Assessment Excellence

HLC Presentation, April 2008

2008-04-13T08:47:00.004-06:00

Ralph Fagin, the Interim President of Oral Roberts University, and I are at the Higher Learning Commission Annual Meeting in Chicago, ready share about Personal Growth Assessment.

Here is the Presentation https://app.chalkandwire.com/EP2_A/ViewArtifact.aspx?Cus1=3&t=8661833&u=ceasterling&Afid=159004&CU=ceasterling&ParaId=355892&Cus=3

It is huge, so it could take minute or two.

Have a happy day!

Assessment Newsletter & Assessment Catalog

2007-05-10T09:05:00.000-06:00

Faculty members (usually with student representatives) have regular meetings to share student learning outcomes data. Examples include (1) the annual Faculty Retreat, (2) the annual Chairs’ and Deans’ Workshop, (3) the annual General Education Faculty Workshop, (4) monthly University Faculty Assembly meetings, (5) periodic ePortfolio faculty meetings, (6) twice-per-semester departmental ePortfolio meetings, and (7) periodic meetings of the Institutional Improvement and Student Learning Committee. Student learning outcomes are presented in the periodic publication, ORU Assessment Newsletter, and through a number of other venues.

ORU’s annual Assessment Catalog provides a record of all assessment efforts at the University, grouped by academic and service departments. The catalog fosters a cross-flow of assessment ideas between and among departments and schools. Departments can learn from what others are doing and can replicate or adapt assessment techniques. The Assessment Catalog identifies internal and external sources of assessment data, both qualitative and quantitative assessment methods, and most importantly, decisions and improvements based on assessment data. ORU also publishes a complete curriculum map listing every course taught at the University and how that course contributes to each University-wide student learning outcome.

Direct Assessment of Student Learning

2007-05-01T16:37:00.000-06:00

Each academic department at Oral Roberts University has a designated faculty member to coordinate its ePortfolio processes, called a Subadministrator. The Subadministrator enters departmental outcomes, rubrics, and demographic survey questions into ePortfolio; runs reports; aggregates, disaggregates, and analyzes the performance data; informs the department and school about student progress related to learning outcomes; conducts research; and exports raw or filtered data into a database for further analysis. When interpreting the data, departments often confer with ORU’s ePortfolio Administrator or the Institutional Improvement and Student Learning Committee, which has general oversight of assessment issues.

In addition to using ePortfolio to document student learning, some departments utilize major field tests and/or gather data on student success on professional or licensure exams. The University also conducts the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP) Test for second semester sophomores as a direct assessment of the effectiveness of the general education curriculum. The CAAP scores for critical thinking, science reasoning, and mathematics are then linked to the students’ ACT entrance exam scores (or their SAT equivalents) to measure the extent to which students are achieving their potential for success in college.

Using Student Learning Outcomes for Program Improvement

2007-04-20T11:05:00.000-06:00

As part of the process to use outcomes for improvement, ORU regularly incorporates information about success with student learning outcomes in discussions and decision-making processes at all levels.

At least twice during most semesters, faculty members who serve as course coordinators meet to discuss student learning outcomes. They revise course assessment rubrics to better measure student learning, determine which assignments should be designated as ePortfolio artifacts for data analysis, and ensure that student learning outcomes further the mission of the department, school, and University.

Student learning outcome results are integral to the ORU program review process. Faculty members from each major and program compile a self-study document, incorporating variables such as student learning results harvested from ePortfolio and other sources. The program review process also includes surveying students, faculty, alumni, employers, and graduate faculty of alumni who pursue graduate degrees. Each survey helps determine how well the program or major achieves its mission through student learning outcomes.

Have a happy day!

Fixed Link in Last Blog Post

2007-04-07T10:18:00.000-06:00

The last blog posting had a broken link. Thanks to Debbie George, I was able to restore it, so that you can read the Excellence Magazine article about ORU's ePortfolio program. Here it is:

http://alumni.oru.edu/excell/fall04/pages/department/campus-currents4.asp or click_here.

