Section I:
Getting
Started
Introduction
Developing
Campus
Support
Section II:
Integrating
Service-
Learning
Introduction
1: Overview of
Service-Learning
2: Overview of
Instructional Design
3: Reflection
4: Assessing
Student Learning
5: Capacity-building
6: Civic Learning
Section II: Chapter 4: Assessing Student Learning
Chapter 4: Assessing Service-Learning
The term “assessment,” like the term “reflection,” often has a lot of baggage associated with it. It sometimes conjures up images of criteria and measures handed down from above and having little to do with the particular students, instructor, goals, or context of any given course. Just as we discussed the value of “reclaiming reflection” – or understanding it and using it as a rigorous teaching and learning strategy – so to is it important to “reclaim assessment – or understand and use it as an empowering tool for improving quality.
Assessment is built into Jumpstart’s work with children, both in the Checklist process and the organization’s own Quality Monitoring process, because it is understood to be critical to the continual improvement of its services. While Jumpstart does not have any requirements for specific assessment activities that should take place, this chapter is meant to help instructors develop an assessment strategy that is appropriate for your individual course and institution.
This chapter builds on the high-level discussion of the instructional design process in Chapter 2 and the material on reflection in Chapter 3 by helping you think about assessing your implementation of Jumpstart service-learning, particularly in terms of student learning outcomes. This chapter will provide an overview of the issues you need to think through; each section of the discussion will begin with a general overview of the task of assessing implementation of service-learning and then focus in on the specific task of assessing student learning. Chapter 8 will provide additional guidance in developing specific assessment strategies related to the integration of service-learning into your course.
Topics in this chapter include:
- Instructional Design Process Revisited: Focus on Assessment – explores the central role of assessment in re-designing a course
- What, Who, When, and How to Assess – proposes important starting points in designing an assessment strategy and then considers what, who, when, and how to assess both in general and specifically in terms of student learning
- Designing an Assessment Strategy – suggests the importance of knowing the purpose of assessment and the audience with whom results will be shared and provides some questions to help start the design of an assessment strategy focused on student learning
- Assessment in Your Jumpstart Course – offers an example of a Jumpstart-created tool to help guide assessment
- Reflection Prompts for the Reader -- provides several prompts that will help the reader reflect on the content of this section
- References