Hide
The State Your Case! project website has not been significantly updated since 2010. We are preserving the web pages here because they still contain useful ideas and information. But be aware that the site may have out of date information.

Welcome

About the State Your Case! Project


How often have you read a student paper, led a class discussion, graded an essay, or listened to a student presentation, and thought, "There's potential here, but what's the point and where's the evidence?" State Your Case! is a three-year inter-institutional project focused on helping students learn how to develop and support a point of view in any disciplinary or interdisciplinary field. It is the newest initiative of the Collaborative Assessment for Liberal Learning (CALL) consortium, currently including St. Olaf College, Carleton College, and Macalester College. The project steering committee includes faculty and administrators from all three institutions with expertise in faculty development, instructional innovation, and the assessment of student learning.

The State Your Case! project includes:
  • Faculty development at all three institutions throughout the academic year and during the summer, from lunchtime discussions to two-day workshops, open to all consortium faculty
  • Practical examples of course materials submitted by consortium faculty, including instructional handouts, pedagogical strategies, course activities and exercises, writing and speaking assignments, and assessment strategies for tracking student improvement
  • On-line resources about instruction and assessment in critical thinking, evidence-based reasoning, and effective writing and speaking, hosted by the Carleton College Science Education Resource Center (SERC)
Any St. Olaf, Carleton, or Macalester faculty member in any discipline is eligible to participate in any component of the State Your Case! project. Stipends and expenses are available to support the development or dissemination of course materials, participation in selected faculty development activities, and travel for conference presentations related to the project.

Funded by a Systematic Improvements grant from the Teagle Foundation, State Your Case! builds on findings from the collaborative assessment work our institutions have undertaken over the past several years, as well as a growing body of relevant research in the scholarship of teaching and learning. The overall goal of the project (Fall 2008 - Spring 2011) is to improve teaching and learning, not just within individual courses, but throughout our institutions.

Be a State Your Case! instructor

Participate in faculty development

Browse course materials

Learn about the CALL consortium

Learn about the Carleton College Science Education Resource Center (SERC)

Learn about the Teagle Systematic Improvements grant