Also, it is always better to click the link at the bottom of this email and go to the blog itself, rather than trying to read it in email format.

Did you know that you can also post to this blog? Go ahead--it is open to anyone.

Have a happy day!

Spreading the Word about ORU's Learning Outcomes

2007-04-06T15:51:00.000-06:00

All ORU alumni are apprised of the ePortfolio process and assessment results of student learning through periodic mailings. One key alumni source for information about the University is Excellence magazine, published quarterly by the ORU Alumni Association. That magazine includes articles about ORU’s success with student learning, especially as it relates to ePortfolio. For an example from the Fall 2004, edition, entitled “From Snapshot to Surround Sound,” click_here. University Business magazine has also featured ORU’s ePortfolio system in a positive way.

The Public Relations Department conveys to the general public ORU’s strong emphasis on student learning. A press release dated April 13, 2004, introduced the ORU University-wide comprehensive assessment ePortfolio system. It quoted Geoff Irvine, president of Chalk & Wire as saying,” Oral Roberts University is the first higher education institution in the world to use ePortfolio and RubricMarker to collect performance data across the entire university.” Articles regularly appear on the ORU website regarding comprehensive assessment.

When reporting to internal and external constituencies, all six schools within the University supplement student learning data with other evidence of the soundness of operation and overall effectiveness of their programs. These data include graduation rates; professional certification pass rates; field test results; job placement rates; expenditure per credit hour, per student FTE, and per faculty FTE; student/faculty ratios; diversity data; community service hours; and employer survey results conducted by sources other than ORU. For example, the most recent survey of Tulsa-area employees commissioned by the Tulsa Metro Chamber of Commerce ranked ORU first in quality of graduates among more than 15 post-secondary institutions in the region.

ePortfolio as an Element of Total Assessment Program

2007-03-25T15:41:00.000-06:00

NCATE, the Oklahoma State Board of Education, and ABET have praised ORU’s approach to assessing student learning outcomes. Additional self-studies in process for site visits will inform other accrediting agencies of evidence of the success of individual majors and programs in achieving student learning outcomes. The School of Nursing completed a self-study with ePortfolio data as a main source for documenting student progress and program improvement. The School of Theology and Missions has completed a two-year process of examining the school’s learning outcomes and converting their tracking process to ePortfolio in preparation for the start of their next re-accreditation visit, as have the music and social work programs. The School of Business is using ePortfolio to demonstrate its success in measuring and increasing student learning as well as in identifying program weaknesses in its current study to achieve initial accreditation through the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).

Dr. John Taylor of the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association (HLC) recently visited the ORU campus and cited the remarkable progress the University has made in measuring student learning outcomes as a means for institutional improvement. His only concern was sustaining such an ambitious ePortfolio project over time. Strong support from top ORU leadership and buy-in from the faculty indicate that the University will be able to do so. ORU takes advantage of such assessment measures as NSSE, HERI surveys, CAAP Tests, nationally normed subject-area tests, and an array of special assessments, but ePortfolio offers non-self-reported evidence of meeting student learning outcomes across the entire curriculum that can be broken down over a large number of demographic and other variables and compared across time.

Interest in ORU's ePortfolio System

2007-03-12T06:37:00.000-06:00

ORU educators interact with professional colleagues regarding the use of ePortfolio to trace and document achievement of learning objectives. They inform the larger academy of institutional progress, share lessons learned during the implementation and maintenance processes, and obtain peer input to improve ePortfolio. ORU’s Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs supports, promotes, and encourages ORU faculty, staff, and administrators in their efforts to share ePortfolio experiences. Faculty and staff members have presented at over 40 regional and national conferences, offered 6 regional workshops, authored numerous publications, and consulted with other institutions that are considering a similar approach to assessing student learning outcomes. An article outlining ORU’s ePortfolio in the May 11, 2005, issue of Education Week quoted the dean of the ORU School of Education as saying, “Now, all [evidence needed to qualify for graduation] is available online and can quickly be gathered, broken down, and converted into charts and graphs for faculty to talk about.” Campus Technology published an article featuring ORU's ePortfolio in its March,_2007_issue. The ePortfolio Administrator has presented ORU ePortfolio results to Institutional Research organizations and consulted with numerous universities. The Dean of Instruction has shared results with the international faculty development organization POD. Many faculty members have presented at disciplinary professional organizations, to accrediting agencies, at other institutions, and at general higher education conferences, such as those sponsored by the AAC&U.

