This Week

Monday, December 8

4:00 PM - LS 102 Meeting
Founders Basement Lounge

7:30 - 9:00 PM - Community Lecture "Diatribe, the Culture War, and Civil Discourse"
Science 102
Dr. Stephen Klien

Tuesday, December 9

10:30 - 11:30 AM - Walk-In Hour with Jeff
116 Founders Hall

11:30 - 11:50 AM - Reflections - Dr. Anette Ejsing, Religion Dept.
Ascension Chapel, 2nd Fl., Founders Hall

Wednesday, December 10

12:00 - 1:00 PM - Weekly Bible Study
Bias from the Bottom: An authentic way to read the Bible
Chicago Room, College Center
Led by Pastor Priggie, College Chaplain
Bring your lunch if you wish, and a Bible

3:45 - 5:00 PM - Teaching Circle
Wilson Center

9:30 PM - Evening Prayer & Holy Communion
Ascension Chapel, 2nd Fl., Founders Hall

Thursday, December 11

No Convocation This Week

10:30 AM - Teaching Circle
Old Main 128 

11:30 AM - Values of Augustana "Community, Conversation, and the Business of a College"
Don Erickson, English Department
Library, South End

5:00 PM - Deans' Meeting with Department and Program Chairs
Wilson Center

6:00 PM - Kwanzaa Dinner Celebration
College Center Loft
Everyone is invited.

Friday, December 12

4:00 PM - Friday Conversations - CIEE Faculty Development Seminar Report
Wilson Center
3:30 Refreshments
Vicki Sommer, S.A. Fenwick, Jason Koontz

Saturday, December 13

8:00 PM - A Celebration of Christmas
Centennial Hall
Messiah
Soloists:
Michelle Arezaga, soprano
Stacy Eckert, mezzo soprano
Brad Diamond, tenor
Phil Kraus, baritone
Tickets available through the Augustana Ticket Office 309.794.7306
$16 and $13 tickets, discount for Christmas package

Sunday, December 14

10:30 AM - Sunday Morning Worship
Ascension Chapel, 2nd fl., Founders Hall

2:00 PM - A Celebration of Christmas
Centennial Hall
Messiah
Soloists:
Michelle Arezaga, soprano
Stacy Eckert, mezzo soprano
Brad Diamond, tenor
Phil Kraus, baritone
Tickets available through the Augustana Ticket Office 309.794.7306

5:00 PM - Sunday Catholic Mass
Ascension Chapel, 2nd fl., Founders Hall

A Message From Academic Affairs

Now's the Time: Assessing Student Learning in Your Classes

This is an appropriate time in the term to consider asking students for feedback on their classroom experiences. Are they learning in the way you had hoped? Are there things you could do to help facilitate their learning process? How can we know and improve the depth of our students' learning?

Formative assessment techniques focus on collecting information on student learning, whereas summative assessment looks at tests, paper and other graded assignments. "When the cook tastes the soup, it is formative assessment; when the dinner guest tastes the soup, it is summative evaluation." [from John Cowan's: A Handbook of Techniques for Formative Evaluation]. Formative assessment is most often done anonymously and without the assignment of grades in order to encourage honest and substantive feedback from students. There are many approaches to gathering this information including mid-term evaluations, minute papers, reflective journals, Moodle journal, concept maps, to name a few. Formative assessment encourages the kind of reflective practice that can lead to changes in teaching pedagogy specifically to enhance the quality of student learning in your classroom. Formative assessment techniques most often take little time to administer and can be used in faculty review portfolios as evidence of effective student learning and teaching pedagogy. If you are interested in learning more about formative assessment, take some time to peruse Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross's book Classroom Assessment Techniques, in the Teaching and Learning section of the library [LB2822.75 .A54].