Integrative Learning Rubric Assessment Process - HETS

Integrative Learning Rubric
Assessment Process
Geralyn Marchisello, MSOL
Queensborough Community College
HETS Conference
Lehman College
June 29, 2011

“We are engaged in nothing less than an effort
to change the focus of the national
conversation from artificial, shorthand
indicators of learning to something that
reflects the shared work and understanding of
faculty members and academic professionals
across campuses” Terrel L. Rhodes, Director of the VALUE project and
Vice President of the Association for
American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)

Queensborough Community College
Named one of 12 Roadmap Enrollment to Engagement
Colleges – AAC & U and MetLife
AAC & U Project Leap VALUE Rubrics Pilot Participant
LEAP project designed to assist community colleges in creating robust and
proactive programs of academic support—tied to expected learning outcomes—
that engage students at entrance and teach them how to become active partners
in their own quest for educational success
CAAL – sought and received funding to build, test, and release a centralized
repository and a data collection/access protocol or standard for the repository
QCC one of five campuses to pilot the norming and collection processes
LEAP – Liberal Education and America’s Promise
VALUE – Valid Assessment of Learning in undergraduate Education
CAAL - Collaborative for Authentic Assessment and Learning

Intellectual and Practical Skills
– Inquiry and analysis
– Critical thinking
– Creative thinking
– Written communication
– Oral communication
– Reading
– Quantitative literacy
– Information literacy
– Teamwork
– Problem solving
Personal and Social Responsibility
– Civic engagement
– Intercultural knowledge and competence
– Ethical reasoning
– Lifelong learning
Integrative and Applied Learning
– Integrative learning
VALUE RUBRICS

High Impact Practices of AAC&U
Learning Communities
Writing Intensive Classes
Common Intellectual Experiences
Project Based Learning
Global and Diversity Learning
Capstone Experiences
Service Learning

High Impact Practices of QCC
e-Portfolio
Cornerstone
Learning Communities
Service Learning
Writing Intensive Courses

High Impact Educational Practices
What they are, who has access to them and why do they
matter? By George D. Kuh
“The results of participating in these highimpact
practices are especially striking for
students who are further behind in terms of
their entering academic test scores. The
benefits are similarly positive for students
from communities that historically have been
underserved in higher education.”

Educational Objectives of the QCC
Communicate effectively through reading, writing, listening
and speaking
Use analytical reasoning to identify issues or problems
Use information management and technology skills effectively
for academic research and life-long learning
Integrate knowledge and skills in their program of study
Differentiate and make informed decisions about issues based
on multiple value systems
Apply aesthetic and intellectual criteria in the evaluation or
creation of works in the humanities or the arts

Integrative Learning (IL)VALUE Rubirc
Definition
An understanding and a disposition that a
student builds across the curriculum and cocurriculum,
from making simple connections
among ideas and experiences to synthesizing
and transferring learning to new, complex
situations within and beyond the campus

Framing IL Language
Creating the Frame for Teaching and Learning
Integrative assignments that serve to foster students’ abilities to integrate
learning in this rapidly changing and increasingly connected world
Developing increased integrative capacity is central to a students
– Personal success
– Social Responsibility
– Civic Engagement
Integrative learning is not a benefit – it is a necessity
Its all about making connections - connecting and evolving a deeper
understanding of theory and practice
Extension of the integrative abilities to the challenges of personal,
professional, and civic life
Important to design structures, assignments, environments where
exchange of experience and understanding is encouraged
AAC&U

Glossary – terms and concepts for the IL rubric
Academic learning: disciplinary learning; learning from academic study
Content: The information conveyed in the work samples or collections of work
Contexts: Actual or simulated situations in which a student demonstrates learning outcomes.
New and challenging contexts encourage students to stretch beyond their current frames of
reference
Cocurriculum: A parallel component of the academic curriculum that is in addition to the
formal classroom (student government, community service, residence hall activities, student
organizations, etc)
Experience: Learning that takes place in a setting outside of the formal classroom, such as a
workplace, service learning site, internship etc.
Form: The external frameworks within which information and evidence are presented,
ranging from choices for a particular work sample or collection of works (such as research
paper, PPT presentations, video recordings etc.) to choices in the makeup of the e-portfolio
Performance: A dynamic and sustained act that brings together knowing and doing (creating
a painting, solving an experimental design problem, developing a pr strategy for a business,
etc.) performance makes learning observable
Reflection: A metacognitive act of examining a performance in order to explore its
significance and consequences
Self-Assessment: Describing, interpreting and judging a performance based on stated or
implied expectations followed by planning for further learning

