University Learning Outcomes Assessment Plan & Reporting Guidelines

Why are we conducting regular assessment of the University Learning Outcomes in Disciplinary Lens classes? University Learning Outcomes (ULOs) are the “glue” that holds academic and social learning together in the undergraduate curriculum. Assessment at the course level focuses our attention on the outcomes and lets us answer the essential ULO questions: To what extent are our students learning the skills, knowledge, and habits of mind that make up our outcomes?” What do we do to support that learning – and what might we do to continually work to improve learning? What supports do we need to enhance learning

Presence in Context: Teachers’ Negotiations with the Relational Environment of School

This inquiry research builds on the theory of presence in teaching (Rodgers & Raider-Roth, 2006) adding nuanced understandings of how school contexts play into teachers’ abilities to support students’ learning. Findings are drawn from multiple interviews with five veteran middle school teachers, teachers’ written work, and field observations. Illustrating these findings is the compelling story of an exemplary teacher’s negotiations of her practice in response to the school’s relational environment. Our findings point to the teacher’s sense of isolation and vulnerability–indicators of the relational context in the school as a threat to undermining her presence. They also create a compelling argument for the importance of a healthy relational context to support teachers’ most powerful teaching, hence students’ learning

Stirring the Pot: Supporting and Challenging General Education Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty to Change Teaching and Assessment Practice

Evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs) have been associated with positive student outcomes; however, institutions struggle to catalyze widespread adoption of these practices in general education science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. Further, linking EBIPs with integrated learning assessment is rarely discussed in the literature, even though principles of continuous course design for quality higher education assume the connection of learning outcomes, teaching practices, and assessment. This qualitative action research study documents faculty attempting to utilize EBIPs and authentic assessment when they were provided support and accountability over multiple semesters. We document participants’ current practices and encourage shifts in both teaching and assessment practices targeting greater student success in STEM general education courses. Narrative data drawn from interviews and written reflection describe the impact of structured faculty observation and cross-disciplinary conversation on participants’ pedagogical and assessment choices. The faculty participants’ voices vividly illustrate our findings: incentives, reflection, mentorship, and collaboration over multiple semesters support changing pedagogical practices and integrating outcomes assessment. While STEM-based, the study findings are applicable across the general education curriculum

Voices of Our Students: Using Evidence-Based Methods to Inform a Multidisciplinary Engineering Program Design

Listening carefully to our students and integrating the variables that matter to them is a step that we can take to increase the number of women and underrepresented minority graduates in engineering. This paper shares an evaluative case study as we report findings from data gathering tools guiding our continuous improvement process. The findings illuminate students’ perceptions of their engineering design course and curriculum. We conclude by discussing the pedagogical decisions the teaching team is making as a result of listening to our students’ voices

Ten Years Later: Where are They Now?

This paper explores the educational and career trajectories of the alumnae of an outreach activity for girls. The outreach activity was originally developed using an integrated marketing approach to attract girls into engineering programs.1 The program, a two day, overnight experience for rising 9th, 10th and 11th grade girls, focuses on showcasing engineering as an exciting, creative activity, including activities developed from that perspective. Started in 2005 and held annually since then, a total of over 500 girls have participated, with approximately 85% of them coming from Boise State University’s immediate metropolitan area. Facilitated by the College of Engineering, and largely staffed by volunteering women engineers from the region, the outreach event takes place in Boise, Idaho - small metropolitan city in the United States. When it originated, e-Girls was the only science and engineering outreach or camp activity focused on girls and young women in this area. The college-going rate in Idaho is very low, so there is interest in any programming that increases that rate – especially for girls in engineering. The specific topic of this paper is an investigation into what has transpired in the girls’ lives relative to their educational and career plans since participating in the program. We are interested capturing and analyzing narratives about their pathways so that we may better understand and enhance the impact of this and similar programs. These narratives will enable us to tell the story about how one program can influence such plans. Our participants are drawn from a population of 418 alumni of the program who are currently at least 18 years of age and for whom we have a verified email address. Surveys were sent to 175 past participants focusing on what other STEM related extracurricular programs they participated in, their post-secondary activities (education and career), and what impacted those choices. Additional data was gathered from two focus groups of alumnae drawn from current students at Boise State University (n = 5). The qualitative methods used contribute to an evaluative analysis of paths taken and not taken by the program’s alumni. Implications for program design and follow up activities are discussed

“The False Promise of Group Harmony”: The Centrality of Challenging Practices in Teachers’ Professional Development

This article discusses an action research study of a week-long Summer Teachers Institute which immersed teachers in the study of Jewish historical and cultural texts. We investigate how this kind of cultural immersion created opportunities for transformative learning – the kind of learning that would not merely be the application of “new lessons,” but that would also help teachers reconceptualize their teaching practices regarding Jewish religion and culture. Our findings suggest that text study practices of challenging – in tandem with practices of supporting and voicing – were central in constructing a “relational learning community.” Such a community was a necessary condition for transformative learning

Growth Mindset in Adult Learning: Systematic Literature Review

We conducted a systematic literature review on mindsets to understand how a growth mindset is conceptualized and investigated in adult learning scholarly work

Work in Progress: Flexibility and Professional Preparation via a Multidisciplinary Engineering Curriculum

This paper reports on one institution’s work-in-progress to build innovation and creativity into a flexible, ABET accredited undergraduate Engineering B.S. degree that provides a variety of choices to undergraduate engineering students. The new Engineering Plus degree has a core set of required foundational courses in engineering, a multi-year design sequence, and allows for self-defined pathways. The new curriculum also offers three defined degree pathways that have been chosen based on an examination of student “fate” data: secondary education, pre-medical, and environmental studies, with additional pathways planned for the near future. The fate analysis examined the paths of students who were enrolled in an engineering or STEM major in one year and samples their major choice in the following year. This analysis maps the flow of students into and out of the major with demographic slicers to more closely understand these inmigration and out-migration choices. This paper will detail the development of the program and its related research inquiry which includes a qualitative comparison of the students who are drawn to this new approach to engineering

A Formative Evaluation of a Master\u27s-Level Career-Coaching Course for Performance Improvement Students

The authors conducted a formative evaluation of an iteratively evolving career-coaching course. All 11 master\u27s students who had enrolled in the course between Winter 2016 and Fall 2017 participated in the evaluation. Our evaluation addressed three research questions: (1) To what extent does participation in the career-coaching course affect participant confidence? (2) To what extent did participants attain their stated course goals? (3) To what extent did career coaching contribute to participants\u27 current job situation? Analysis of quantitative and qualitative survey responses indicated that participants consistently reported increased levels of confidence after career coaching in terms of their ability to identify appropriate job positions, pursue job opportunities, and reflect on their own development and their overall career readiness. Most participants also reported that they had met their goals and valued their career-coaching experience. At the time of the survey, five of the participants reported that they had found jobs within the field

Gateway Scholarships in Biological Sciences: Year 4 Annual Report

This report summarizes grant activities, progress toward goals, and broader impacts of the Gateway Scholars Program in the Boise State Department of Biological Sciences during the 2020-21 academic year