Evaluating and Improving Student Opportunities in a First-year Learning Community: Lifelong Learning and Career Awareness

Faculty researchers at Western Michigan University (WMU) have developed a rubric to holistically evaluate first-year students´ written responses to co-curricular and lifelong learning activities. This rubric draws on Bloom´s learning taxonomy to measure incremental levels in investment, meaning, and use. The rubric lists basic recall of the activity in the lower end of the spectrum, while synthesis of the activity´s message with one´s future plans is part of the highest level. The goals of this assessment include: 1) Determining if career awareness and lifelong learning objectives have been met; 2) Using results of the assessment rubric to improve future learning community activities; 3) Using assessment of written assignments to provide guidelines to first-year students for participation in and response to the activities; and 4) Adding to an existing library of tools and rubrics used to assess student learning in professional areas, such as lifelong learning, communication, and career awareness (the WeBAL Website at WMU´s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences)