2021 Agenda

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Day 1 Agenda

Wednesday, September 1

8:45am-9:00am	Opening Remarks Cynthia Carter Ching, Interim Vice Provost and Dean, Undergraduate Education
9:00am-9:50am	Keynote Presentation National trends in assessing student learning during turbulent times: What’s worth keeping? Gianina Baker, Director, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment As we enter into the next academic year, join Dr. Gianina Baker in thinking differently about the quarters ahead, what lessons we learned this past year, and what we need to move forward. Using national trends, Dr. Baker will help attendees explore what’s worth keeping through the topics of learning outcomes, equity and assessment, assignment design, and more. -- About the presenter: Gianina Baker, Ph.D., provides leadership and directs research specific to the assessment of student learning at colleges and universities, primarily under the Lumina Foundation grants, at NILOA. Her main research interests include student learning outcomes assessment at Minority Serving Institutions, access and equity issues for underrepresented administrators and students, assessment in athletics, and higher education policy.
9:50am-10:00am	Break
10:00am-10:50am	Checking in on student learning: Lessons from preparing students for online exams Rob Furrow, Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology As courses shifted online at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, instructors and students alike were anxious about preparing for online exams. In this workshop, we will explore examples of how courses (particularly large enrollment) were adjusted to prepare students for online exams, with an emphasis on ways to frequently gauge student learning. This will be an interactive workshop designed to help instructors make practical adjustments to their courses of all sizes. -- About the presenter: Rob Furrow is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology. His research and teaching focus on inclusion, equitable approaches to assessing student learning, and best practices for teaching introductory quantitative material. When he’s not in the classroom he is often birding at Putah Creek or baking pizza.
10:50am-11:00am	Break
11:00am-11:50am	Checking in on student learning: Lessons from student-led assessment Mark Verbitsky, Political Science This workshop will explore ways to get students involved in assessing their own learning, focusing on peer review exercises (students assessing each other’s learning) and learning reflections (students assessing their own learning). In addition to identifying the benefits (and potential missteps) of these activities, the workshop will provide participants with examples and ideas on how they can incorporate student-led assessments in their own classes. -- About the presenter: Mark Verbitsky is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Political Science department, teaching classes on constitutional law and American political theory. Among his pedagogical interests are teaching students learning skills, including undergraduates as part of the teaching team (learning assistants), and integrating non-knowledge-based learning outcomes into his courses.
11:50am-noon	Break
noon-12:50pm	Student Panel The best (and worst) of assessment during turbulent times Kate Andrup Stephensen, University Honors Program, and Melinda Livas, STEM librarian, University Library, Moderators This panel brings together students from all four undergraduate colleges to share what they would like faculty to know about assessing student learning in these chaotic times. -- About the moderators: Kate Andrup Stephensen is Associate Director for First-Year Seminars (interim) and the University Honors Program third & fourth-year advisor. Kate started her professional career as a high school teacher before moving into higher education administration at the University of Virginia. She started working at UC Davis in 2020. She has a B.A. in history from Northwestern University and an M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Virginia. Melinda Livas is a STEM librarian at Shields Library and serves the areas of Engineering, Mathematics, and Statistics. Her research areas include information literacy and instructional technology. She has an M.S. in Instructional Design and an MLIS in Information Science.
12:50pm-1:00pm	Closing Remarks Marco Molinaro, Assistant Vice Provost for Educational Effectiveness

NEW! 4:00pm-5:15pm	BONUS Session! Surveillance, cheating, and academic integrity: What can we leave behind? Phillip Dawson, Professor and the Associate Director of the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE), Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia Throughout the pandemic, markets for cheating services for students and anti-cheating technologies for colleges and universities have boomed. As we move into a new academic year, can we leave all of that behind? This presentation provides a research-informed look at what we’ve learned about addressing cheating and promoting academic integrity from the sudden global shift to online assessment and provides a framework and strategies for integrating what we have learned. -- About the presenter: Phillip Dawson is a Professor and the Associate Director of the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. Phill researches assessment, focusing on cheating, feedback and assessment design. He has published some of the first empirical studies into the security of online exams, the detection of contract cheating, and the effectiveness of legal approaches to stopping cheating. His most recent books are Defending Assessment Security in a Digital World (Routledge 2021) and the co-edited Re-imagining University Assessment in a Digital World (Springer, 2020).

