UPR-RP's January 2012 activities

As a friendly reminder to start off 2012 as a great year, we would like to present the following calendar with UPR-RP's January activities.

We would also like to point out that on Tuesday, January 31 the 2011-2012 First Semester Report is due. The submission of this report applies only to those programs that gather student assessment data of the first semester.

As always, the 2011-2012 annual report is due in June 2012.

Best wishes for a great holiday recess from the employees of the OEAE: Nadia, William, Bianca, Ediwin, and Aveluz. 

Best wishes for the holiday season

As a token of our appreciation for everyone that works with Student Learning Assessment in our Campus, we prepare this holiday card. We recognize the hard work everyone has place on this process and we are thankful that we have each one of you as part of the team that diligently works to improve student learning in our Campus.

To all, best wishes for this holiday season.

The OEAE: Nadia, William, Bianca, Edwin & Aveluz. 

Workshop: How to Develop Rubrics to Assess Critical Thinking

The UPR-RP defines Critical Thinking as a "thinking skill that enables the student to analyze and interpret the object of study, by judging, criticizing and analyzing the diverse perspectives in a thorough and constructive way, aiming towards the development of their own criteria".

As a way to strengthen general education and implementation of a documented assessment process for critical analysis and reasoning (November 18th, 2010 - MSCHE's Public Disclusure Statement, UPR-RP), the OEAE has recommended that undergraduate programs keep assessing students' critical thinking skills in order to develop a series of measures across our Campus to improve it. One way to enhance the assessment of these skills is to develop effective instruments to assess them. 

To advance the assessment of students' critical thinking skills by developing effective instruments to assess them, the Center for Academic Excelence (CEA) in coordination with the Office of Evaluation of Student Learning programmed the following workshop:

Title: How to Develop Rubrics to Assess Critical Thinking

Speakers: Prof. Nadia Cordero (OEAE's Coordinator) Prof. Julio Rodríguez (College of Education and OEAE's former coordinator)

Date: Friday October 21th, 2011

Time: 8:30am - 12:00m

Place: Hall CN 339, College of Natural Science - Fase I (first structure, closest to the parking space)


Click here to access the presentation.

The Educator: the Journal of Education - Exclusive interview with the Foundation for Critical Thinking (Spanish Journal - Lima, Peru) 


AACU Critical Thinking Analytic Rubric


Facione & Facione Critical Thinking Holistic Rubric


Critical Thinking Rubrics compile by the OEAE - Part I


Critical Thinking Rubrics compile by the OEAE - Part II

We hope to greet you personally on this occasion.

-The OEAE


P.S. (10-24-2011): We would like to share with the UPR-RP community the definition of critical thinking that a group of graduate students develop as part of the workshop: "the ability that person has to deepen on a specific topic, using original ideas and questioning a corpus of preexisting notions with the purpose of organizing a coherent argument"

Workshop: Assessing Student's Research Papers

Often professors across our Campus come to our Office seeking assistance to assess students' research papers. They are most interested in pinpointing students's strengths and areas for improvement in order to improve their teaching strategies and therefore students learning. Since the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras Campus is considered by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as an Institution of Higher Education with high research activity, we should continue to provide a variety of experiences for students to improve their research skills.

To advance the assessment of students research/scientific reasoning skills, the Center for Academic Excelence (CEA) in coordination with the Office of Evaluation of Student Learning programmed the following workshop:

Title: Assessing Student's Research Papers

Speakers:

Prof. Nadia Cordero (OEAE's Coordinator)

Prof. Julio Rodríguez (College of Education and OEAE's former coordinator)

Date: Friday October 14th, 2011

Time: 8:30am - 12:00m

Place: Hall CN 338, College of Natural Science - Fase I (first structure, closest to the parking space)

Click here to access the presentation.

We hope to greet you personally on this occasion.