Interest in the ORU experiment has been widespread, especially among the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). Institutions that have invited ORU presentations and workshops on ePortfolio include: Abilene Christian, Oklahoma Christian, Oklahoma Wesleyan, Bethune Cookman, Northeastern Oklahoma State, Central Oklahoma, LeTourneau, Southwestern Oklahoma State, and Northwestern Oklahoma State. When ORU’s ePortfolio was highlighted at the annual CCCU Enrollment Conference, Tim Johnson, the conference director, stated: “ORU is an institution where outcomes assessment on the integration of faith and learning is truly taking place.” This means that assessment of learning outcomes extends beyond traditional academic content to include co-curricular goals related to ethics, morality, community, and one’s calling in life.

Dissemination and Training in ePortfolio

2007-03-07T17:10:00.000-06:00

Oral Roberts University routinely provides students and the public with information about its student learning outcomes and ePortfolio, both of which have become integral parts of the ORU experience and culture over the past three years. Students and faculty members work with them daily. Members of the ORU faculty, administration, and staff have shared the ORU ePortfolio process through 41 publications, presentations, and workshops. Many of these were at the national level and addressed a wide range of constituencies, including (1) students, (2) professional colleagues, (3) accrediting agencies, (4) alumni, and (5) the general public.

All ORU students are trained in the operation of ePortfolio and required to submit approximately 50 artifacts over the course of their undergraduate careers and 15 during their graduate careers. With each submission, a student is reminded of how each learning outcome links to ORU’s mission. From faculty feedback, students see their progress and learn which specific areas need improvement. The ePortfolio system enables teachers, advisors, and administrators to compare any student’s progress at any level (i.e., assignment, course, classification, school, University) and discuss the results with the student. Students receive two ePortfolio handbooks to assist them in using ePortfolio to track their learning progress, one for general education (link: General_Education_Handbook) and one for their particular majors (link: Departmental_ePortfolio Handbooks). They learn how to create a Career ePortfolio for use in their job searches and career enhancement (example_Career_ePortfolio, used with permission). An ePortfolio Advisory Council, composed of 20 students and 20 faculty members, provides valuable feedback and guidance from both student and faculty perspectives.

We are in Campus Technology Magazine

2007-03-01T16:45:00.000-06:00

Hey, gang. You can read about us in the March 2007 issue of Campus Technology Magazine:

http://campustechnology.com/articles/45245/

Have a happy day!

Usefulness of ePortfolio Data

2007-02-26T17:03:00.000-06:00

Using external accreditation criteria as benchmarks, ORU’s School of Education and Engineering Department serve as examples that the institution has begun documenting whether actual achievement levels of students are acceptable given the mission, student population, and resources available. Some majors and programs are in earlier stages of documentation, but making progress. To cite a specific example related to critical thinking, each student in the Principles of Chemistry lab course writes a 250-300 word abstract for a meat analysis lab exercise. The student’s hypothesis as to which of four types of meat is the healthiest and most cost-effective is then tested by analyzing the results of the lab experiment. The abstract is submitted electronically to a faculty member via ePortfolio under the Intellectually Alert outcome and Critical Thinking proficiency. The faculty member assesses the abstract using the Critical Thinking rubric criteria, which include a clearly identified purpose and hypothesis, accurate and appropriate data, crucial and consistent assumptions, and valid inferences and conclusions supported by content. Each student receives assessment feedback for each component from the faculty member via ePortfolio according to the following scale: Exemplary (4.0), Competent (3.0), Acceptable (2.0), Unacceptable (1.0), or Not Attempted (0). The faculty member can also add comments to the assessment to augment the quantitative data.

