CTAAR Newsletter

Learning Portfolios - April 13

Learning Portfolios: Reflective Practice for Improving Student Learning

John Zubizarreta
Professor of English
Director of Honors Program and Faculty Development
Columbia College
Columbia, SC, USA

April 13, 2007 workshop 9 am to 12 noon, repeated 1:30 to 4:30 pm

The learning portfolio— grounded in a process of reflection, evidence, and collaboration— is a rich, flexible document that engages students in continuous, thoughtful analysis of their learning.

Handout (PDF)

Abstract

Interested in discovering or sharing an alternative or complementary approach to improving and assessing student learning? Wondering how reflection, collaboration, and evidence promote higher-level learning? Come find out about the benefits and challenges of learning portfolios, the value of reflective practice in enhancing learning, and the diverse applications of student portfolios. Bring your experiences and your varied models for active conversation, for sharing of ideas and resources on learning portfolios, and for writing a plan for implementation of a learning portfolio in a course or for a program.

Tools and Strategies to Assess Student Learning - March 14

March 14, 2007 Rutgers Student Center Atrium Room (in the food court)
1:00 to 2:30 pm

Webinar by Magna Publishers with Linda Suskie of Middle States.
http://www.magnapubs.com/calendar/118.html

"What kinds of assessment tools give the most “bang for the buck”: the most information in proportion to the time spent developing and using them? In this fast-paced session, you’ll learn about the four key characteristics of effective assessment tools and strategies and how students’ assignments, tests, and self-reflection can provide helpful information on student learning with a minimum of extra work."

Developing Learning Goals - March 8

March 8, 2007 Rutgers Student Center College Avenue

There will be two opportunities to participate
Morning - 9 am to 12 noon
Afternoon - 1 pm to 4 pm

Lion Gardiner, Chair of the Graduate School Assessment Advisory Committee in Newark, will facilitate an interactive workshop on Learning Goals: issues, process, development and assessments. Lion is a consultant to colleges and universities on student learning and assessment, defining and assessing student learning outcomes, and faculty professional development.

Both sessions will be held in Room 413. Please choose the session that best fits your schedule and reply to Monica Devanas (devanas@bademail.rutgers.edu cat.rutgers.edu). Additional details will be provided before the workshop.

RefWorks Training

The Center for the Advancement of Teaching is now offering monthly workshops in Basic RefWorks, a web-based bibliography and database manager that is free to the Rutgers community. The workshops are one and one half hours in length and will be held at the Kreeger Learning Resource Center on College Avenue. Please refer to the CAT Calendar of Workshops in order to register.

Further information about RefWorks, including; setting up an account, on and off-campus connection, bibliographic stylesheets, and using electronic resources, can be found at the RU Libraries RefWorks Information Page. An extremely useful publication for new users is the RefWorks Quick Start Guide.

Please contact Marcie Anszperger at (732) 932-7466 or mja@cat.rutgers.edu if you have any questions.