Assessment of Writing is the latest volume in the AIR-sponsored Assessment in the
Disciplines series. Previous volumes have covered employing assessment in the teaching
of business, mathematics and related fields, and best practices for assessment in
engineering.
Assessment of Writing addresses the changing times in writing across the curriculum
(WAC), and the extensive use of electronic portfolios to assist with these efforts.
The book points to increased collaboration among scholars from multiple disciplines
as a common feature of the current philosophy in writing assessment.
See what two scholars said about Assessment of Writing:
Marie Paretti and Katrina Powell’s edited volume breaks new ground in WAC and Writing
Program Assessment. Their vision and the vision of the volume situates the assessment
of writing programs, broadly defined, as a collaborative, interdisciplinary venture
that can yoke the power of assessment with the local values and cultures of the
individual institution, program, teachers and students. In addition, this volume
. . . provides good, usable examples of colleagues working together within a local
context and across professional, disciplinary, and academic borders to create a
new breed of WAC and Writing Program Assessment.
--From Chapter 11: WAC and Writing Program Assessment Take Another Step: A Response
to Assessment of Writing, by Brian Huot and Emily Dillon - Kent State University
Future volumes in the Assessment in the Disciplines series will focus on assessment
of the teaching of chemistry and of arts- and design-related fields of study. Assessment
of Writing is available now to order
online, or download the printable
PDF and fax it to AIR at 850-385-5180.
Latest Edition of the AIR Professional File
Now available – Professional File # 114, Institutional Versus Academic
Discipline Measures of Student Experience: A Matter of Relative Validity (Winter,
2009)
By Steve Chatman, University of California – Berkeley
The census survey of undergraduates attending a major research university system
presents an opportunity to measure both disciplinary and institutional differences
in students’ academic experience. Results from nearly 60,000 responses (38% response
rate) from the 2006 administration found greater variance among majors within an
institution than between equivalent majors across institutions. Cluster analysis
techniques were employed to establish disciplinary patterns, with traditional distinctions
between hard and soft sciences generally supported. Reporting practices called into
question range from institutional comparisons that ignore academic program mix and
discipline to campus performance comparisons that do not recognize pedagogical differences
by academic major. More specifically, these results suggest that calls for comparable
institutional performance measures, as proposed by the Spellings Commission, must
take into consideration disciplinary differences in instruction.
You can view or download
PF # 114 from the AIR web site. Interested in having your
manuscripts considered for the Professional File? Please
send four (4) copies of each manuscript to the editor, Dr. Gerald McLaughlin (gmclaugh@depaul.edu).
Manuscripts are accepted at any time of the year as long as they are not under consideration
at another journal or similar publication. Please follow the style guidelines of
the Publications Manual of the American Psychological Association, 4th Edition.