1. Institution-Wide Assessment Practice:
Initiating Sustainable Strategies to Foster a
Culture of Assessment and Scholarly Inquiry
December 8, 2013
SACSCOC 2013 Annual Meeting
Dr. Linda Townsend
Longwood University
Office of Assessment and Institutional Research
2. What challenges have you faced?
Challenges to Institution-Wide
Assessment Brainstorm
3. 15 Elements of Assessment Success (Weiner, 2009)
"Only when an institution is on the path to
meeting these standards can its claim to
have a culture of assessment be taken
seriously."
http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/aca
deme/2009/JA/Feat/wein.htm
4. Stepping stones on the assessment culture pathway
– Faculty ownership
– Comprehensive
program review
– Ongoing professional
development
– Information sharing
– Celebration of
successes
– Continuous journey
for improvement
Longwood University's stepping stones include:
5. Faculty ownership of assessment programs
• Faculty Senate: Committee on
Academic Outcomes Assessment
and Program Review
• Department Assessment
Committees
• Program Coordinators responsible
for assessment report entry in
WEAVEonline
• Faculty Competency Team Leaders
for assessment of 6 core
competencies - CT, IL, OC, QR, SR,
WC
• Faculty of General Education
Committee responsible for review
of GE goal/outcome assessment
6. Comprehensive program review
• Longwood University Program Review Policy (Revised April
2011)
– Emphasis on program quality enhancement
– Aligned with SACS principles and SCHEV requirements
– Identification of roles in the program report review process :
• Department Chair and Department Program Review Team
• External Review Team (Committee on Academic Outcomes Assessment
and Program Review)
• Dean and Associate/Assistant Dean responsible for assessment
• Dean and Provost
7. Ongoing professional development
• Interactive assessment
report writing
workshops - academic &
nonacademic
• WEAVE Introductory and
Tips & Tricks workshops
• Academic &
Nonacademic
Assessment Coaches
• Webinar coordination:
– Understanding
Assessment Results with
Linda Suskie
– How to more effectively
use the MFT results for
improving students’
learning with William
Wynne
• Using WEAVE in
institutional planning
and budgeting
8. Information sharing
• Institutional Effectiveness audit process
– Assessment Coaches use of 2011-12 audit
comments
– One-on-one coach consultations for
feedback and support
IE Audit Comments Example
9. Celebration of successes
• Longwood University
Assessment Conference
– Celebration of assessment
achievements
– Promote "Longwood best
practice"
– Engage faculty/staff in the
dialogue of building a
"culture of evidence"
– Initiated January 2011 –
internal only
– January 2012 – external
guest speakers and
internal presenters
– First virtual conference in
2013
10. Continuous journey for improvement
• Longwood Assessment Mini-grant Program (LAMP)
– Initiated January 2012
– Encourage campus-wide participation in research on and
practice in assessment
– Develop scholarship of assessment and explore Longwood’s
best practice models in conducting assessment
– Expected to share major findings/experience of assessment at
the Longwood Assessment Conference and other professional
conferences
11. What are other strategies for meeting the
challenges & fostering an assessment
culture?
Other Strategies Brainstorm
12. “Perhaps the most compelling indicator of an
assessment culture is what occurs when any new
initiative or proposal is advanced. Automatically, the
questions asked will be: What are the goals and
objectives? How will we assess the effort?”
(Weiner, 2009)
The path to a culture of assessment – alone or altogether?
Notes de l'éditeur
Brainstorming activity – accessible to all online for viewing
American Association of University Professors – Academe Online
Define each
The committee shall be responsible for promoting the quality and effectiveness of the academic curriculum. The committee will monitor, oversee, and evaluate academic Biennial Reports and Program Reviews to ascertain the extent of compliance with Longwood’s assessment policy. The committee will evaluate all academic assessment reports except for those related to general education (which is under the purview of the Committee on General Education). The committee will also make recommendations to the Senate on issues related to assessment of academic programs.
From previous SCHEV team leader meeting discussions, collaboration of WCC, CTC, ILC derived. Faculty raters for WCC, CTC, ILC, and OCC are from multiple disciplines representative of the 3 academic colleges. SRC & QRC collaborated on the communication to students and lab scheduling. After the spring 2013 presentation of competency findings to the GE Committee members, faculty have initiated a review of writing-intensive (WI) course syllabi for further clarification of WI policy with faculty and potential WI policy revision.
CAOAPR members rewrote and streamlined the self-study component so that it would be aligned with SACS principles and SCHEV requirements.
Disliked the negative tone of the old policy, noting how the stated purpose of the process was a “recommendation for program termination or continuation.” As a result, CAOAPR members reorganized the policy and placed an emphasis on quality enhancement. Under new policy, 2011-12 program review (PR) began.
To further improve the PR process, a PR template developed by a program going through 2011-12 PR was adopted and modified by CAOAPR members for use by and consistency for all programs going through 2012-13 PR.
Share 2012-13 comments:
What did you learn from being an assessment coach?
What did you learn about yourself from this experience? Strengths and weaknesses you discovered for yourself?
What do you believe went well this summer?
What do you wish could have gone better?
What suggestions would you have if OAIR is able to continue the Assessment Coach approach?
“Celebrating participation in assessment is of tremendous value.” (Weiner, 2009)
Share proposal titles for 2013. Share data on proposal submissions and acceptance increase from 2012.
Faculty involved in feedback on proposals and in selection process
Brainstorming activity – accessible to all online for viewing