During the 2005-06 academic year, 216 students submitted critical thinking artifacts in three different chemistry courses. An analysis of these data reveals that 20% of the freshman chemistry majors scored at the competent or exemplary levels on their required artifacts; however, 100% were at least at the acceptable level. In comparison, 24% of general education freshmen performed at the competent or exemplary levels on their required artifacts, and 61% performed at least at the acceptable level. Goals for optimal performance have not yet been formally set, but existing standards in some disciplines use the figure of 80% as a benchmark. This tells the Chemistry department and General Education administrators that improvements are needed. General education courses in biology and the physical sciences collected similar data using the Critical Thinking rubric. These results have generated faculty discussions within the science departments regarding critical thinking, its definition, the most effective way to teach it in the sciences, when it should be taught, and the most effective techniques for assessing the skill. The data have prompted discussions among general education faculty members and administrators on methods of tracking improvements in student critical thinking throughout the students’ educational process in order to bring them to a mastery level. ORU’s ePortfolio data are available at: ePortfolio_data.

ePortfolio Data for External Accreditation

2007-02-23T22:36:00.000-06:00

A report from the Association of American Colleges and Universities states that a “purposeful educational program starts at the endpoint, with the desired characteristics of an institution’s graduates, and asks the faculty to reason backwards from outcomes to the implementation of an intentionally designed curriculum to cultivate the desired qualities.” This statement characterizes ORU’s process to articulate the University’s student learning outcomes with their accompanying proficiencies/capacities, as well as the development of the ePortfolio process.

ORU’s School of Education has been collecting ePortfolio data since 2002. The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) has heralded the ORU School of Education’s ePortfolio system as an example for all member institutions. The Oklahoma State Board of Education has done likewise. It serves as a model for other ORU programs to determine whether student learning outcomes have been achieved. Undergraduate faculty in the School of Education meet once every semester during “Assessment Week” to analyze summative data from artifacts assessed in the ePortfolio. All artifacts for the education major ePortfolio are aligned with the School of Education’s institutional standards, which in turn are aligned with national and University outcomes and provide valuable information at the student, program, and unit levels as it relates to moving students toward the knowledge, skills and dispositions expected of teacher candidates. Analysis of the Teacher Work Sample (TWS) can serve as an example. Through the TWS, teacher candidates demonstrate that they can deliver effective instructional units, employ meaningful classroom assessments, and analyze and reflect on their experiences. Data from the tws revealed that teacher candidates were scoring at the acceptable levels in the areas of demonstrating knowledge concerning using assessment data for instruction, analyzing student learning, and reflecting on teaching experiences. Results from ePortfolio also revealed that some faculty members were assessing students inconsistently. As a result, faculty members participated in professional development training on validity and reliability. Specific areas were identified where teacher candidates needed additional instruction. Therefore, the education assessment course was changed to incorporate additional instruction as it relates to teacher candidate use of assessment data to inform instruction.

In 2003-2004, the School of Nursing and the Engineering Department initiated ePortfolio programs. They have made progress in documenting the achievement of student learning outcomes. The engineering programs (computer, electrical, and mechanical) recently completed a re-accreditation site visit by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). The final ABET evaluation reported that ORU’s engineering program had “no deficiencies, no weaknesses, and no concerns.” They added that a major strength of the engineering program is its ePortfolio-based assessment program, which is coupled with the feedback mechanism of the University-wide student learning outcomes assessment system.

Reporting on Student Learning Outcomes

2007-02-22T09:23:00.000-06:00

ORU determines and communicates what counts as evidence that outcomes have been achieved. Each rubric informs students in advance of the expected performance criteria. After a faculty member evaluates an artifact using an online rubric, the student immediately receives feedback and knows the extent to which the assignment-specific outcomes were achieved. For example, the general education rubric for critical thinking artifacts includes such criteria as purpose/goal, hypothesis, evidence, conceptual understanding, assumptions, and inferences. Each rubric explains the levels of performance for each criterion.