Five IL Learning Outcomes
Connects to Experience
– Connects relevant experience and academic knowledge
Connections to Discipline
– Sees (makes) connections cross disciplines, perspectives
Transfer
– Adapts and applies skills, abilities, theories, or methodologies
gained in one situation to new situation
Integrated Communication
Reflections and Self-Assessment
– Demonstrates a developing sense of self as a learner, building on prior experiences to
respond to new and challenging contexts (may be evident in self-assessment, reflection,
or creative work)

Level of performance
Benchmark (1)
Milestones (2)
Milestones (3)
Capstone (4)
Please refer to the handout to appreciate the
performance gradients

Understanding “performance”
Levels do not represent year in school
Nor do they correspond to to grades (A,B,C…)
Capstone
Milestones
Benchmark
– reflects the demonstration of achievement for the specific
criterion for a student who graduates with a BA
– Suggest key characteristics of progressive learning as through
to graduation
– The learning skills and abilities found among beginning
students AAC&U

The process
A call for faculty participant / student permission forms
collected along with their work sample – anonymously
numbered
Inter-disciplinary work samples were collected for scoring
(Honors, Chemistry and Math, Business courses, Art history,
Basic Skills, Health Science and English)
Three rounds of assessment (prompted and non-prompted
samples)
Every “scorer” received the rubric and work
An overview presentation was conducted
Some sample scoring took place – two people reading/scoring
a piece

What happened
A lively - enlightening discussion followed
After a lunch break – a shift in the scoring took place
An apparent evolvement of thought regarding assessment
emerged
A bit of time was needed for some instructors to shift from a
“grading” to a “scoring” mindset
Faculty began to interact and share ideas about development
and expectations for both students and faculty
We began to see the value of a shared common language with
shared standards

What we found - Faculty
“…The collegial experience of reflecting collaboratively was a welcomed
relief from relief from the detail oriented tools that are often done
independently”
“…an extremely useful tool. It enables and encourages teachers to develop
curriculum that will foster critical thinking skills that students will need in
the future”
“…with the use of this rubric, teachers can create assignments and
assessments that will help students to connect their relevant experiences
with the academic knowledge that they are learning”
“…was a useful tool for understanding both the students writing and my
own thinking process”
“It was a true learning experience for me”
“…Self-assessment and reflection is just as important for us as
educators/instructors as it is for the students”
“A two-way learning tool”

A note about the VALUE Rubrics
Reflect the emphasis the academy places on the ability to
analyze and integrate knowledge in a variety of ways
Rubrics offer regular milestones by which students can gauge
their own progress

“The sharing of rubrics, of expectations for
learning, perhaps most importantly allows our
students to have a much clearer picture of
what their learning should look like”
Terrel Rhodes, Director of the VALUE project and
Vice President of the Association for
American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)

A thought
“The distinction I am making among three different kinds of culture-
post-figurative, in which both children learn primarily from their
forebears,
co-figurative, in which both children and adults learn from their peers and
pre-figurative, in which adults also learn from their children
-are a reflection of the period in which we live”
Margaret Mead
Culture and Commitment

For further information
Geralyn Marchisello, MSOL
Administration Building
Rm 503
Queensborough Community College
222-05 56th Ave
Bayside, NY 11364
(718) 631 - 6344
gmarchisello@qcc.cuny.edu
www.qcc.cuny.edu

Suggested Reading
Kuh, G. (2008). High Impact Practices: what are they
and why do they matter? Washington, D.C. AAC & U
Rhodes, T. (2010). Assessing Outcomes and
Improving Achievenment: Tip and Tools for Using
Rubrics. Washington, D.C. AAC&U