Daily News

Springfield College Hosts Workshop on Improving Student Learning

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield College hosted a one-day workshop, “Assessing Critical Learning Outcomes to Improve Student Learning,” on Tuesday, June 23. The workshop showcased the research findings the college has produced during its three-year project focused on educators’ contributions to the development of students’ critical thinking and oral communication skills.

Representatives from Maine, New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island were on campus to participate in the workshop. The Davis Educational Foundation funded both the workshop and the three-year critical thinking and communication initiative.

Springfield College faculty members, who have participated in the faculty-development and outcomes-assessment project throughout the last three years, led breakout sessions during the workshop that highlighted how faculty can embed learning activities into their courses that will enhance students’ critical-thinking and oral-communication skills.

Workshop attendees highlighted some of the best practices and lessons learned from research in critical thinking and communication. Charlie Blaich and Kathleen Wise from the Center for Inquiry at Wabash College delivered the keynote presentation, titled “If Not Now, When? If Not Us, Who? It’s Time to Roll Up Our Sleeves and Make Assessment Work for Us and Our Students.”

The project was led by Springfield College Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Mary Ann Coughlin and Missy-Marie Montgomergy, professor of Humanities and the college’s faculty project coordinator of the Critical Thinking Initiative.