Look into your future

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Look into your future!
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What do these people have in common?
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Theyve all been working on assessment!
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Workshop Rule 1

• Relax.
• No specific action will be asked of you as a
  result of todays workshop.
• We will provide a rough timeline for what you can
  expect over the next 12 months.

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The Golden Age of AssessmentIt aint goin away.

• June Todays Introduction
• July Specially appointed Assessment Team
  Leaders will visit Texas AM for a workshop on
  Learning Outcomes
• August Units begin organizing for the Fall push
• September Massive Assessment Workshop here at
  Georgia Southern

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Why Assess?
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Its the right thing to do.

• It demonstrates our commitment to the highest
  standards of quality control and continuous
  improvement.

• Its real simple. If we are not getting more,
  better, faster
• than THEY are getting more, better, faster,
• then were getting less better or more worse.
• Tom Peters

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Accountability

• Fulfills our obligation to the taxpayers of the
  state of Georgia to be responsible stewards of
  the states financial and human resources.

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Self-Determination

• The courage to measure our own competency through
  internal and external review.

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The best way to predict the future is to invent
it. Alan Kay Computer Engineer
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It provides direction and builds consensus
regarding a course of action.
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It provides feedback on our progress toward
strategic objectives. It informs the strategic
planning process.

• One of the best lessons children learn through
  video games is that standing still will get them
  killed quicker than anything else.
• Jinx Milea and Pauline Little

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It answers these questions

• 1. What are we trying to do?
• 2. How well are we doing it?
• 3. How can we improve what we are doing?

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How do we integrate strategic planning and
assessment here at Georgia Southern within the
Division of Academic Affairs?
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Handout 1 The Master Planning and Assessment
Schematic

• Three Levels of Planning
• Level I Georgia Southerns Strategic Plan
• Level II The Academic Plan
• Level III College Plans

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Translating College Plans Into Action and
Assessing the Result

• Tertiary units prepare Action and Assessment
  Plans in support of the Level III College Plan.
• Tertiary units may include Departments, Schools,
  Majors, Offices, Centers, Institutes, Programs,
  or any other organizationally defined unit.

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Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.

• If we do this right, many reports currently
  generated as discrete and separate activities can
  be derived from this single sourcethe Action and
  Assessment Plan. Insist on it.

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Handout 2 Outline of the Action and Assessment
Plan

• Part I Learning and Programmatic Outcomes (with
  actions and assessments)
• Part II Program Review Documentation
  Centrality to Mission
• Quality
• Productivity
• Viability

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Handout 2 Outline of the Action and Assessment
Plan

• Part III Other Accreditation-Related Activities
• For example SACS, AACSB, NCATE
• Part IV Quality Enhancement Plan Activities
• Advancing a Culture of Engagement
• Part V Special Initiatives
• From Strategic Plan, President, Provost,
  Dean, Chair, or Director

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Handout 3 Examples of Learning Outcomes

• Learning outcomes describe what students are
  able to demonstrate in terms of knowledge,
  skills, and values upon completion of a course, a
  span of several courses, or a program. Clear
  articulation of learning outcomes serves as the
  foundation in evaluating the effectiveness of the
  teaching and learning process.
• Writing Measurable Learning Outcomes
• Sandi Osters and Simone Tiu, Texas AM

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Templates derived from last round of IEPs.
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All Learning Outcomes can be organized under the
strategic theme of Academic Distinction.
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Identified as an area of weakness by the
off-site and on-site SACS review teams.

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SACS Recommendations Related to Assessment

• Recommendation 4 The Committee recommends that
  the University document the use of analyses of
  outcome assessments in decision-making for
  improvements made in its educational programs and
  its administrative and education support services.

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SACS Recommendations Related to Assessment

• Recommendation 5 The Committee recommends
  that the University be consistent in establishing
  learning outcomes across all educational programs
  and in developing and implementing assessments to
  evaluate these outcomes.

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SACS Recommendations Related to Assessment

• Recommendation 6 The Committee recommends that
  the University expand its evaluation system to
  assess all stated general education core
  competencies in order to provide evidence that
  graduates have attained those competencies.

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Handout 3 Examples of Learning Outcomes

• Knowledge KNOW
• Skills DO
• Dispositions FEEL

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Characteristics of Effective Learning Outcomes

• Focus is on student behavior.
• Should use simple, specific action verbs, not
  general statements.
• Should be measurable if at all possible using a
  combination of multiple direct and/or indirect
  assessment tools.

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Highly SubjectiveSimilar to the Judging of
Competitive Ice-Skating
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An Example of a Learning Outcome Related to
Knowledge

• Students will be able to articulate the
  principles and assumptions that are the
  foundation of the Theory of Comparative
  Advantage.

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An Example of a Learning Outcome Related to
Skill

• Students will be able to use technology
  effectively in the delivery of professional
  presentations.

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An Example of a Learning Outcome Related to
Dispositions

• Students will appreciate the value of outcomes
  assessment in assuring quality across the nursing
  profession and in facilitating the movement of
  nurses across national borders.

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Notes About Means of Assessment for Learning
Outcomes

• Can be direct or indirect
• Multiple measures are best
• Grades alone are not sufficient (not tied to
  specific knowledge, skills, or dispositions)
• Surveys alone are not sufficient (too much focus
  on indirect measures)

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Handout 4 Examples of Programmatic Outcomes

• A set of statements that describe what you want
  a program to do or accomplish rather than what
  you want students to know, do, or value.
• Can be as simple as a task or activity.
• The actor is the program, not the student.
• International Experience Example

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Programmatic Outcomes can be organized using one
or more of the six Level I Strategic Themes.

• The template (Handout 4) is an attempt to capture
  the dominant activities that are common to all
  academic units.

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Examples of Programmatic Outcomes

• Develop and expand off-campus internet access to
  Center for Global Business Education programs.
• Increase the first-attempt pass rate for
  Accounting students taking the CPA exam.
• Hire a tenure-track faculty member to fill the
  open line in the area of Marketing with a
  specialty in teaching Marketing Research.

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The Coming Academic Year 05-06

• We proposed to SACS that Georgia Southern would
  collect assessment data continuously but would
  only compile a University-wide report every 3
  years. The last cycle of IEPs reported data
  from 02-03 and was compiled in 03-04.
• This means that data from 05-06 will form the
  basis of our next formal cycle of University
  assessment.

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Protocol

• While continuing to collect the assessments
  currently in our inventory
• Create outcomes
• Set Benchmarks
• Design Assessments
• Administer Assessments

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The Coming Academic Year 05-06

• Next Steps
• 1. Under the supervision of the Deans, each
  College should define the units expected to
  prepare action and assessment plans. (Summer)

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05-06

• 2. Faculty should be organized to generate the
  learning outcomes appropriate for their unit or
  discipline with multiple means of assessment.
  (Fall Semester 05 after the September Workshop)
• Borrow. Borrow. Borrow.

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The Coming Academic Year 05-06

• 3. Assessment tools and data collection processes
  should be created (where needed) and organized.
  (Fall Semester 05)

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05-06

• 4. Faculty should establish benchmarks that will
  be used to assess the outcomes. (Fall Semester
  05)

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05-06

• 5. Implement new assessments. (Spring Semester
  06)

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05-06

• 6. Action and Assessment Plans will be formally
  collected during the 06-07 academic year.
  (Written Summer 06)

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Closing the Loop

• The improvements and/or actions generated by the
  assessment process MUST be based definitively and
  directly on analysis of data and the assessment
  of the outcome.
• This is the crucial last-step that ties the
  entire process together.

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If you dont know where you are going, you might
wind up somewhere else.Yogi Berra