4.3 Spark an Idea 4: Nifty Assessments

4.3.1 Cultivating Wisdom Through Self-Reflection: A Personal Life Philosophy Assignment
Amanda Sharples, Assistant Professor, Psychology, Faculty of Arts & Science

There has been a call from scholars of pedagogy to encourage the cultivation of wisdom in higher education (Bruya & Ardelt, 2018; Ferrari & Kim, 2019; Jakubik, 2023).  Indeed, wisdom has consistently been linked to greater well-being and may buffer against the stressful experiences that undergraduate students frequentlyencounter (Liu & Sharples, in prep; Ardelt & Jeste, 2016). Research on the pedagogy of wisdom suggests that self-reflection may be particularly important for enhancing wisdom (Bruya & Ardelt, 2018). Many undergraduate students are at a pivotal stage in life, referred to as emerging adulthood, where they may be focused on exploring their identities and developing their character strengths (Arnett, 2000). This may be a key stage in life to self-reflect and develop wise reasoning skills. During this talk, I will discuss a personal life philosophy assignment that allows students to learn about themselves. This assignment is broken into three stages. During stage one, students learn about their personal values and character strengths. During stage two, students write their personal life philosophy and put together a plan for specific actions they may take over the next six weeks to implement this philosophy. During stage three, students reflect on how they implemented this plan, the challenges they faced, and whether they would make any changes to their personal life philosophy. This assignment is designed with the goal of encouraging students to think about their long-term goals, what a good life looks like to them, and how their current daily behaviours are helping them achieve a good life. I will discuss ways this assessment may be adapted for use in a variety of courses and how it may be shortened into a one-time assessment or in-class activity.

4.3.2 Developing student competencies using simulation connected to written assessment
Carolyn Mak, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work

How can simulation be used as a tool to enhance student learning about counselling skills and inform a deliverable of a written assessment? Simulation is not a new method for competency-based assessment in social work (Logie, et al. 2013), however little is discussed about the ways to connect simulation to written assessments. This nifty assessment demonstrates how social work graduate students develop skills and competencies in the practice of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT); in this case, students were asked to write an assessment paper based on data collected from a simulation exercise with a standardized patient (SP).

Attendees will learn about the adopted holistic competence model in social work (Council on Social Work Education, 2022) including how it is comprised of both procedural competence and meta-competence (Bogo, 2022). This session will clearly outline the direct connection between specific course and learning objectives to the use of simulation as a tool to creatively evaluate the development of procedural skills. Further, details will be shared about the ways in which scaffolding of group activities to prepare for the simulation fostered a sense of inclusivity and group efficacy in the class where many students were intimidated and nervous about interviewing a SP. The instructor’s development of the SP’s case and how this aligned with course learning objectives will also be discussed. Overall, this nifty assessment is one way to understand the development of student competence, including ethics, values and knowledge as it is translated into everyday practice (Asakura, et al., 2024).

4.3.3 Take Care: A well-being curriculum for undergraduate students
Suzi Lima,Assistant Professor, Linguistics, Faculty of Arts & Science,Dr. Lauren Brown, Program Coordinator, Multi-Faith Centre

Take Care is a modular student well-being assessment that can be integrated into any course. The aims of Take Care are fivefold 1) teach students skills that can improve their academic performance 2) increase their capacity to cope with stressors encountered during coursework 3) encourage critical thinking as students apply the skills learned in Take Care to other courses, the workplace and their personal well-being 4) foster students autonomy by providing multiple means of engagement, action and expression 5) provide equitable access to learning these skills which are often only taught beyond the classroom in the co-curricular space. This final aim is of utmost importance as co-curricular learning, while highly valued, is often not accessible to students who have limited time due to long commutes, work, and family responsibilities.  Additionally, students experiencing mental health disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder or those who feel overwhelmed may not take on additional activities beyond the classroom. Through Take Care students build skills such as self-regulation, healthy boundaries for teamwork, deep listening, and productivity through focused attention. Take Care assignments are timed in relation to the demands and skills necessary for success in each course and can easily be integrated into Quercus. Take Care assessments ask students to describe their experiences and how they can apply what they learned to their academic or professional lives. Students receive up to 1% of their final grade per Take Care assessment they complete.