The CREW student learning goal is to develop close readers and effective writers, as defined by the AAC&U VALUE Rubrics. CREW will focus on two student learning outcomes (SLOs):
1. Students will analyze academic texts and materials by applying “close reading” strategies.
- Read critically to evaluate a text and recognize its implications.
- Articulate an understanding of various interpretive reading strategies based on genres and their conventions.
- Use needed strategies to work through different sorts of texts.
- Discuss texts in structured ways that contribute to and enhance academic discourse.
- Connect sources and works with their historical and/or social contexts.
- Use texts to build knowledge and raise and explore important questions.
2. Students will demonstrate effective academic writing through “close reading” strategies.
- Demonstrate strategic knowledge of the writing process.
- Compose texts that clearly convey meaning through tone, style, purpose, and genre.
- Adapt writing knowledge to new contexts, including rhetoric in digital spaces.
- Incorporate constructive criticism of drafts in the writing process.
- Demonstrate consideration of context and purpose when writing.
- Cite sources in a way that is appropriate for the discipline.
- Master the conventions of Standard American English.
NSU Assessment Process
- Step 1 - Unit mission, goals and outcomes
- Planning
Step 2 - Assessment Method
Step 3 - Data Collection and Analysis
- Reporting
Step 4 - Using evidence to create action plan.
Assessment of close reading for effective writing (CREW) at Norfolk State University will incorporate some of the assessment processes used for general education learning outcomes. The assessment of CREW learning outcomes will be accomplished through both direct and indirect methods. The direct method will apply to the curricular aspects of the plan, while the indirect method will use survey instruments to estimate the effectiveness of the plan.
Direct assessment involves evaluation of student artifacts in CREW designated courses to determine the extent to which the student learning outcomes were met. CREW courses are designated within the three tiers of general education at NSU.
Norfolk State University annually participates in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). In addition to the core questions from NSSE as related to student opinions about the extent that NSU has exposed the students to reading and writing skills, the institution will participate in the NSSE topical module on Experiences with Writing. Comparative data on freshmen and senior students’ opinions about the scope of their experiences with reading and writing at NSU will be tracked annually for the whole term of the CREW QEP.