from UWindsor Daily News

Jan Sobocan

University faculty, staff, and graduate students are invited to attend an interactive workshop on enhancing student learning and critical thinking skills, presented by Windsor’s Senior Visiting Fellow in Educational Development, Jan Sobocan.

Thinking With and Through Assessment and Evaluation takes place on Thursday, April 7, 1 to 2:30 p.m., in room 2103, Lambton Tower.

Using mastery teaching principles and research-based critical thinking evaluation practices, workshop participants will create thinking skills questions. Small inter-disciplinary groups will work together in evaluating the validity of those questions in order to highlight some key problems with creating questions that aim to test thinking skills.

The outcome of the workshop is to illustrate a general approach to evaluation that helps build instructor confidence in assessments of thinking. The exercises are also aimed at illustrating how both group and individual student participation in the evaluation process helps students build and independently practice critical thinking skills prior to an assignment or exam.

Participants are encouraged to bring in test items or essay questions from their respective disciplines that are used to test higher level thinking skills.

Sobocan, a UWindsor alumna (MA philosophy 2002), teaches educational foundations and educational equity at the University of Western Ontario. Much of her research, publications, and conference activities focus on the nature of critical thinking, its role in citizenship education, and the assessment and evaluation of higher order thinking.

She also plays key role in planning teams responsible for assessing and evaluating instructional design and enhancing learning environments through re-development of curriculum and course resources. For more information on Sobocan, visit the CTL Web site.

To register for this workshop, visit http://cleo.uwindsor.ca/workshops/ctl/2/.