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Utilization-Focused Assessment Panel Part VIII

Utilization-Focused Outcomes Assessment: Making Assessment Meaningful & Useful An inter-institutional panel discussion hosted by the Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures at the University of Notre Dame focused on the Notre Dame Utilization-Focused Assessment Project for Foreign Languages. Brief Remarks by: John Norris, PhD Second Language Studies (University of Hawaii) Peter Pfeifer, PhD German Language & Literature (Georgetown University) Yukiko Watanabe, PhDc Second Language Studies (University of Hawaii) Lance Askildson, PhD Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures (University of Notre Dame) This panel will serve as the catalytic start for the two-year Utilization-Focused Assessment Project in the foreign languages–designed to establish substantive student learning outcomes, improve curricula and develop iterative assessment practices created by faculty from the bottom-up. This approach to assessment, one which emphasizes faculty involvement, ownership and practical utilization of assessment practices, has been successfully implemented within foreign language programs at peer institutions (including Georgetown and Duke) to great, substantive effect. The present project is therefore being carried out in collaboration with several parallel departments at Georgetown University as well as the University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center’s (NFLRC) Foreign Language Evaluation Program. Importantly, the present project builds on a seminal …