AEFIS Academy Community Event

Image Sources: Scantron.com & Pacific Standard

Description

Institutions of higher education have long espoused that a primary purpose or role of education is in service to the public good through supporting the development of students ready to participate in democracy and civic life. Alumni metrics on voting rates and civic engagement serve as indicators to institutional leadership on the success of fostering democratic involvement, but democracy involves mastery of various learning outcomes such as debate, critical thinking, analysis, problem identification, and community building to name a few. Further, the role of higher education in educating students for democracy is evolving over time, recalibrating based on societal needs. 

The United States has faced fundamental threats to democracy for several years, the most recent of which involved an attack on the nation’s capital that added stress to an already long road to healing. Higher education leaders offered statements to reaffirm core beliefs and call for serious reflection on societal structures and organizations that have enabled or supported the deterioration of the foundation of democracy in the U.S.

As your community of practice, AEFIS Academy is launching a four-part series designed to explore and unpack the relationship between Democracy and Assessment. Throughout this series, a variety of thought leaders will come together in conversation around what the current relationship between democracy and assessment entails, what the relationship should or could be, and what the role of assessment might be moving forward to support a productive democracy.

As the series unfolds, we will invite all participants to join a community group to continue discussions on how we might, as a field, advance assessment for democracy. Within the community, we will develop strategies and processes for embedding assignments and other experiences that engage students in democracy into courses and co-curricular activities. Please join us because Your Voice Matters!

Key Takeaways for Episode 2

It is our goal to provide the audience with the following intended key takeaways:

1. Uncover and critique how democratic citizenship and civic engagement are currently assessed in higher education. 

2. Outline additional learning outcomes to consider in assessing the development of democratic citizens. 

3. Develop a list of learning outcomes to support active citizenship within a democracy. 

Our Discussion Leaders

We are honored to have these discussion leaders leading this panel:

Dr. Ereka Williams, Associate Dean, WSSU

Jarek Janio, SLO Coordinators, Santa Ana College

Dr. Natasha Jankowski, Director of Assessment Success, AEFIS

Dr. Natasha Jankowski is the Director of Assessment Success for AEFIS. Previously she served as the Executive Director of the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) and research associate professor with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is co-author of the book Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education, as well as co-author of Degrees that Matter: Moving Higher Education to a Learning Systems Paradigm, and co-editor of Student-Focused Learning and Assessment: Involving Students in the Learning Process in Higher Education. A forthcoming book focuses on equity and assessment. Her areas of focus include assignment design, transparency, evidence-based storytelling, equity, mapping and alignment of learning, and all things assessment. Natasha is the recipient of the Academic Professional Excellence Award from the University of Illinois, Kent State University’s Alumni Award, and the Young Alumni Award from the College of Education at UIUC. She holds a PhD in Higher Education from the University of Illinois, an M.A. in Higher Education Administration from Kent State University, and a B.A. in philosophy from Illinois State University.

More discussion leaders joining! Check back soon!

Event Info & On-Demand Recording

Any pre-event information will be provided below. Any post-event information and the archived recording will be available within 48-hours following the event. This content is only available to AEFIS Academy Community Members.