-The OEAE

Avoiding Plagiarism: A Professors' Guide

The Center for Academic Excellence offered a workshop titled Strategies and Recomendations for Avoiding Plagiarism: A Professors' Guide on October 7, 2011 from 9:00 to 12:00 a.m. at the Amphitheater 3 of the School of Education. The aim of this workshop was to guide professors in various issues related to plagiarism such as: what it is, how to detect it, how to prevent it, and how to deal with it in the academic environment.

The following link allows you to look at the Professors' Guide. This guide clarifies concepts and offers recommendations and various solutions to deal with plagiarim effectively.

Plagio en La Academia: Guía Para Los Profesores

Presentation to Academic Associate Deans and Assitant Deans of Student Affairs - October 4

The interim Dean of Academic Affairs, Dr. Noemí Cintrón, invited Prof. Nadia Cordero to the monthly meeting of the Associate Academic Deans and Assitant Deans of Student Affairs to talk about the ongoing student learning process at our Campus.

To access Prof. Cordero’s presentation click here.

If you need our support or advice in order to advance the assessment of student learning process in your Program, Department, School or College in the UPR-RP Campus give us a call at (787) 764-0000, ext. 85011-14 or email us at oeaeupr@gmail.com

We hope you enjoy the presentation.

Workshop: How to write (and assess) effective learning objectives

Learning objectives are the basis for good instructional course design. For assessment purposes, without them we would not know the degree to which we have accomplished them. Without clearly defined learning objectives followed by a well thought out assessment method, professors are unlikely to pinpoint student's strengths and areas for improvement regarding content, skills or dispositions. 

To advance the science and art of learning objectives, Prof. Julio Rodríguez (College of Education) and Prof. Nadia Cordero (OEAE's Coordinator) have offered a workshop titled How to write (and assess) effective learning objectives.

Click here to access the presentation.


All the best,


The OEAE

Information Literacy activity - How to develop an annotated bibliography

The Presidential Committee on Information Literacy of the American Library Association on its 1989 report defined information literacy as a set of abilities requiring individuals to "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively the needed information". Due to increasing developments in technology, the amount of the information that is published on the World Wide Web is increasing at an unprecedented rate. A 21st century student has to be able to filter information through multiple strategies in order to find the one that he or she requires.

Dr. Laurie A Ortiz, librarian in the Santiago Iglesias, son, Library of the School of Architecture, has adapted an activity from Burkhard, MacDonald & Rathemacher (2003) book-Teaching information literacy: 35 practical, standards-based exercises for college students- in which students are required develop an annoted bibliography for a research topic of their choice. Students need to locate in the UPR-RP Library System four books and four articles that are related to their a research topic and develop a brief descriptive and evaluative note of each one in regards to its content, purpose, utility, usefulness, authority, recentness and organization. Professors and Librarians can use the provided rubric to assess each student's paper. This activity is intended for students that have limited experience using online library system databases and is a great way for students of all levels to test some of their information literacy skills.

To download Dr. Ortiz's activity and rubric, click on the following link.

For other useful resources, such as a MLA or APA tutorials, or presentations about MLA or APA (link 1, link 2) style manuals, we recommend visiting the School of Architecture Library's web page (http://bibarquitecturaupr.info/).

If you would like to contact Dr. Ortiz, please do so at laurie.ortiz@upr.edu.

New Faculty Orientation

In May 25th, 2001 the Academic Senate of the UPR-RP Campus established Certification 101 in order to approve a proposal of the former Dean of Academic Affairs, Dr. Carlos G. Ramos Bellido, for a teaching-learning curriculum for new full-time professors, teaching assistants and teachers with probationary appointments. Since then, the Center for Academic Excellence holds a three day activity called New Faculty Orientation (OPN, for its Spanish acronym) every August as a way to welcome new professors to our Campus.

Participants receive a series of institutional orientations that include presentations from different campus offices whose services are useful for their upcoming teaching experience. Also, as part of this activity, varies workshops are offered on relevant topics to their college work: Teaching and Learning Strategies, Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning, Academic Technology, Academic Research, Professional Support for Faculty, and University and the Community. The OPN provides an excellent opportunity for new professors to meet and become familiar with the staff of our campus.

