University Assessment Panel
Notes from Meeting of
17 April 2009
The seventh meeting of the University Assessment
Panel (UAP) was held on Friday, 17 April 2009, at 10:00 a.m. in Altgeld 203.
Announcements
Douglass announced that
the Assessment Manual developed by the Office of Assessment Services is
complete and available online at http://www.niu.edu/assessment/Manual/index.shtml.
The manual provides good
resources for both those new to assessment and those already actively engaged
in it.
Cassidy announced the
Provost was seeking those interested in attending two webinars hosted by the
University Leadership Council which are related to assessment and
accountability measures. An email will be sent to panel members with further
details.
First Year Composition
Report
This writing assessment
intends to assess the effectiveness of the First Year Composition program on
student writing ability. Matched samples are collected at the beginning of
English 103 and then again at the end of English 104. The writing samples are
scored by English Department faculty using a rubric that can be found on page
three of the report. Each sample is reviewed by two reviewers who each score
one to three on each of the criteria, giving final scores ranging from two to
six. Results showed an increase in
scores between English 103 and 104 on all subscales. Detailed results can be
found in the report which is available at: http://www.niu.edu/assessment/projects/FYC.shtml
Follow UP VSA/College
Portrait
The panel reviewed a
handout pertaining to the Voluntary System of Accountability – The College
Portrait (www.collegeportraits.org).
NIU is currently implementing processes to be part of the VSA. The handout
covered common questions and answers about the VSA –College Portrait and
included a sample of sample site for a university. The first section presents
information such as student characteristics, cost of attendance and financial
aid, retention rates, and number of degrees awarded. The second section presents information about
institutional characteristic such as the Carnegie Classification and result
from the Clary report. The third page
will allow NIU to ‘personalize’ the content. This page has nine buttons for
which NIU can assign content of our choice. Additionally there is a Student
Perception & Experience section and Learning Outcomes section in which data
& reports from NIU’s own assessment plans can be linked.
.
Review of Status
Reports
Assessment summary reports
were reviewed for the Office of Admissions and for Career Services. A summary
of the panel’s feedback will be sent to the departments.
This is the last meeting
of the 2008-2009 academic year.
U:\Assessment\UAP\2008-2009\Notes\UAP
Notse 04_17_09 .doc