Assessment Gathering September 12, 2006

Campus Assessment Network (CAN)

Notes from meeting of

April 23, 2008

The tenth meeting of the Campus Assessment Network (CA= N) was held Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. in Campus Life 115.

Members present:

Carolinda Douglass, Karyn Higgs (Assessment Services),= Bob Riggle (College of Business), Cassandra Maxwell-Simmons (College of Engineering), Mary Pritchard (College of Health & Human Sciences),&= nbsp; Dan House (Institutional Research), Sandi Carlisle (Recreation Services), Michael Stang & Angela Branson (Residential Life, Housing &a= mp; Dining), Amy Franklin, Craig Marcus (Student Affairs), Carrie Zack (Univers= ity Office of Teacher Certification), Rich Holly(College of Visual & Perfor= ming Arts)

Announcements

The two Linda Suskie workshops, “Accountability Pressures and Their Impact on Regional Accreditation” & “Un= derstanding and Using Assessment Results,”= ; which were cancelled in February have been rescheduled for September 12th.

Assessment Expo Follow-up

The first annual Assessm= ent Expo was held March 7^th, 2008. Ten academic programs were recognized = for excellent assessment practices, and the top three top three departments were presented $500 cash prizes to be used in their assessment efforts. Participants from among the ten programs created posters and/or gave a presentation highlight= ing a particular assessment method. An article on the Expo and a video of speak= er highlights was posted in the most recent issue of Toolkit available at http://www.niu= .edu/assessment/Toolkit/vol6_ish4.pdf .

Feedback was obtained fr= om Expo attendees with a 50 % response rate. Overall the feedback was positive. Eig= hty percent indicated their objectives for attending the Expo were met. Assessment Services would like to e= xpand the expo to include support units as well as academic units. CAN members were asked to consider= ideas for next year’s expo, which has been scheduled for February 20, 2009 = from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 and will be held in the HSC Sky Room.

Virtual Meeting Space

Michael Stang researched options for establishing a vi= rtual meeting place for those interested in assessment. A blackboard community ca= n be set up at a cost of approximately $200 a semester. This intra community set= up would not have open access from the web, but access can be granted to anyone who indicates interest.

CHHS Pilot for Annual Assessment Updates=

A pilot is currently underway with the College of Heal= th & Human Sciences to use blackboard for the Annual submission of Annual Assessment Update reports. All faculty and staff within the college will ha= ve access to view current and previous year’s documents allowing for gre= ater transparency.

Focus Groups

Bob Riggle from the Marketing Department discussed the recently concluded focus groups on student knowledge about assessment and student learning. Sixteen focus groups were conducted by marketing research classes. Nine groups were recruited from the College of Business, seven from Health & Human Sciences and one from the Asian American Center, totaling about 1670 students. The DVD’s and transcripts from the focus groups = will be reviewed by the Office of Assessment Services in early summer, and progr= ess will be updated at the next CAN meeting. A copy of the moderators guide for= the focus groups is attached. Please feel free to contact Bob Riggle if you have any questions.

Task Force Update

The Presidential Task Forces on Curricular Innovation (chaired by David Changnon) and Student Success (chaired by Carolinda Dougl= ass met regularly throughout the semester and final reports were submitted on <= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Friday April 30^th. Douglass commented that both task f= orces tried to incorporate assessment as much as possible. The final reports can = be viewed on the strategic planning web pages at http://www= .niu.edu/strategicplan/taskforces/index.shtml.

Strategic Planning and Assessment at NIU=

Six assessment goals related to the strategic planning imperatives were generated at previous meetings.
Progress on goals 1 & 2 were reviewed and updated. It was determined th= at goals 4 & 5 could serve as strategies for goal three rather than stand = as separate goals. Comments, suggestions and action items are listed for each strategy. Items discussed in this meeting are in BOLD text.

Goal 1- Increase visibility and transparency of assessment practices on the NIU

= campus.

Strategy 1- Send faculty and staff = doing scholarship and assessment to conference

= ; to present their findings.

§Franklin announced a group from NIU will present at 2008 IARC (International Assessm= ent & Retention Conference) in Arizona June 11-15. The presentation will review the planning approach implemented = at NIU for assessing and improving student learning in Student Affairs.

Strategy 2- Continue to hig= hlight assessment practices in Toolkit- ongoing

Strategy 3- Continue to hig= hlight assessment practices on the OAS website- ongoing

Strategy 4- Create an Assessment List-serve or chat-room=

§Imp= lement Blackboard Community

Strategy 5- Continue develo= pment of assessment manual- ongoing

Strategy 6- Post assessment materials- internally/externally, maybe using Blackboard

§Imp= lement Blackboard Community

§Pil= ot with CHHS of Blackboard communities for colleges to submit and share assess= ment reports.

Strategy 7- Share student assessment projects (e.g. CAHE course)

§CAHE assessment course worked on a project with Student Affairs this year. We may add a student assessment component to the Assessment Expo next year.

Strategy 8- Have a common message /recognizable nameplate/tagline/s= logan -possibly a

marketing class project

§Foc= us Groups have been conducted and results are being reviewed.

Strategy 9= - Make faculty training available (some institutions have mandatory training in

= ; = assessment) – to be completed

§§

Strategy 10- Submit a concept paper next year

§A g= reat number of concept papers were received this year and the focus is on review= ing and implementing those strategies. There may not be a call for concept pape= rs next year.

Goal 2- Increase access on the NIU campus to exemplary assessment practices and

= results both internal and external to the campus.<= /b>

Strategy 1- Listserv/= chatroom (see above)

&nb= sp;

Strategy 2- Assessment Expo

§Exp= and Expo next year to include Student Affairs and possible student assessment projects.

Strategy 3- Repository of exemplary assessment documents

§Imp= lement Blackboard Community

§§§§§§§§

Goal 3- Promote a positive culture= of assessment as an integral part of student

success on the NIU cam= pus

Strategy 1- Understand what the current culture is.

§Fac= ulty Focus Groups

§§§

Strategy 2- Encourage and support faculty, staff, s= tudent engagement and partnership in

= ; assessment practices on the NIU campus and with the external communi= ty.

§Bui= ld Assessment into more courses in addition to COB & CAHE courses-

create student familiarity with assessment and integrate bottom up as well

as top down.

Strategy 3- Encourage departments/offices to use assessment to describe where they are

doing well and how they are using it to improve.

§Dep= artmental Training (Example- Student Affairs Assessment Training)

§Tra= in the Trainer (Assessment consultants)

§Exp= osure changes culture

§Inv= olve faculty/staff in departmental reporting

Strategy 4- Assessment Day (data collection day)

= Strategy 5- Consider changes to personnel policy- make assessment a valued activity.=

Goal 4- Become recognized leader and resource to other schools in our region and=

nationally.

The next meeting will be held on July 16, 2008 at 1:30= pm in Campus Life 115.

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