Presenters:
- Toni Serafini (Sexuality, Marriage, and Family Studies: St. Jerome's University)
- Carm De Santis (Sexuality, Marriage, and Family Studies: St. Jerome's University)
- Mackenzie Turow (former SMF student)
One of the questions that often comes up with respect to experiential learning is, “How do we assess this learning?” Toni Serafini and Carm De Santis (SMF) shared their experiences with assessing these more challenging-to-assess learning experiences. They described how they have structured experiential learning within the context of a Capstone course in order to focus assessment on the goals of integration (across previous learning, self, and practicum) and critical self-reflection. Assignments are designed to tap each of these areas, and to link explicitly to the practicum component of the course. Students receive formative feedback throughout the course, which allows them to make constant (ongoing) adjustments across the term so as to gain the most from the practicum learning experience. Final assessment of student performance in the practicum involves evaluations from multiple stakeholders: practicum supervisor, student, and course instructor.