ORU regularly collects and interprets evidence of outcomes. Rubric results are aggregated for each specific criterion. This process indicates which criteria are and are not being acceptably met by the majority of students, as well as how different segments of the student population are performing (i.e., minorities, international students, females, home-schooled students, older students, etc.). The aggregate data provide statistical performance indicators that help the University make informed decisions regarding curricular and pedagogical reform. For the Academic year 2005-06, the overall score for the General Education Outcomes at the University were (on a 0 to 4-point scale): Spiritually Alive, 3.0; Intellectually Alert, 3.0; Physically Disciplined, 2.8; and Socially Adept, 3.4. The University will issue a report to each student as a “Personal Dashboard,” showing personal progress to date on each of the Outcomes, compared with all other students at the University. The score for Professionally Competent will be compared with other students in the same major. Beginning in Fall 2007, the Personal Dashboard will be included with the student’s regular grade report.

Have a happy day!

ePortfolio: Infrastructure for a Culture of Evidence

2007-02-20T17:29:00.000-06:00

ORU’s School of Education pioneered ePortfolio in 2002. The general education ePortfolio is required of all freshmen, sophomores, and juniors (seniors will be included in fall, 2007). In addition, all of ORU’s 63 undergraduate majors and programs, 15 masters programs, and 2 doctoral programs require the major ePortfolio for all students. At the beginning of each semester, ORU’s Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs orients new students to the ePortfolio program. He emphasizes the rationale, what is expected of each student, and how to use ePortfolio to track individual progress throughout the student’s experience at ORU. All new students are required to take the Career Direct Assessment and write and upload a reflection paper on the results, thus beginning their college careers “with the end in mind.” Each student receives professional feedback on the reflection paper.

ORU has publicly committed to these specific student learning outcomes by making the ePortfolio a requirement for degree completion. This requirement is emphasized in the ORU Catalog, on the website, and in a variety of communications with both potential and current students. Every course syllabus indicates the level at which the course contributes to each learning outcome and its associated proficiencies/capacities. ORU has developed a complete Curriculum Map showing how every course contributes to the overall mission (view here: Curriculum_Map). ePortfolio is a student learning focal point for all internal and external major and program evaluations and re-accreditation self-studies. ORU has publicly shared its processes, successes, and challenges with ePortfolio and its student learning outcomes in more than 40 presentations at national and regional meetings of such educational organizations as NCATE, the Higher Learning Commission, AAC&U, CCCU, AIR, and EDUCAUSE. Responses to these presentations have been positive, due to the following distinctive characteristics:

Ø ePortfolio is required of all undergraduate and graduate students.
Ø All faculty members participate in the assessment process.
Ø The program has full support from all levels of administration.
Ø ePortfolio addresses University-wide and departmental specific learning outcomes.
Ø The program encompasses both curricular and co-curricular aspects of each student’s learning experience.
Ø Direct evidence of learning is provided for each individual student.
Ø Students know the target. They receive specific feedback and advisement on where to improve and repeatedly reflect on their progress through the developmental model.
Ø Students become aware that development of learning outcomes transcends individual courses.
Ø Assessment of learning is facilitated by such rubric-evaluated artifacts as pre/post tests with differential scoring, analytical lab reports, field tests, persuasive speech video clips, and critical analysis papers.
Ø The data generated leads to informed decisions that improve student learning.

The Lion, the Alice, and the ePortfolio

2007-02-16T18:05:00.000-06:00

“The Lion, the Alice, and the ePortfolio”
By Prof Lori Kanitz
Department of English
Oral Roberts University

Once upon a time there was an English Department with fourteen faculty members. This is the story of something that happened to one of them when he was sent to his office during the assessment raids to work on ePortfolio.

He was a not-so-old professor, Professor Mark Hall they called him, whose hair was not yet white and who lived in two offices, three floors apart, in a labyrinthine building on a university campus.

In one of the offices (the one on the third floor that was really the first floor, mind you) were stacks of papers, piles of books, and mounds of folders, but behind all of these was, what to you and me, would look like an ordinary computer. This computer was far from ordinary, however. It was the portal to another world.

One day, Professor Hall sat down at the computer to take care of an ordinary day’s work—three speeches before various university governing bodies, 15 spreadsheets for 10 committee meetings, strategic planning for door-to-door charity fundraising, blogging lectures notes for 3 classes, and brushing up on ancient Hebrew documents for a presentation to a church Sunday school class . . . and, of course, checking on the general health and well-being of Alice, the ePortfolio server.

This time, however, as Professor Hall gave Alice the secret password into her cyberworld, suddenly things became very strange. He found himself standing not in his office at all, but in a dense and snowy wood, shivering. Puzzled, he began to walk and as he did, he noticed that the trees all had labels with words like “Exemplary,” “Competent,” “Acceptable,” and “Not Attempted.” This was very strange, indeed. But before the Professor could begin to work out how he had gotten here, and furthermore, where he was, out from behind one of the trees bounded a faun.

“Oh, Mark!” exclaimed the faun, “Just in time! We’re in a terrible mess here, you know. You’re just the one to sort it out!”

“Me?!” stuttered the Professor. “But I don’t even know where I am . . . and who are you?”

“Why, I’m Will. Will Epperfaun. But you can call just call me ‘Bill’ for short.”

The name seemed vaguely familiar to Professor Hall, conjuring up strange images of kneeling before paintings, observing soup-stained suits, and listening to rambling narratives about dreams. . . .

“Anyway,” the faun interrupted, “come with me.” As they began walking, Will Epperfaun began telling the Professor the story of Oralia.

“It’s terrible, just terrible, you know. Oralia has been in a perpetual winter, with almost all the land’s inhabitants frozen motionless in obeisance to Alice (‘she who must be obeyed,’ he said, rolling his eyes), waiting for Alice’s circuits to thaw so we can get on with the work of assessment.”

“Assessment . . .,” Prof. Hall said quizzically. “So the labels on the trees . . .”

“Righty-o, clever lad,” said the faun with glee. “Everything we plant here in Oralia is supposed to grow and then be assessed. Of course, one can’t keep track of everything, so we stick labels on things.”

As the faun continued to explain the long and very complicated process of assessment in Oralia, the professor began thinking about the long winter, the frozen Oralians, and the trees growing with no notice taken of their progress . . . and suddenly he knew he had to do something. And just as suddenly, he knew what it was. (He wasn’t a full professor for nothing, you know.)

“I’ve got it!” shouted Prof. Hall.

The faun stopped in his tracks, a little startled at so rude an interruption to his monologue.

“Well, yes,” the faun said. “I should think after hearing such an excellent explanation by a faun of my expertise, you would have some notion of how all this works, but really, my boy, that’s no excuse for such an interruption . . .”

“No,” said the professor, more than a little exasperated. “I mean I know how to unfreeze Oralia. I know how to remove Alice’s curse.”

“Oh,” squealed the faun, flapping his hands excitedly. “I knew you would come up with something. What? What?!”

“Let’s go around Alice altogether. If you and the other Oralians can go on with your work without having to contact her directly, she can’t freeze you,” he said triumphantly. Then he told the faun the rest of his plans that would allow the Oralians to do their assessment without having to contact the fearsome cyber-ruler directly but once or twice a year.

The plan was implemented at once and immediately Oralia began to thaw. The Oralians, freed from Alice’s perpetual winter, hailed Professor Hall as their champion and hero. As he returned to the portal in the woods (now cool and mossy), he was given a triumphant goodbye from all the inhabitants of the land. He waved goodbye to Will Epperfaun and turned . . . to find himself sitting at his computer in his office on the third-but-really-first floor, among stacks of papers, piles of books, and mounds of folders.
That night, when he went home, he felt both more tired and more satisfied than usual. He decided it was a good night to take the family to see a movie . . . about a lion, a witch, and a wardrobe. The end.

