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Wendy WeinerChatham UniversityMiddle States ConferenceDecember 7-9, 2008Baltimore, MD

Establishing a Culture

of Assessment

+ General Education Goals

Establishing/fine-tuning gen ed goals

Whole-college assessment

Verification of all gen ed goals being supported in each degree program

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+ Common Glossary of Assessment Terms

Goals v. objectives

Learning outcomes v. objectives

Assessment v. evaluation

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+Faculty Ownership of Assessment Program

If the faculty doesn’t own it, it’s not going to happen

Faculty-led assessment team

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+ On-going Professional Development

Internal series of assessment professional develop workshops

Sending out teams to regional, national, international workshops

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+ Administrative Support and Understanding

Assessment is everyone’s business

Starts with president

Requires some financial, administrative resources

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+ Practical, Sustainable Assessment Plan

Cost effective

Realistic

Rollover assessment

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+Systematic Assessment

Planned rollout with multi-year cycle

Not once and done

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+Student Learning Outcomes for All Courses and Programs Departmental collaboration—identify what students

should be able to do and know

Use Bloom’s taxonomy

Remember, “understand” and “learn” aren’t measureable

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+Comprehensive Program Review

Improvement

Growth

Accountability

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+Assessment of Co-curricular Activities

Learning outside the classroom

Example: College-wide global focus

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+College-wide Involvement in Institutional Effectiveness

Going beyond student learning outcomes.

How well the college is meeting its mission and goals

Areas not to overlook: president’s office, administrative services, the college board of trustees, workforce development, the foundation, public relations, all components of student services Library services

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+ Forums To Share the Strategies and Results with the College Faculty learn from each other

Cross departmental pollination peer review the efforts, steer away from failed experiences replicate successes where appropriate

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+Assessment Results Reflected in Planning and Budgeting Faculty participation

Support Rewards

Closing the loop

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+Celebration of the Successes; Learning from the Failures Clear message that assessment report didn’t drop off

the face of the earth

Discussing what went wrong Prevent repetition of mistakes Tweak to make it a successful activity

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+What Happens When a New Initiative Is Proposed

Most compelling indicator of having a culture of assessment

Important questions: What are the goals and objectives? How will we assess it?

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+Review your lists

What else could identify your culture of assessment?

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Questions?