Day 2 Agenda

Thursday, September 2

8:45am-9:00am	Opening Remarks Kristin Lagattuta, Psychology, Faculty Advisor to the Provost on Closing Opportunity Gaps
9:00am-9:50am	Keynote Presentation Assessing student writing during turbulent times: What’s worth keeping? Trish Serviss, University Writing Program The pandemic-induced shift to emergency remote instruction initially seemed solely about challenges and compromises, especially for those of us teaching first-year undergraduate students in entry-level or general education courses. Yet our experiments and adaptions helped us to recognize opportunities we didn’t see or seize before, especially in terms of assessing student writing. This interactive session will share research findings about assessing undergraduate source-based writing in the pre-pandemic times as well as the best of our pandemic-induced adaptations since, identifying new ways to assess student writing as well as new ways to use writing to assess student learning more generally. -- About the presenter: Trish Serviss is the Associate Director for Entry Level Writing and an Associate Professor in the UC Davis University Writing Program. She is one of the founders of the Citation Project, a national study of student source use in required undergraduate writing courses. Trish is working on several research projects including a five-year longitudinal study of the literacies of first-generation college students majoring in STEM fields and the Writing Inclusivity & Equity Project, a study of diversity learning as a paradigm for writing instruction in required undergraduate writing courses.
9:50am-10:00am	Break
10:00am-10:50am	Checking in on student learning: Lessons from assessing discussion Joe Anistranski, Human Ecology Reflecting on the complexity of promoting student interactions during the COVID-19 emergency, this session will explore strategies for shaping discussions to be more reflective of intended outcomes. A major focus will be how we might assess preparation for the discussion before we assess involvement in the discussion itself. Using what we've learned during the emergency, how might we determine more appropriate goals for discussion as we think about returning to face-to-face learning experiences? How might those goals be reflected more clearly in the assessment of student discussions? -- About the presenter: Joe Anistranski is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Human Ecology who focuses on college student development and developmentally-responsive learning experiences.
10:50am-11:00am	Break
11:00am-11:50am	Identifying the “best”: What to save and what to get rid of on multiple choice tests, rubrics, and assignment guidelines CEE Academic Assessment Team Using assessment exemplars, this interactive workshop will guide participants in identifying areas of strength and areas for improvement in their own assessment tools. -- About the presenters: In her role as the Academic Assessment Team Lead, Kara Moloney partners with faculty, staff, and students to foster a culture of curiosity about student learning and ensure that all UC Davis undergraduate students have equitable opportunities to demonstrate their learning. She earned her Ph.D. in Literacy Studies from the University of Nevada, Reno. In her role as Evaluation Specialist, Barbara Mills consults with faculty and graduate students about designing test questions and analyzing test results. Her background includes an MA in Linguistics from UC Davis as well as experience teaching writing and ESL. In her role as a Data Analyst, Tiffany Hodgens enjoys the challenge of statistically modeling student success and exploring equity issues in higher education. She received her M.Ed. in Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment from the University of Illinois, Chicago. In her role as Assessment Specialist and the Project Manager for the Academic Assessment Team, Ann Glazer coaches programs and faculty in the development and implementation of equity-minded assessment practices. She received her M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from MIIS at Monterey.
11:50am-noon	Break
noon-12:50pm	Faculty Panel The best (and worst) of assessment during turbulent times Debbie Fetter, Nutrition, Moderator Faculty from the College of Letters and Science, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences and the College of Biological Sciences will gather together to discuss lessons learned from assessing student learning during turbulent times. Hear from Panelists: Eleftheria Arapoglou Continuing Lecturer American Studies Miriam Martin Assistant Professor of Teaching Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Noli Brazil Assistant Professor Human Ecology Pat Randolph Academic Coordinator II Evolution & Ecology Sarah Lievens Continuing Lecturer Chemistry -- About the moderator: Debbie Fetter teaches Nutrition 10V and Nutrition 10, in addition to conducting research on education and pedagogy. She is passionate about helping people, especially with guiding students to make healthier nutrition and lifestyle choices. She also aspires to help bridge the gap between the science community and general public through teaching and writing about nutrition in an engaging and relatable way.
12:50pm-1:00pm	Closing Remarks Kem Saichaie, Director of Learning and Teaching, Center for Educational Effectiveness