Student Learning Outcomes at ORU

2007-02-16T07:52:00.000-06:00

Since 2004, Oral Roberts University has employed a comprehensive rubric-evaluated University-wide ePortfolio system to assess its mission-focused learning outcomes as indicators of student progress. Students track their progress, while documenting that their educational experiences encompass more than academics. Data from student artifacts (essays, lab reports, video clips, reflection on co-curricular activities, etc.) are aggregated and disaggregated to measure student success and to make informed decisions for improvement of student learning through curricular and pedagogical refinements. Faculty members intentionally interact with students to inform them regarding their learning progress. Faculty members also regularly meet together to share ideas for improving assessment processes.

Since 2002, Oral Roberts University (ORU) has fostered a learning-centered paradigm emphasizing engaged learning with closer interaction between students and mentor-teachers. ORU analyzed its student learning outcomes using the AAC&U’s Greater Expectations Project model. This model suggests that student learning outcomes should flow from an institution’s mission, the curriculum and pedagogy should be designed to produce the outcomes, and assessment should indicate the extent to which an institution is accomplishing those outcomes. This analysis resulted in a modification of ORU’s Mission Statement to include emphasis on social development, leadership, and professional competence. The statement now reads: “…the University seeks to educate the whole person in spirit, mind, and body, thereby preparing its graduates to be professionally competent leaders who are spiritually alive, intellectually alert, physically disciplined, and socially adept.” With input from all levels, including students and the Board of Regents, the faculty selected the proficiencies/capacities to monitor how well students fulfill the learning outcomes identified in ORU’s Mission Statement:

Student Learning Outcomes (definitions at: ORU_Student_Learning_Outcomes)

In a two-year parallel effort on the part of both faculty and administration, ORU designed and implemented a University-wide comprehensive ePortfolio program using the new learning outcomes as indicators of student progress. Each student maintains a personal library of artifacts (class assignments or other exhibits), separated into two portfolios—one for general education and one for the major or program. The general education ePortfolio requires 32 artifacts that encompass all the proficiencies/capacities listed above (example at: General_Ed_ePortfolio_example – with student’s permission). Each major ePortfolio includes appropriate University outcomes, as well as outcomes specific to the area of study (example at: major_ePortfolio_example – with student’s permission). Artifacts are assessed using rubrics that interface online with the artifacts and automatically enter the results into an assessment database. Tables of Contents for the majors may be seen at: Departmental_Tables_of_Contents.

Free Web-based Alternative for Sudents who Use WordPerfect or MS Works

2007-02-15T17:39:00.000-06:00

Here is Computerworld's analysis of what they claim is the best of four available:

ThinkFree Office Online

ThinkFree has three main components -- Write (a word processor), Calc (a spreadsheet), and Show (presentation software) -- all of which are listed on the site's My Office page, along with your most recently edited files. If you're concerned about document compatibility with Microsoft Office, you want ThinkFree. There's simply no contest.

ThinkFree's opening page shows your most recently used files.

Right from the start, you know things are different. ThinkFree Write offers two modes of operation when you open a file and see a preview screen. Quick Edit mode offers a minimal interface -- a few toolbar buttons for simple editing, reminding you more of WordPad than Word. Power Edit looks more like a full application: menus, a rich toolbar, a ruler bar and even a drawing toolbar similar to Word's for inserting elements such as AutoShapes, text boxes, clip art, and pictures.

In fact, ThinkFree's Power Edit menu reveals a startling number of word processing features, from columns and drop caps to AutoCorrect and table manipulation, such as merging cells, distributing cells evenly across the page, repeating header rows. Though it lacks support for wild cards, the find feature can highlight all occurrences of your search term. You can add bookmarks, create table of contents entries, choose styles for your numbered lists, insert page breaks and use fields (including formulas).

