In the next decade, one thing we can be absolutely certain about is that there will be increased pressures on university programmes. The pressures we are already experiencing with larger class sizes will become even more acute when the anticipated 'double-cohort' arrives at our doors. And this can only worsen with the subsequent demographic growth of the university age population. Another pressure we may count on, particularly in this province, is the constant need to balance programming priorities with targeted funding opportunities.
As we struggle to adapt to this new climate, it will be important not to lose sight of our commitment to finding more effective and inclusive ways of responding to the needs of an increasingly diverse student population. Some key priorities will be:
How effective we will be in achieving these goals will depend largely on how well we are able to understand students' needs and develop appropriate strategies for meeting them. One way to do this is through careful, systematic assessment.
In this context, assessment can provide a mechanism that allows the institutional "us" to begin to consider the University's contribution to the learning experience of students. It focuses attention on student learning and encourages collective responsibility for its development beyond individual courses taught by individual instructors.
Assessment is the process of defining, selecting, designing, collecting, analysing, interpreting and using information to increase students' learning and development. Assessment is seen as a process that includes discussions about what should be assessed and how information will be used, not just the hands-on testing of students. Assessment can produce information for communication and decision-making: for students to decide how to improve their learning, for faculty to decide how to plan more effective instruction, for academic leaders to decide how to construct more effective programs (Ratcliff, 1999).
Assessing teaching and student learning is not new to York –it is an ongoing activity that assumes a variety of forms across the University. Faculty and TAs routinely apply classroom assessment strategies to gauge how well their students are learning what they are being taught (see article on Classroom Research, page 10). As well, all of our academic programmes – undergraduate, graduate, and professional – undergo regular review. What is new about assessment as defined by the York Assessment Forum is its aim to explore, interpret and expand our understanding and observations about York's learning environment, and to develop and evaluate measures to enhance teaching, learning and student life both inside and outside of the classroom. By its very design, the York Assessment Forum provides a means for the University, its faculty, students, staff and administrators, to build on existing "best practice" in a way that acknowledges the complexity of our culture and takes into account the needs and particular constraints of our unique context.
First instituted in 1993 and modeled on the Harvard Assessment Seminars, the York Assessment Forum is motivated by the need for a more systematic review and assessment of teaching, learning and student life at York University. Six different projects were undertaken in its early years on issues important to curriculum development and classroom climate at York. Revived in January 1999, the Forum brings together faculty, students, staff, and administrators to engage in collegial discussion and systematic exploration aimed at investigating and making explicit the unarticulated assumptions that influence teaching and learning.
Projects undertaken by the York Assessment Forum are defined and shaped by Forum members to address concerns and generate data that are unique to York's teaching and learning context. The results of the projects will be published each year and will ultimately prompt and inform positive changes to improve York's services, programmes and student learning.
The Forum has identified three specific areas for investigation:
Each of these areas is currently being explored by a working group of the York Assessment Forum and, as you will see from their reports contained in this issue, all are well advanced in their work and are generating exciting results. Indeed, some of the results have already prompted specific changes in administrative policies and processes. And further, one group is generating results that appear to be unique to the York context, as they were not found in the literature search that informed the design of the research. The reports are complemented by an analysis of the demographic characteristics of the York's undergraduates prepared by Deborah Hobson, Vice-President (Enrollment and Student Services). As well, we have included a sampling of instruments that might be used by individual instructors to gauge the effect their teaching is having on student learning. Altogether, we hope that the articles will shed new light on our collective understanding, and contribute to the further improvement, of teaching, learning and student life at York University.
The York Assessment Forum (YAF) is a project of the Centre for the Support of Teaching in collaboration with the Centre for Human Rights and Equity, the Centre for Feminist Research, the Office of the Advisor on the Status of Women, and the Institute for Social Research.
Tentanda Via!
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