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Integrative Learning Example The following documents were used to assess students’ degrees of success with Integrative Learning. The course assignment and student work come from English 150 (Introduction to Literature) and Psychology 230 (Human Development), two linked courses that were approved as an integrative learning experience as part of UW-Eau Claire’s Title III bundle pilot program. The rubric and scoring sheet were used by the Title III Assessment Team when evaluating student work from these linked courses.

Contents

Course Assignment Example ……………………………………………………………….………………………….1

Example of Student Work ……………………………………………………………………..………..……………..4

Integrative Learning Outcome Rubric …………………………………………………………..………………..11

Rubric Scoring Sheet Example …………………………………………………………………………………...….13

Course Assignment Example This course assignment describes the Semester Project for the integrated English 150/Psychology 230. Both instructors received and graded the projects in collaboration, awarding a single grade that contributed to each student’s final grade in both classes.

What It Means to Be Human • Semester Projects

English 150 and Psychology 230

Overview

This Semester Project asks you to use what you’re learning from literature in order to “read”

psychology OR use what you’re learning in psychology in order to “read” literature . . . all as a means

of coming to a new insight of your own about the human condition.

We encourage you to imagine this project in different kinds of forms. You might decide to write a

traditional paper, with a clearly articulated thesis, a developed argument with support, and a Works

Cited section. Or you might decide to do a “creative” project: a poem (or series of poems), a short

story, a play, a film, a song (both lyrics and music), or a multi-genre piece that includes textual, visual,

and audio elements. If you take this creative route, you must also write a commentary that explains

what you intended to accomplish with your project, what specifically it has to do with the material in

the courses (make direct references to texts and authors), and why the form you chose seemed the most

appropriate way—given the subject matter—to do what you wanted to do.

Purposes

Develop and demonstrate your understanding of connections between the disciplines of English

and Psychology.

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Demonstrate your insights gathered from the bundle theme: What It Means to Be Human.

Offer you an opportunity to explore more deeply a course topic that has interested you.

Develop your skills in critical and creative thinking, reading, writing, and reflection.

Identify for you some new insight you’ve gained from this experience.

Guidelines

FOR BOTH PAPERS AND CREATIVE PROJECTS

Ask yourself a big question that the readings and discussions have raised for you regarding the

human condition, and then set out to try to answer it.

Narrow your focus to only one or two concepts or themes from the two courses so that you can

cover the material sufficiently. (That is, don’t try to do so much that you end up not doing

anything in enough detail.)

Submit a proposal three weeks in advance so we can offer helpful feedback on your topic,

focus, or format. This proposal should be less than a page long but should identify your topic,

tell whether your project will be a paper or a creative project, and what your plans are for

developing it. If we believe that your topic requires information beyond class readings, this is

our opportunity to let you know in time for you to locate the appropriate sources.

Remember that revision is the single most important step in good writing.

While clear and effective writing is much more important than flawless mechanics, remember

that this is a formal academic assignment that demands adherence to academic standards of

grammar, usage, and punctuation.

If you use outside sources, you must include correct citations to a References/Works Cited

section using the appropriate formal documentation/citation style (i.e., APA or MLA).

If you use outside sources, you must also attach marked-up paper copies of the sources you

used.

When you refer to required readings from the two courses, no References/Works-Cited entry is

needed; author name and page number in parentheses will be enough.

Include a separate title page with title of project, your name, course names, and date.

FOR PAPERS

Be sure to establish a clear thesis that will guide the organization of your paper.

Organize your paper according to its thesis, supporting the thesis with main points which in turn

are supported by argument and information from sources.

Required length: 2400-3000 word count, printed double-spaced.

FOR CREATIVE PROJECTS

Be sure your project enacts or illustrates (“show, don’t tell”) relevant concepts/themes from

both courses.

Look to the authors studied in English 150 for inspiration for creative works.

Be sure your project will demonstrate why the form you choose is necessary for the message

you want to convey.

o One caution on the use of PowerPoint: occasionally in the past, students have used

PowerPoint (and other presentation software) as an end in itself – that is, simply having

the facility to combine fascinating images to accompany text seemed like being creative.

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That’s not what we have in mind. If you find yourself drawn toward the use of

presentation software, see us well in advance about your plans so we can offer

appropriate academic guidance.

Submit your project along with a 900-word commentary (printed double-spaced) that explains

the following.

o Which relevant themes/concepts you’re using from both courses.

o How your project enacts, illustrates, or examines those concepts.

o Which authors helped inspire or inform your ideas and your project.

o For multi-genre pieces, including film and songwriting, show why you needed visual

and/or audio elements to supplement textual content.

o What you intended to accomplish with your project, which specific parts of our course

content it relates to, and why the form you’ve chosen seemed the most appropriate way

to convey what you wanted to say.

