The Academy

General information about the Academy is available here.

Faculty and academic resource professionals are invited to attend a training workshop of the CLA in the Classroom Academy.  These will be opportunities to work with people from your own institution as well as those from other colleges and universities.

The workshops will focus on curricular and pedagogical work that complements institution-wide assessment practices.  In particular, participants will:

• Learn how to administer and score a CLA in the Classroom Performance Task, as well as how to use the results to do diagnostic work with their students

• Participate in a hands-on workshop to develop performance tasks where course content or concepts can be embedded

• Learn more about rubric-based assessment as it applies to the CLA in the Classroom Performance Tasks

• Brainstorm strategies for using these approaches in courses or across their institution

The Academy will include a mixture of mini-lectures, small group activities, large group discussion, and independent work.

A limited number of participants are allowed to register for each Academy in order to keep the activities highly interactive and hands-on.

It is recommended that each institution sends a team of at least two people to the workshop so they can collaborate when returning to campus.

The workshop will run two days.  Copies of materials will be provided, and breakfasts and lunches are included.

Schedule at a Glance

The format for the CLA in the Classroom Academy is as follows:

DAY 1 (9:00 am - 5:00 pm):

• Welcome and introductions
• An overview of authentic assessment practices
• Using rubrics
• Exploring CLA in the Classroom Performance Tasks
• Reading and scoring actual student responses
• Diagnostic debriefing
• (Enjoy dinner on your own)

DAY 2 (9:00 am - 3:00 pm):

• Planning how to create a performance task (in groups)
• Feedback on tasks
• Working on creating performance tasks
• Discussion of pedagogy and curricular strategies
  
• Departures

Comments from Participants 

"Generally if I come back from a conference/workshop with one small nugget of good info, I am satisfied. Here, however, I was amazed that the entire 2 days were fabulous. I never felt bored or wished things would move along more quickly." -- Associate Professor of Psychology

"The facilitators were the best I've ever had at a workshop. I was particularly impressed by the connection between teaching/learning and assessment and that there was a focus on authentic assessment and changing the culture of teaching and learning at our institution." -- Anonymous participant

"The workshop was developed to ensure maximum learning. The two-day workshop consisted almost entirely of active learning. It is refreshing when presenters practice what they preach." -- Anonymous participant

"This stuff gives us something concrete to work with, to analyze and evaluate. It's much better than just waving our hands and saying, "well, you know, it's about 'critical thinking'"." -- Professor of English

"Both Marc and Esther were excellent facilitators -- smart, lively, energetic, patient, enthusiastic." -- Anonymous participant"

"Very knowledgeable and effective presenters.  Free of a lot of jargon that sometimes permeates discussions of assessment." -- Direct of Assessment

"Great -- clean, clear, anticipated questions and responses well -- you know the territory!" -- Professor of English

"Excellent. Possibly the best organized workshop I've attended." -- Anonymous participant

"I found the 'template' process for developing a performance task to have been the most important/valuable thing I learned. Close behind was learning more about the rubrics and using them to score performance tasks. I will use this to teach workshops on campus (group/tutorial) and to create performance tasks for my own courses." -- Director

"Highly effective model that balances individual work time with group work. I've made important contacts that I will maintain as I continue to develop my performance tasks." -- Anonymous participant

"Absolutely brilliant. Wonderfully constructed and entertaining presentations" -- Anonymous participant