“Building a Culture of Evidence in Student Affairs from the Ground Up”
OVERVIEW
• Narrative map of our process over a 16 month period
• Session learning outcomes and goals:– Name a few resources (frameworks) available for consideration
when establishing a culture of evidence in student affairs. – Describe two potential challenges to establishing a culture of
evidence. – Plan one move toward building and/or nurturing a culture of
evidence in your program area.
What comes to mind when you think about “assessment”?
Frameworks
• CAS STANDARDS• KUH THEORY OF ENGAGEMENT• Personal theories• College Student Development Theory
Co and Extra Curricular Assessment
• Newer phenomenon• Variety in definitions
OUR APPROACHOakton Community College Co and Extracurricular
//insert photo here of squiggly map//
No text
Phase 2• Identify current state of co and extracurricular
assessment• Conducted 1-1 interviews of division/department/area heads• Shared our data with committee, looked for themes
• Sample Questions: – How do you define student learning and student success in
the context of your specific program?– How do you know when student’s learn through
participation in your program activities?– Do you collect specific evidence (artifacts) to represent
student learning? (e.g., Use, Satisfaction, Impact data)– What changes do you expect to see in student behavior
after participation?
Phase 2 Findings
• Process was education for all involved. • Significant diversity in practice and awareness
among areas• Example: grant-funded programs with
stringent assessment mandates connected to funding ----- individual student case files with no centralized data collection
Phase 2 Conclusions
• Our College needs a Student ID• Gaps in practice • More research needed to find the gaps
Phase 3 Concurrent Work
• Concurrent work of developing a standard learning outcome for Oakton’s Student Affairs Division
• Learning outcome: Students will demonstrate an increased ability to navigate the complex system that is their college experience. (( need the specifics))
Phase 3 Conclusion
• With confirmation of our hypothesis, we needed to do a couple of things: – 1) Help others to display what they are doing to
the college as a whole; but also in turn – 2) Begin the process of helping areas to identify
gaps in their assessment practice
Phase IV
How can we help make student affairs assessment visible at Oakton?• Non-threatening, public • Adding value to our College’s academic life• Evidence all the ways student learn outside the classroom • Serve program participants as an opportunity to reflect on their work
2015 Spring Student Affairs Assessment Showcase • In conjunction with Oakton’s annual Staff Day• Voluntary conference-style poster session• Sample framing questions:
– What do you want students to develop and/or experience from
participation in your program?– What kinds (if any) of evaluations and/or assessment to you use to
provide evidence that learning is happening?– What are the results?– How have you used the results to change your practices and program?
Next Steps
• “Building
Top Related