For this year OPN, the OEAE prepared an online presentation of our office and services. With the support of Dr. Héctor Melendez, Resident Professor in Technology of the Center for Academic Excellence, in the following video Prof. Nadia Cordero offers an orientation to our new UPR-RP professors.

For further assistance for your upcoming experience as a Professor regarding the development of educational instruments such as rubric, tests, checklists, and such for student assessment and evaluation processes, feel free to email us at email:oeaeupr@gmail.com or give us a call to (787) 764-0000, ext. 85011, 85012, 85013 or 85014 or visit us in the Annex of the Office of Academic Planning, University Square, North Tower, Third Floor and we will be glad to help you.

We wish you all the best for your upcoming experience as a new professor in the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus.

Acceptance for presentation (Faculty of Business Administration Accreditation Committee) - The 2011 Assessment Institute

Since 1999, an annual assessment conference titled Assessment Institute has been held at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). This renowned educational meeting is geared towards promoting the knowledge and practice of assessment in higher education. The activity brings together more than a thousand presenters and participants from institutions across the United States, as well as other countries. It is sponsored by some of the world’s assessment experts such as Trudy W. Banta and Thomas Angelo. The conference will take place from October 31 to November 1, 2011 in Indiana.

This year, the committee at Purdue University has accepted a proposal titled From Assessment to Curriculum Review Through Multidisciplinary Communities of Practice developed by members— Dr. Beatriz Rivera, Dr. Wanda Velázquez, Dr. Marta Charrón and Dr. Zoraida Fajardo—of the Faculty of Business Administration Assessment Committee (CAAE), University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. Their thirty-minute presentation will show how the School of Business Administration at the University of Puerto Rico has been able to create communities of practice as a tool for closing the loop in assessment. A more detailed description of their presentation can be found in the following abstract.

The Office of Assessment of Student Learning—OEAE for its Spanish acronym— would like to acknowledge the exceptional teamwork carried out by members of the Faculty of Business Administration Accreditation Committee to comply with the requirements of Assurance of Learning Accreditation Standards of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) as well as the Assessment of Student Learning accreditation standard of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. We would like to stress that this activity will shed light upon the assessment processes carried out by the faculty of the School of Business Administration of the University of Puerto Rico Rio, Piedras Campus. We are very pleased by the committee’s achievement and hope that their success will encourage other members in the Campus to follow their steps and integrate their work and ideas not only into the assessment processes of the University of Puerto Rico but also in forums and activities of international scope.

Assessing Quantitative Reasoning Skills on Campus

As part of the efforts taken to evaluate quantitative reasoning or logical-mathematical reasoning competencies throughout campus during the 2010-2011 academic year, an inter- faculty committee along with the Office of Evaluation of Student Learning developed an instrument to assess skills in this area. From December 6 through December 19, a pilot test was administered in all sections of required courses with math or quantitative reasoning as one of their components.

On April 12, 2011, the Dean of Academic Affairs chair, Astrid Cubano Iguina, sent an official circular letter to all members of the faculty and community acknowledging the importance of the measures taken by the the committe of professors along with the Office of Evaluation of Student Learning in implementing a formal instrument that would evaluate quantitative reasoning competencies throughout campus. The official letter further informed that as a result of institutional efforts, and in order to comply with the institutionalization of the assessment of these skills, from May 16 through May 20, 2011, a second test will be officially administered to all sections of quantitave reasoning or math courses that meet the requirements of general eduacation. The letter may be downloaded through this link. It also highlights the need to inform teachers of the importance of this process. Course sections that meet on Mondays or Wednesdays will be administering the test either on May 16 or May 18, 2011. Course sections that meet Tuesdays and Wednesdays will be administering the test either on May 17 or May 19, 2011.

