III. Assessment Approach
Key to choosing an assessment approach is first asking: What is the motivation for collecting the data? As discussed earlier, there are a number of reasons and ways one might assess a UFE including identifying if students are meeting specific learning goals, to collect publishable data on students’ sustained interest in a topic, or to identify if the UFE is meeting programmatic goals in order to report back to a funding agency or university. Regardless of stakeholders’ motivations, using backward design to clarify and align program goals, activities and assessments will allow for a solid platform for improvement and evaluation.
We recommend that practitioners consider both formative and summative assessments. A formative assessment might be a UFE student completing a written reflection or keeping a “reflective diary” (Maskall and Stokes, 2008, Scott et al. 2019) regarding an aspect of their learning experience. This strategy would provide students a chance to reflect on their learning process and their changing experience and competencies in their own words. Further, such a formative assessment would allow instructors/stakeholders to better understand how programming, or more specifically a particular aspect of programming may impact student perceptions and possibly how to adjust the learning experience. A summative assessment strategy could be employed if practitioners wanted to know if students have gained a greater appreciation for the natural world as a result of a UFE, which could be measured for example by conducting a pre/post survey designed to measure this specific construct (e.g. Table 1. Primary Aim: Connection to Place, Assessment Tool: Place Attachment Inventory (PAI), Williams and Vaske 2003). Figure 1 is meant to be useful in planning assessment strategies but could also serve as a helpful communication tool when engaging with funders and stakeholders.
It may also be appropriate to hire an external evaluator. An advantage of external evaluation is that it presumably provides an unbiased view of the program, as the evaluator will assess the impacts of programming on participants and report findings in an objective manner. From the evaluator’s perspective, is the program meeting its intended goals? For whom does the UFE appear to be “working”, and are there certain student groups that are not being impacted in the way designers of the experience had intended? An external evaluator will often work with the team to identify goals, and then conduct a holistic programmatic evaluation, including all stakeholders. The caveat regarding external evaluation is cost. If grant-funded, external evaluation may be encouraged or even required; if not grant-funded, finding funding would be necessary in order to hire the evaluator or evaluation team.