Instructor WIKI

Learning Community Project: Foundations of Assessment
Rationale : Assessment is a core discipline of rehabilitation counseling. It is the philosophy, science, and practice of “how we know what we know about our clients, and how we use that information to facilitate their efforts to identify, plan for, and achieve meaningful life goals”. This Learning Community Project is designed to complement the traditional classroom approach to teaching assessment. We believe that a full understanding of assessment requires that it be contextualized in the community in which it will be practiced. We believe that sharing our experiences with assessment makes it less abstract, more personal, and thereby the lessons of assessment are more thoroughly integrated in practice.
Project Mission and Goals
The mission of this project is to actively engage students in professional discourse on the topics of Assessment, and through this discourse, imagine and collaboratively build an informed response to an important issue of the contemporary practice.
Goal 1. To increase student mastery in application of course content.

Goal 2. To create a community of practice that allows for discourse beyond the traditional classroom time, development of critical thinking skills, and mentoring experiences.

Goal 3. To engage students in collaborations with faculty and students from different geographic regions.

Goal 4. To improve student self-efficacy related to assessment practices.

Goal 5. To enhance students' satisfaction in learning activities, including their self-efficacy with using non-traditional learning methods
Prerequisites : Student will set up personal accounts on the NCRTM webpage and log in when they work on their team activities.

Team Organization
Teams will consist of approximately 8-10 students with representatives from each class included in each team. Members will be assigned to teams by their course instructors. Course instructors will act as team captains and facilitate team activities. Teams will organize around themes chosen by the team captains.
Teams 1 & 2: Andrea Perkins. Theme: Influence of Culture/Diversity on Assessment
Teams 3 & 4: Michael Millington. Theme: Ethical Assessment Practice
Teams 5 & 6: Josh Tilton. Theme: (???)
Teams 7 & 8: James Soldner. Theme: The Use of Achievement/Entrance Exams
Captains will further define the topics within the their teams such that the groups are working on complementary aspects of the theme rather than duplicating content.
Team Process
Teams will work asynchronously through the Student Forum.We will allocate space such that each team works in its own secured forum. The team forums are thematic and structured. The team captain will start each forum topic. Students reply in the threaded discussions, responding to the direction/query of the team captain and responding to each other. Students are expected to check in regularly, and to participate often. Students are responsible for conceptualizing the project, breaking project down into developmental steps, assigning tasks, executing assigned tasks, setting and meeting deadlines, assembling the finished product, and presenting their topic in a public forum. The team captain will facilitate this process, troubleshoot, and provide educational resources.
Team Product
Each team will generate: (1) An archived threaded discussion that documents their process and progress; (2) The parameters of a case study that illustrates an important aspect of their theme; (3) A 15-minute presentation on their topic with annotated Power Point slides; and (4) A WIKI entry on their topic.
At the conclusion of the course, each group will create a webinar related to their topical area. There will be a two-week period devoted to the presentation/recording of the webinar. In the week following, students will be required to view the parallel webinar for their topic area and complete the related case study.

Assignment Guidelines

Webinar & WIKI

Based on the topic your team was assigned, each team will complete a 15-minute Power Point presentation that will be presented as a webinar, as well as a WIKI entry that will be posted to the Clearinghouse. Everyone is not required to work on both assignments, but responsibility for work tasks must be managed by the group. Information and literature can be shared for both assignments, but each must have distinct differences. Both assignments should follow an outline developed by the team and incorporate scholarly, as well as popular, literature where applicable. Each assignment should demonstrate application of the topic to contemporary practice through the use of examples, especially those that show its utility with diverse groups and settings. The assignments will be graded based on the quality of the literature used; organization and clarity of topic; application of topic to practice; grammar and style; use of APA format; and the distinctiveness between the two assignments.

Potential Grading Criteria

(1) this will be a measure of participation in the process i.e., class participation

(2) the way that the case study will be grades won't be on the generation of the case study to be used but rather on the completion of the other group's case study i.e. rubic for case conceptualization and critical thinking

(3) & (4) the grading for this will be some sort of rubric that will be used for both of these activities becuase they deal with essentially the same information in a different format