Chapter . ACES Capstone

ACES Capstone Activity: Compare and Contrast

Paul A. Gore, Wade Leuwerke, and A.J. Metz

Students will compare and contrast their ACES scores from the beginning of the term and the end of the term, using metacognition to reflect on their results.

Welcome and Instructions

Congratulations on reaching the end of the term! The transition from one term to the next is an ideal time to stop and reflect on what you’ve learned, celebrate your accomplishments, and identify areas for growth in the next academic term and beyond. This ACES Capstone Activity provides you with an opportunity do all of these things.

In this activity, you’ll have the chance to compare your ACES scores from the start of the term (your Initial Report) with the scores you received when you took ACES again at the end of the term (your Progress Report).

As you review your progress, you may see that some of your scores have gone up, while others have decreased or stayed the same. This activity is designed to help you reflect on these changes—regardless of what they were—and use what you’ve learned about yourself to take stock of your successes and identify where you’d like to grow.

As you complete this activity, consider all of the hard work you put into class. Think about where you started and how far you’ve come. And remember: Whether your scores went up, went down, or stayed the same, if you come away from this term with a better understanding of yourself as a student, a learner, and a person—and use what you’ve learned about yourself to stay positive and go after your goals—then you’ve accomplished something important.

Let’s reflect in more detail on your ACES results. As we do, take time to do the following:

• Consider what factors in your life may have contributed to these results.
• Celebrate what you’re most proud of.
• Identify goals that you want to achieve in the future.

IMPORTANT: Make sure you’ve taken ACES a second time and received your ACES Progress Report before completing this activity. To complete ACES again, go to the “ACES Inventory (Progress Report & Activity)” module in the LaunchPad Table of Contents.

Compare and Contrast Your ACES Results (1 of 2)

Examine the chart below, which compares your ACES scores from the beginning of the term (your Initial Report) with the scores you received on your more recent Progress Report. This chart gives you a handy snapshot of how your skills and attitudes may have changed over the term.

Reflect on your scores and respond to the following questions.

Compare and Contrast Your ACES Results (2 of 2)

Now use the space below to answer the following question:

Consider the Reasons behind Your Results

Now, let’s dig a bit deeper into why you may have received these particular results. Do you already have a good sense of why your scores changed — or even why they didn’t?

If you already have a reason (or reasons) in mind, then you’re off to a good start. But if not, now is the perfect time to begin this reflection: There are a number of reasons why your ACES scores might have changed over time, and considering possible explanations can help you better understand your scores and yourself.

In the slides that follow, we’ll consider four possible reasons that your scores may have increased, decreased, or even stayed the same from the beginning of the term to the end:

• Your effort and engagement
• The rigor of college
• Whether your course focused on some topics more than others
• How complex your life was this term

Your Own Effort and Engagement (1 of 2)

The amount of effort you put into your coursework—how hard you tried to master the concepts, how engaged you were in class discussions, whether you completed the reading assignments—has a huge impact on the skills you build and the progress you make.

For example, maybe you set and achieved a goal related to career development, or you worked hard to master the steps in the active-reading process. Those types of increased effort and engagement could explain score increases on the Academic and Career Planning scale or the Reading scale.

Of course, the opposite might also be true, and that’s equally important to consider: If you didn’t work hard on assignments, you came in late, and you avoided group projects and discussions, that could help to explain why your results went down or stayed the same.

Let’s assess what kind of an impact this particular factor had on you.

Using the scale below, please rate your agreement with the following statement:

Your Own Effort and Engagement (2 of 2)

Now use the space below to answer the following questions:

Rigor: A College Reality Check (1 of 2)

Many students arrive at college confident in their own skills and abilities, yet they struggle in certain areas because of an increased level of difficulty. College life can be rigorous, which means that it can require great effort and skill, and sometimes that catches students off guard.

If some of your scores are lower now than they were at the beginning of the term, it’s probably not because your abilities got worse. Instead, it’s likely because your academic experience got more difficult. For example, taking your own notes in a large lecture hall in college can be much more challenging than referring to a study guide from your teacher in high school. This change in rigor could cause you to struggle with note taking, and that might cause your score to go down.

At the same time, there are also reasons why college rigor, paired with effort and engagement, could cause your scores to increase: If your courses were more difficult, but this challenge caused you to step up your game and do the work needed to accomplish your goals, then rigor could have inspired you to work harder and do better.

Let’s assess what kind of an impact this particular factor had on you.

Using the scale below, please rate your agreement with the following statement:

Rigor: A College Reality Check (2 of 2)

Now use the space below to answer the following questions:

The Focus of Your Course (1 of 2)

Depending on your course objectives, instructors may cover some topics in more detail than others or even skip some topics altogether. After all, different courses emphasize different concepts, and shorter courses can’t cover everything that longer courses can. Because course structure varies, it’s worth considering how much you addressed different topics in your course. For example, if you didn’t cover a particular chapter, that might explain why your scores didn’t improve. On the other hand, if your class had a strong focus on a particular topic, that may have caused your scores to go up.

Let’s assess what kind of an impact this particular factor had on you.

Using the scale below, please rate your agreement with the following statement:

The Focus of Your Course (2 of 2)

Now use the space below to answer the following questions:

Life Complexity (1 of 2)

Life often throws us curveballs that can cause new challenges or even upheaval. Did any challenges in your personal life—like work, family obligations, health challenges, or financial issues—make it difficult to take full advantage of the learning opportunities available to you this term? As a result, your scores may not have improved as much as you would have liked. Alternatively, did a challenge in your personal life resolve itself when you came to college? This may have helped your scores go up.

Let’s assess what kind of an impact this particular factor had on you.

Using the scale below, please rate your agreement with the following statement:

Life Complexity (2 of 2)

Now use the space below to answer the following questions:

The Value of Self-Awareness (1 of 2)

While comparing and contrasting ACES scores can be very instructive, the most important benefits we gain from this type of reflection aren’t related to the specific scores we receive, but to what we learn about ourselves along the way. Let’s stop for a moment to reflect on the value of what you learned about yourself as a student and a person.

Using the scale below, please rate your agreement with the following statement:

The Value of Self-Awareness (2 of 2)

Now use the space below to answer the following questions:

Look to the Future (1 of 2)

So far in this activity, you’ve reviewed your ACES scores, identified accomplishments and opportunities for future improvement, and considered different factors that may have influenced your score changes. Now that you’ve had an opportunity to reflect on what’s occurred over the course of this term, let’s look to the future.

Click on each of the areas you’d like to focus on during the upcoming term. The items you check may be skills you’d like to strengthen or areas where you’re already strong that you’d like to improve even further.

Look to the Future (2 of 2)

Now use the space below to answer the following questions:

Conclusion

You have reached the end of the ACES Capstone Activity. Thank you for sharing your responses!