Assessment/Research (91) The Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) instrument has proven to be a particularly effective tool for faculty seeking formative feedback to gauge progress in student learning and improve their instruction. Use of the SALG is greatly facilitated by an associated Web site that enables instructors to customize the SALG instrument, have students complete the instrument online, receive raw data and simple statistical analyses, and maintain archival access to their data. In the past 5 years, over 1,000 undergraduate instructors in over 3,000 courses serving more than 65,000 students have used the SALG. In response to ever-increasing demand for use of the SALG, this project is increasing the performance and usability of the SALG site and also expanding the site's capabilities to meet past, present, and future instructor requests for new and more diverse functionalities. In particular, (1) a broadly usable prototyped version of the instrument and site is being designed for project evaluators to support the NSF goal of improved evaluation of funded projects with cost efficiency, (2) a version appropriate for departments and other academic units is being developed, evaluated, and implemented for use in program evaluation, faculty development, and accreditation, and (3) an institutional implementation of the SALG is being pilot tested, and the knowledge gained used to prepare a road map for future use within institutions of higher education. The multidisciplinary project team includes the creators of the SALG instrument and Web site. It brings to the project extensive experience in SALG use, program evaluation of STEM educational initiatives, STEM college teaching, faculty professional development, professional Web site development, and project management. Intellectual merit. This project is a research-grounded process. It includes needs assessments, consultation with current and prospective instructor users, evaluators, and departments. It is creating new SALG instruments and Web site functions, and integrating research tools into the SALG site that will enable researchers to study SALG use and, more broadly, national evaluation trends. Broader impacts. The upgraded SALG places instructors squarely at the center of the formative evaluation process, thus ensuring their direct engagement with the processes and benefits of formative feedback. Making the SALG available for department program evaluations should connect even more faculty across the nation with the SALG and formative evaluation. This expanded use of the SALG is expected to lead to fundamental changes in the perspectives and activities of the national STEM faculty - namely, increased use of formative classroom assessment centered on student learning gains as a means of improving faculty teaching, course activities, and departmental programs throughout STEM higher education in the United States.
