7. Assessment of partnership • Sample: http://www.thecoloradotrust.org/repository/initiatives/pdfs/PIH/Evaluation/PHI%20Collaboration%20Survey.pdf

8. Student learning: What are we measuring? • Academic (Content) knowledge • Application of Knowledge • Process: how to navigate a system • Civic engagement within a discipline • Exposure to real-world issues around the academic content • Critical Thinking

9. Conceptualizing Learning Outcomes Knowledge Behaviors Attitudes Beliefs

10. Research and Assessment • Using RESEARCH to guide ASSESSMENT • QUALITY matters for learning • Help students make connections • Understand strengths and limitations of national and more targeted studies • Connect intended goals with the experience you shape for students • Clarity on intended outcome is useful! • Be willing to ‘give up’ some pieces to strengthen others – don’t view SL as an “Add-on”

11. Matching Purpose to Approach • Capturing learning • Challenge of measuring learning and determining causation • Pre-post assessment vs. end-of-course/experience • Using portfolios and other qualitative measures

12. Resources: Assessment • National service learning clearinghouse www.servicelearning.org/ - has library of assessment articles and tools • Corporation for national and community service http://www.nationalservice.org/ • Campus Compact - www.compact.org/

13. Resources: Service-Learning and Civic Engagement International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Civic Engagement (IARSCLE): www.researchslce.org Spencer Foundation initiative on civic learning and civic action: www.spencer.org CIRCLE: www.civicyouth.org

14. Existing instruments – tons of books and websites • Compendium of research tools : http://cart.rmcdenver.com/ • United Way on-line community of assessment - http://www.liveunited.org/outcomes/resources/ • Batenburg, Mark and Denise Clark Pope. The Evaluation Handbook: Practical Tools for Evaluating Service-Learning Programs. Oakland, CA: Youth Service California, 1997.