ThinkFree Write allows you to insert images from clip art, from an image file, or directly from Flickr, a popular photo-sharing service. Right-click on a misspelled word (which is underlined with a red squiggly line) and ThinkFree Write offers properly spelled alternatives. There's undo and redo, zoom levels and the ability to save files as PDFs. You can also publish your documents to your own Web site using HTML that ThinkFree generates, attach ThinkFree or Microsoft Office documents to articles in your WordPress blog or other options.

The downside: loading Write or Calc can take up to a minute, and saving a small file takes about 10 seconds. The upside: ThinkFree hides your browser's menu bar, so when you use familiar keyboard shortcuts (such as Alt+F, O for File/Open), you are operating within the ThinkFree interface, not your browser. Other similarities to Microsoft Office are downright eerie -- the charting wizard in ThinkFree Calc looks just like Excel's and supports all of Excel's chart types.

Creating charts is quick and easy in ThinkFree Calc.

ThinkFree isn't 100% compatible with Office. For example, you can't create a PivotTable, and conditional formatting -- in which the background color of a cell varies by its value using settings you provide -- is not supported in Calc, though it did properly handle array formulas (both on existing worksheets we imported and on those created within Calc itself). To its credit, Calc opened the charts we created in Excel accurately and quickly; however, "template" and "macro" are concepts ThinkFree Write and Calc applications don't understand.

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Review: Four Free Online Office Suites
Ajax13
Google Docs & Spreadsheets
ThinkFree Office Online
Zoho Office Suite
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The spreadsheet module suffered none of the lag time of Zoho Sheet. It imported a test worksheet (with 330 rows and 70 columns filled with text) in under two seconds, recalculations were speedy, and moving about from cell to cell was responsive. In fact, if we didn't know better, we'd have sworn we were working with native Excel on a slightly underpowered system.

In promoting Office 2007, Microsoft has talked a lot about helping users get the most out of features already in Office. ThinkFree's simple menus, fast response and wide range of features compatible with Office applications make it a good choice if you're looking for an Office work-alike that doesn't have all the high-end features you probably aren't using anyway. The suite also comes with a presentation module for creating PowerPoint-compatible files, an application we did not test.

To share a file, you pick the mail client for sending the invitation -- ThinkFree Mail, Google's Gmail, Hotmail or a local e-mail client such as Outlook or Thunderbird -- and specify if the invitee can edit the document or just view and download it. It worked smoothly. An extension to ThinkFree allows you to view documents on other Web sites by simply right-clicking a link to a document, then choosing the appropriate ThinkFree application (it supports files with .doc, .rtf, .txt, .xls, .csv, .ppt, and .pps extensions).

ThinkFree's speed is due, in part, to a mix of technologies: Asynchronous JavaScript and XML for simple functionality and faster access, and Java for more complex functions and deeper Microsoft compatibility. The suite will soon be updated to use Flash to display presentations with animation.

Currently, ThinkFree hosts only a free version. By April 2007, the company will make available a Premium Edition that will offer offline and online access, synchronization between offline and online files, bulk archiving of documents in your online folders and priority tech support (with 24-hour response). Following the release of the Premium Edition will be a version for small and midsize businesses that will add group and user access.

ThinkFree worked without a hitch. It was responsive, worked perfectly saving new documents and importing those created in Office 2003. Its surprisingly well-rounded feature compatibility makes it the suite of choice for online work.

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ThinkFree Office Online: www.thinkfree.com

Basic apps: Word processor, spreadsheet

Extras: Presentation software

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Summary: The winner of our roundup, ThinkFree Office provides the most
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ORU -- Winner of 2007 CHEA Award

2007-02-15T16:55:00.000-06:00

Oral Roberts University (ORU) is a private, doctoral-granting university in Oklahoma. It has focused on student learning outcomes through a variety of means, including a university-wide electronic portfolio system that documents how well students fulfill the five learning outcomes that are identified in the university mission statement. Graduates are expected to demonstrate that they are spiritually alive, intellectually alert, physically disciplined, socially adept and professionally competent. Students are required to maintain portfolios in general education as well as major or program. Faculty evaluates the evidence contained in the portfolios to measure student success.