Incorporating Outcome Assessment Strategies into an Undergraduate Fisheries and Wildlife Curriculum

Presenter Information

Bruce E. Dugger
W. Daniel Edge
Judith Li

Location

Peavy/Richardson Halls

Event Website

http://uenr.forestry.oregonstate.edu/

Start Date

3-15-2008 11:30 AM

End Date

3-15-2008 12:00 PM

Description

As the need and value of outcome assessment (OA) has become clear, university programs in natural resource management have begun to develop assessment strategies; however, results of this effort can be disjointed as OA is made to fit an existing curriculum framework. Ideally, assessment should be developed in concert with a curriculum so course content and organization are integrated. We report on how OA was integrated into a Fisheries and Wildlife undergraduate program highlighting the initial development of OA guidelines, how initial application of OA identified shortcomings in our curriculum and how we used that information to modify our undergraduate curriculum and integrate OA tools into our courses during a 10-year curriculum revision. Our OA plan focused on undergraduate performance in six skill areas and learner competencies were assessed annually, primarily in the Fisheries and Wildlife core curriculum. A review of two years of reporting data indicated that, while many skill areas were being routinely taught and assessed, several skills the faculty felt important to undergraduate education were under emphasized and the tools faculty were using to conduct assessments were not clear. In spring 2007, the FW faculty began a revision of the undergraduate curriculum and results from our OA efforts were used to eliminate some courses, require additional core science courses that increased the basic science foundation of our students, modify our physical science requirement, and create a two course capstone sequence that targeted integration of concepts, improving group problem solving skills and provide a better opportunity to strengthen and assess higher order thinking skills. We finished this process by ordering courses and allocating assessment obligations to more closely match the learner outcomes for each course and track development of learning throughout the curriculum.

Comments

Session #8: Making Learning Count: Outcomes and Assessment. Presentation for 7th Biennial Conference on University Education in Natural Resources, March 13-15, 2008, Corvallis, Oregon. Featured in the ScholarsArchive@OSU in Oregon State University. Suggested Citation: Dugger, B.D., Edge, W.D., Li, J. 2008. Incorporating outcome assessment strategies into an undergraduate fisheries and wildlife curriculum. UENR 7th Biennial Conference, ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University. http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8332

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Mar 15th, 11:30 AM Mar 15th, 12:00 PM

Incorporating Outcome Assessment Strategies into an Undergraduate Fisheries and Wildlife Curriculum

Peavy/Richardson Halls

As the need and value of outcome assessment (OA) has become clear, university programs in natural resource management have begun to develop assessment strategies; however, results of this effort can be disjointed as OA is made to fit an existing curriculum framework. Ideally, assessment should be developed in concert with a curriculum so course content and organization are integrated. We report on how OA was integrated into a Fisheries and Wildlife undergraduate program highlighting the initial development of OA guidelines, how initial application of OA identified shortcomings in our curriculum and how we used that information to modify our undergraduate curriculum and integrate OA tools into our courses during a 10-year curriculum revision. Our OA plan focused on undergraduate performance in six skill areas and learner competencies were assessed annually, primarily in the Fisheries and Wildlife core curriculum. A review of two years of reporting data indicated that, while many skill areas were being routinely taught and assessed, several skills the faculty felt important to undergraduate education were under emphasized and the tools faculty were using to conduct assessments were not clear. In spring 2007, the FW faculty began a revision of the undergraduate curriculum and results from our OA efforts were used to eliminate some courses, require additional core science courses that increased the basic science foundation of our students, modify our physical science requirement, and create a two course capstone sequence that targeted integration of concepts, improving group problem solving skills and provide a better opportunity to strengthen and assess higher order thinking skills. We finished this process by ordering courses and allocating assessment obligations to more closely match the learner outcomes for each course and track development of learning throughout the curriculum.

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cuenr/7thBiennial/Sessions/29