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Example of Student Work This is an example of student work submitted for the Semester Project in English 150/Psychology 230, and for evaluation by the Title III Assessment Team for Integrative Learning outcomes.

A Former Life: Adolescence Semester Project

English 150 & Psychology 230 STUDENT B25

Skin

It has been stretched, and pulled.

The old peeled away, new and raw revealed.

It feels too loose and too tight.

I want to pull it in in some places,

Using my needle and thread to try and make sense of it,

And let it out in others—

Eyes are watching and they have noticed.

I can feel them piercing me,

if a look could kill.

My vulnerability, pure and untouched,

My new skin.

To Be a Best Friend

She only needed one.

To understand without speaking,

To look without seeing.

Always a mirror image, no dissonance.

She needed only one.

To capture tears with telltale hands,

To hold secrets bound at pinkies.

Always a mind alike, a body apart.

She needed one only.

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In Lust

I. Prologue

A poem was written for her.

It said: “I'll love you forever.

And until the End”.

II. Without Words

He wanted interlaced fingers,

And a love too shy to name.

She wanted sweet dreams,

And a boy too soft to have.

Together they grew,

A tree of new beginnings.

And their branches once apart,

Were intertwined.

A wordless love,

Made by gentle a single touch.

III. Name

It couldn't have been too late,

But it really is never too soon.

A matter of two became only one.

Boundaries smeared and stretched, undefiled,

And not cut between fine lines.

They were no longer two people,

And walked in one pair of shoes.

Most called it lust.

“So young, they are crazy”.

But the pair of one had a name,

They called themselves love.

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I Know You.

A snake with eyes so green,

None of which paint this world.

Your tongue licks the air,

Scents so sweet as you taste one so delicate.

A charismatic smile,

Dripping with the venom of your words,

Ones which so easily deceive.

As you methodically make your way up my body,

I feel your bite and your puncture.

My heart.

I know you—

They call you heartbreak.

Your Ocean

The sun dances on his skin,

cheeks burn red.

A piece of ocean locked within his iris.

His sails await me,

And I find myself lost in his ocean.

No map, nor compass.

None of these things are him.

I want him to be my confusion, a sightless destination.

As his waves envelop me, I am senseless.

Stained his blue,

We become infinite.

No boundaries, no direction.

Lost in each other;

But to be lost is to be found.

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Commentary

When reading the literature in English, as well as psychology, I found that I could

always relate and identify with the pieces that involved adolescence. In particular, I felt that

subject areas dealing with love and friendships were what I was most interested in. I enjoyed

the writing style of Alberto Rios in Theater of Night because it was clear and concise with

short verses. I also thought he depicted the love of Clemente and Ventura with effective

metaphors, especially his exploration with boundaries. However, I also used the metaphor of

oceans—the dark and unknown, but capable for renewal—that Linda Hogan frequently used

throughout her poetry in Rounding the Human Corners. Also, the idea of young love, as

presented in the tragedy of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, was portrayed as intense,

impulsive, and passionate—feelings which I have felt similar to in my own life. Using the style

of Rios and some of the same ideas from Hogan and Shakespeare, some characteristics of

developmental psychology also played an important role in writing these poems, such as

puberty, friendship, and dating relationships.

Skin

In this poem, I concentrated on how the skin alone felt, as if it were a piece of clothing

that needed mending, because that’s how it felt to me. In Rios’ poems, he focused specifically

on the changing body of Ventura and when she noticed it in “The Mermaid Comb”, she was

intrigued by it as she stared at herself in the mirror, and examining changes she hadn’t

noticed before. This was common to my experience.

I specifically recall a time in my life, between fourth and sixth grade, where my body

just felt weird and uncomfortable. I felt disproportional and awkward. It wasn’t what I wanted

it to be, and I was growing in areas I didn’t want to, such as the thighs, hips, and chest. It just

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didn’t feel right at this time, but it was clear I was going through puberty. It felt as though my

peers gawked at me because I started puberty earlier than other girls. Research shows that

Caucasian girls who mature early or late have an increased risk of a depressed mood (DeRose,

p. 1330). However, I don’t believe I was depressed; I was just struggling with my body image

and eventually I had no issues with it. Research says that girls who mature early have

problems in early adulthood with relationships, smaller social groups, and low satisfaction

(Berk, p. 371), but as I’ve gotten older and reached early adulthood, I’ve had no lasting

troubles from my negative experiences and feelings during puberty.