The courses in which the test will be administered are shown below along with the corresponding course sessions and total of students.

Mate 3041; Three sessions; 70 students

MATE 3042; Two sessions; 38 students

MATE 3105; Nine sessions; 247 students

MECU 3031*; Ten sessions; 302 students

ESGE 3008; Five sessions; 143 students

ESGE 3009; Two sessions; 59 students

MATE3036; One session; 30 students

*A test will be given to students enrolled in MECU 3031 (Pre-Calculus) of the College of Business Administration to assess students' quantitative reasoning or logical-mathematical reasoning competencies.

** The College of Natural Science will assess students quantitative reasoning or logical-mathematical reasoning competencies in the MATE 3151 (Calculus) course using selected items in departmental tests. The School of Architecture will use a similar method in their Calculus course.

We appreciate the cooperation of Department Directors, Professors, Academic Advisors, Counselors, Librarians, and Students regarding this process. For details or additional information, please call Prof. Nadia Cordero or Mr. William Estépar of the Office of Evaluation of Student Learning at the following extensions: 85014, 85013, 85012, or 85011.

Assessment of Student Learning in the Context of Curricular Review

Date: April 8th, 2011
Meeting place: Conference Hall, School of Communication
Speakers: Prof. Julio Rodríguez, College of Education;
Prof. Nadia Cordero, OEAE


To confirm your attendance to the workshops, please send an email to the Center for Academic Excellence (centexa@gmail.com, cea.upr@upr.edu) or call the following extension numbers 2963 ó 2964, and provide the staff with the following information:

Name
Faculty, Department or office that you are part of
Telephone number or extensión number
Email
Position (professor, librarian, student, assessment coordinator, information literacy, or other)

You can also confirm your attendance by enrolling online using the following link.

You can download a copy of the presentation in the following link.

We hope to greet you personally in this occasion.

Information Literacy Workshops

As part of the efforts made to make progress in the process of integration and assessment of information skills to the curriculum (Circular Letter 05 of the Dean of Academic Affairs, 2008-2009), the Office of Assessment of Student Learning (OEAE) wishes to invite you to the following workshops organized jointly with the Library Systems and the Center for Academic Excellence:

1. Friday, February 18: How to integrate information literacy to the curriculum?

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. “What are information literacy skills and how to teach them?”
Speaker: Dr. Ketty Rodríguez (Library Systems)

1:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. “Information Literacy: strategies for its efficient integration into the syllabus”
Speakers: Dr. Snejanka Penkova, Prof. Aurea Maisonet (Library Systems)

3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. “ Practical examples of the integration of information literacy to the curriculum”
Speakers: Dr. Carmen Campos, Dr. Wilma Colón (Faculty of General Studies)

2.Friday, February 25th: Assessment of information literacy skills

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. “Evaluating the development and the learning process of information literacy skills in the students: From theory to practice”
Speakers: Prof. Marisol Gutiérrez (Library Systems), Dr. Sandra Macksoud (College of Education)

1:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. “Assessment of the programs of Information Literacy”
Speaker: Dra. Snejanka Penkova (Library Systems)

3:30 – 4:30 p.m. Dr. Sandra Macksoud (College of Education)

Additional information about the workshops:

The professors that attend the workshops must take with them at least a syllabus that pertains to one of the assignments they give, so that they can work with it in the workshops.

A snack will be served during the event. Lunch will be the responsibility of the participants.

There will be a break from 10:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and from 3:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Lunch break will be from 12:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m

Both workshops will take place in the 'multipurpose room' of the Business Administration Library.

To confirm your attendance to these workshops, please send an email to the Center for Academic Excellence (centexa@gmail.com, cea.upr@upr.edu) or call the following extension numbers 2963 ó 2964, and provide the staff with the following information:

Name

Faculty, Department or office that you are part of

Telephone number or extensión number

Email

Position (professor, librarian, student, assessment coordinator, information literacy, or other)

We hope to greet you personally in these workshops.