NASPA PresentationPractical Tools for Building Division-wide

Assessment Capacity

Adrienne Dumpe, Graduate Assistant, VPSAKatie O’Dair, Director of Assessment and Staff DevelopmentRobyn Priest, Associate Director, Office of Health Promotion

Agenda• Outcomes• Context• Timeline and Toolkit• Taking action• Lessons learned• Questions

Outcomes for Today’s Session

Through participating in this session, participants will be able to: •Identify the steps involved in assessment planning •Discuss the challenges involved in changing the culture of assessment•Begin to develop an action plan for their home institution •Identify practical tools for use at the programmatic, departmental, and divisional level •Connect with other professionals in student affairs who are doing assessment work

The Changing Mandate of Student Affairs: Learning• Responding to a revised, broader

understanding of learning that integrates development

• Mapping and supporting learning inside and outside classrooms

• Engagement of students in active, transformative learning

• Identifying and ameliorating barriers to learning

• Shift from satisfaction to student learning

Keeling and Associates., 2006; Schuh and Gansemer-Topf, 2010

Boston College: Context 2008-2009

• New vice president• New 5-year Strategic Plan• Assessment position created• Committee convened• Division-wide assessment

effort launched• Division-wide inventory

conducted

Strategic Goal #7: Implement a division-wide assessment strategy in order to improve student learning and operational effectiveness.

Boston College 2009: What was the problem?• Lack of understanding and capacity

for assessment • Poorly designed surveys• Survey fatigue • Little knowledge of other

methodologies: focus groups, rubrics, etc.

• Data never used or shared• No coordinated effort to

gather evidence• Not part of our culture

Obstacles

• It’s additional work• We don’t have time• Difficult to coordinate across

11 departments• Lack of expertise within division• Results not shared; benefits

not realized• Fear of negative findings• Don’t know where to start

Provides assessment professional development opportunities

Has an assessment committee

Uses data to inform decisions

Has senior leadership that expects, supports, and encourages assessment

Embeds assessment in annual reports and performance appraisals

√Assessment Checklist

Uses a common assessment language

Provides easy-to-access resources (e.g. data, assessment tools, people, technology)

Identifies measurable learning outcomes

Has a divisional strategic plan/goals

Has a dedicated staff member for assessment

Our Division

Guiding Principals and Actions• Culture change is difficult• Focus on anxiety reduction• Work with experts: Keeling and Associates, CampusLabs• Provide tools

What did we do?

??

Celebrating Assessment!

• 10 minute segment at each division meeting

• Asks one department to share an assessment project

• Focus is on process and lessons learned

• Provide a PowerPoint template to keep presentations consistent

• Driven by the regional accreditation process

• Department directors convened to share assessment plans

• Focus on points of confusion or areas where they need help

• Leverage expertise within leadership

Assessment Corner Director Roundtables

• What is your top priority for moving forward on assessment within your division?

• What are your next steps?

• Who needs to be involved?

Taking Action

• The importance of starting small, anxiety reduction

• Build gradually• Accept small wins as legitimate

progress• Consult with experts as needed• Have a champion at the

highest level• It’s okay to not know something

• Be prepared to change course as needed

• Must have buy-in and support from department directors

• Must maintain momentum – assessment is not a fad and is not going away

• Use the data that you collect• Hold people accountable

Lessons Learned

What Worked Well Suggestions for improvement/challenges

Questions?

Katie O’Dair – katherine.odair@bc.eduRobyn Priest – robyn.priest@bc.eduAdrienne Dumpe – adrienne.dumpe@bc.edu

Boston College Assessment Websitewww.bc.edu/offices/vpsa/assessment.html