To Be a Best Friend

Beginning in sixth grade, I had many friends and we were all a part of a close group,

but one girl was my best friend and she still is to this day. From sixth grade until we graduated

high school, we were attached at the hip, regardless of other friends or boyfriends. We knew

everything about each other and always knew what one another was thinking without actually

speaking. We’ve gone through our darkest and happiest times together and no one really

knows anything about our friendship except us. This characterizes what friendships look like

during adolescence, having intimacy, mutual understanding, and loyalty (Berk, p. 417). I

believe she was a crucial part to what makes me who I am today, and it is said that friendships

are important to development throughout a lifetime (Hartup, p. 79).

In Lust

I chose to write this poem because I had my first boyfriend when I was a freshman in

high school, and we were together for over two years. It took a while before our relationship

was actually serious, and we broke up a couple of times in between. I recall thinking during

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the relationship that it had been the most in love I had ever been and would ever be. Now I

laugh at myself, especially during psychology class when we talk about “personal fables”,

because I had a personal fable with this person. In the textbook, it is described as “Certain

that others are observing and thinking about them, teenagers develop an inflated opinion of

their own importance—a feeling that they are special and unique” (Berk, p. 387). We thought

“nobody understood our love and nobody would ever be able to” (my thinking at the time).

I named this poem “In Lust” because looking back, I strongly believed we loved each

other, but it wasn’t mature love and we were more infatuated with one another more than

anything. I strongly relate this to the love story of Romeo and Juliet, of how intense their love

was for one another, but it lacked maturity and was full of impulsive actions. Obviously my

former boyfriend and I were not to the extremity of Romeo and Juliet, however, I definitely

identify with their strong feelings. What I mostly took from Romeo and Juliet was that it is

common to have these feelings, but it’s also okay to let them go. I think, personally, I was

really just too young for something that seemed too mature for my age, and I was the one who

ended this relationship because I wanted to move on and the seriousness of it scared me.

I Know You

This poem was written about my second boyfriend, and the metaphor for a snake

depicts him perfectly. I also took more of an animalistic view, as Hogan does in her poetry,

and uses animals as metaphors for the human condition. Although this is a rather negative

poem about a bad relationship, it did not hinder me in the long run because I have learned

what type of person I should not have a relationship with, and as stated above, relationships

are crucial for development.

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Your Ocean

This poem is about my current boyfriend, and I felt that Hogan’s uses of ocean

metaphors fit very nicely here. She talks about oceans being dark and mysterious, yet full of

light and opportunity. She states in “Whale Rising”, “No one returns from there unchanged”,

which could mean that oceans are a place for finding adventure, and people always learn

something from an adventure. My boyfriend is like my own personal ocean, he helps me figure

out who I am and who I want to be. I combined the common theme of the exploration

between two people’s boundaries in Rios’ poetry with Hogan’s metaphors for the ocean.

Boundaries were often explored in Rios’ poems about Clemente and Ventura, specifically in “A

Marrow of Water”. Here, their boundaries are described as “blurred”, almost as if they are

becoming one person, and is how I feel about my boyfriend currently. In my poem, the ocean

gives way to no boundaries and one large being.

References

DeRose, L., Shiyko, M., Foster, H., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2011). Associations Between

Menarcheal Timing and Behavioral Developmental Trajectories for Girls from Age 6 to Age 15. Journal of Youth & Adolescence, 10(40), 1329-1342.

Hartup, W., & Stevens, N. (1999). Friendships and Adaptation Across the Life Span.

Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8(3), 76-79.

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Integrative Learning Outcome Rubric When Title III faculty assessment teams began evaluating student work approximately three years ago, they first used AAC&U’s VALUE Rubric for Integrative Learning in its original form. During the course of their work, the assessment teams revised and improved the AAC&U rubric for use on our campus. The resulting rubric, shown here, was used to evaluate the Semester Project from English 150/Psychology 230, as well as the student work from numerous other integrative learning experiences.

Learning Outcome

Below

Benchmark

(0 Points)

Benchmark 1

(1 Point)

Benchmark 2

(2 Points)

Benchmark 3

(3 Points)

Capstone

(4 Points)

LO #1 - Connections

to Experience

Student connects

relevant experiences

and academic

knowledge.

Makes no

connections to

relevant experiences

or academic

knowledge.

Identifies connections

between life

experiences and content

presented in the

academic setting

(course, texts, etc.) that

are perceived as similar

and related to own

interests.

Compares life experiences

and academic knowledge,

to infer differences as well

as similarities, and

acknowledge perspectives

other than own.

Selects and develops

examples of life experiences,

drawn from a variety of

contexts (e.g., family life,

artistic participation, civic

involvement, work

experience), that connect

two or more fields of study.

Synthesizes connections

among experiences outside

of the formal classroom

(including life experiences

and academic experiences

such as internships and

travel abroad) to

understand fields of study

and to broaden own points

of view.

LO #2 - Connections

to Discipline

Student makes

connections across

disciplines and

perspectives.

Makes no

connections across

disciplines or

perspectives, or

confines analysis to

one discipline.

Identifies varied

approaches to issues,

problems, or questions;

Begins to see

relationships between

more than one field of

study or perspective;

Presents examples,

facts, or theories from

one other field of study

or perspective, but

without intentionally or

purposefully tying

together or showing

connections.

Demonstrates an ability to

draw on more than one

discipline to address or

gain insight on a particular

problem, issue, or

question;

Intentionally utilizes

multiple perspectives in

forming responses;

Attempts to connect

examples, facts, or theories

from more than one field

of study or perspective.

Demonstrates an ability to

effectively connect examples,

facts, or theories from

multiple fields of study or

perspectives to address a

particular issue, problem, or

question;

Develops a position which

utilizes multiple perspectives

and disciplines;

Creatively incorporates

evidence from multiple

disciplines/fields.

Demonstrates holistic,

interdisciplinary

understanding of a

particular issue, problem,

or question.

Creatively draws and

supports conclusions by

intentionally combining

examples, facts or theories

from multiple fields of

study or perspective.

Interprets and explains the

conclusions using

sources/examples from

multiple relevant fields of

study and/or disciplines.

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Learning Outcome

Below

Benchmark

(0 Points)

Benchmark 1

(1 Point)

Benchmark 2

(2 Points)

Benchmark 3

(3 Points)

Capstone

(4 Points)

LO #3 - Transfer

Student adapts and

applies skills,

knowledge, or

methodologies gained

in one academic or

experiential context to

a new academic or

experiential context.

Does not use, adapt

or apply skills,

knowledge, or

methodologies

gained in one

academic or

experiential context

to a new context.

Uses skills, knowledge,

or methodologies

gained in one academic

or experiential context

in a new context in a

basic or non-explicit

way.

Intentionally uses skills,

knowledge, or

methodologies gained in

one academic or

experiential context in a

new context to convey

knowledge, or explain

problems or issues.

Intentionally adapts and

applies skills, knowledge, or

methodologies gained in one

academic or experiential

context to a new context to

solve problems or address

complex issues with

sufficient support.

Creatively adapts and

applies skills, knowledge,

or methodologies from one

academic or experiential

context to a new context to

solve difficult problems or

explore complex issues in

original ways.

LO #4 - Integrated

Communication

Student demonstrates

ability to utilize

appropriate

communication forms.

Does not use

communication

forms appropriate to

the assignment.

Fulfills the

assignment(s) (i.e. to

produce an essay, a

poster, a video, a

PowerPoint

presentation, etc.) using

an appropriate

communication form.

Fulfills the assignment(s)

by choosing a format,

language, or graph (or

other visual representation)

that connects in a basic

way what is being

communicated (content)

with how it is said (form).

Fulfills the assignment(s) by

choosing a format, language,

or graph (or other visual

representation) to explicitly

connect content and form,

demonstrating an awareness

of purpose and audience.

Fulfills the assignment(s)

by choosing a format,

language, or graph (or other

visual representation) in

ways that enhance

meaning, making clear the

interdependence of

language and meaning,

thought, and expression.

LO #5 - Reflection

and Self-Assessment

Student demonstrates

a developing sense of

self as learner and/or

of changes in own

viewpoint, values, and

understanding.

Does not identify

own viewpoint,

values, or

understanding.

Can identify own

viewpoints, values, or

understanding.

Realizes how own

viewpoint and values are

formed (impact of own

personal history,

experiences, and

interactions with others).

Evaluates changes in own

learning over time,

recognizing complex

contextual factors (e.g.,

works with ambiguity and

risk, deals with frustration,

considers ethical

frameworks).

Envisions a future self, and

possibly makes plans that

build on past experiences

that have occurred across

multiple and diverse

contexts.

Able to reflect on how own

viewpoints, values or

understanding have

changed (i.e.:

acknowledges the

contributions of others,

need for diverse viewpoints

and approaches for solving

complex problems).

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Rubric Scoring Sheet Example

This is the scoring sheet produced by the Title III Assessment Team that evaluated the Semester Projects from English 150/Psychology 230. The sample work contained in this document came from Student B25 (line #6). Note that the Semester Projects were designed to address Learning Outcome 1 (Connections to Experiences) and Learning Outcome 2 (Connections Across Disciplines). As you can see from the scores, there were considerable differences in students’ degrees of success with these two outcomes.