NIU faculty, staff present best practices at national assessment conference

by Mark McGowan

NIU faculty and staff who recently showcased campus assessment tools at an Indiana conference discovered the university is performing as well if not better than its peers.

The 2001 Assessment Institute in Indianapolis, held in early November, provided opportunities to learn and practice assessment methods and techniques. In addition to workshops, participants experienced in-depth learning opportunities with other scholars and practitioners and attended a Best Practices Fair.

Presenters from NIU were J. Daniel House, director of Institutional Research; Promod Vohra, associate dean of the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology; Susan Callahan, assistant professor of English; David Changnon, associate professor of geography; Carolinda Douglass, assistant professor of public and community health; and Sharon Skala, undergraduate adviser in the public health program.

"The university was well represented at the conference and people were very receptive," Vohra said. "We at the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology have a very comprehensive assessment program, and we wanted to share that with the rest of the academic community."

House spoke about a campus-wide assessment of juniors performed in 1994 to determine what college experiences students considered as part of their "growth." Students answered questions about their capacity to work in groups, their development of leadership skills and their ability to function in a diverse society.

The results indicate in which areas students feel they are achieving growth and what college experiences and factors are behind this development. Eight hundred juniors responded, giving NIU administrators the confidence they can foster desired outcomes by offering activities and experiences proven to produce meaningful student growth.

NIU plans to conduct a similar survey again, he said.

"The findings were well received," he said. "Activities and experiences we put into place are related to specific growth and outcomes."

Vohra spoke of the assessment of the College of Engineering's capstone experiences.

All seniors must enroll in a senior design project course in which they work on projects under faculty consultation and industry sponsorship. The research work includes the hunt for the "right" project. Proposals are made during the first semester, and work is carried out during the second semester. Presentations are made at the end of the second semester before faculty, peers, members of industry, college alumni and other special guests.

The results of the assessment are positive, Vohra said, incorporating problem solving, creative thinking, technical skills and ability of the students to apply math and science and engineering concepts to real-life problems. "We want to find that their four years at Northern were comprehensive enough to help them complete this project successfully," he said.

Assessment via capstone experience has other benefits for faculty and students alike.

"Students substantiate what your perceptions of and visions are for the program," Vohra said. "Students also gain the assurance that their feedback is important."

In the Department of English, students provide an assessment tool for faculty through the creation of teaching preparation portfolios. They collect various items for their portfolios, including projects completed at NIU and abilities documented during their student-teaching experiences. Portfolios are checked at least four times during the four-semester course sequence.

"It's a wonderful way for us to track the development of our students," Callahan said, "and for our students to see their own development and how it all comes together to make them good teachers. They take responsibility for learning how everything is connected, and how what they're doing in coursework relates to their career."

Faculty members can improve their teaching by responding to what they see in the portfolios, and work together more closely to help unify the program. Teachers in the secondary classrooms also benefit by recognizing that what the student-teachers are documenting is valuable information and by learning to provide their feedback on paper as well as orally.

Callahan said there is one disadvantage, however. Creating the portfolios is "very labor intensive and time consuming" and might require a change in the curriculum to make room for the work. However, the work is "helpful in preparing for teaching and taking control of a classroom."

Changnon spoke from his former role as chair of a university committee on the General Education Program and how the university's assessment of courses in that program is geared to improve them.

Courses are reviewed every five to seven years. Professors are asked if they have identified the objectives for the courses and whether those objectives meet some of the goals of the Gen Ed program: Do the classes broaden the students' vision? Do they promote lifelong learning? How can students become good citizens when they leave? Do students embrace multicultural issues and get along with others?

"These are basic tools we want these kids to walk away with. It's not something to be taken lightly," Changnon said. "If there is no linkage to the Gen Ed program, why have that course as a part of it?"

Members of Changnon's committee decided to revise the assessment document to help professors provide better answers.

"We really felt it was important to lift the bar with the Gen Ed program," he said. "We needed the faculty to become much more involved with what they were doing and let us know what they were doing. We slowed the review process. We're asking a lot more."

The "education" of the faculty through the assessment tool has several goals. First, faculty who teach Gen Ed courses must realize these courses are part of a university program. Second, assessment will go on. Third, expectations will increase with time.

"A lot of people view assessment as being equal to accountability," he said. "What we really want to have here in our Gen Ed courses is for the faculty to take greater ownership for them. They may enjoy teaching them more."

Carolinda Douglass and Sharon Skala spoke of the portfolio requirements and capstone course in the community health undergraduate program.

Assessment tools built into both activities show students, faculty and advisers how classwork relates to the jobs graduates will find after college. Douglass teaches "Principals of Health Planning," one of the courses.

"In that class, I encourage the students to have a series of real-life experiences, and so we conduct the course entirely in role play," she said. "We act as if we were part of a large health care organization. The students works in teams. They hire a manager. The managers hire staff to work on various projects."

Guest speakers from the professional world participate in the role playing before they reveal who they truly are and begin the standard presentation on career opportunities.

Assessment of the capstone course goes beyond the portfolio and the role-playing. Douglass also encourages her students to keep a journal to promote self-reflection of what they have learned and how it relates to their career. Meanwhile, surveys of alumni and their employers seek thoughts on what impacts the capstone courses have on the job performance of NIU graduates.

Students themselves are providing key input, she said.

"They're interested in having more hands-on experience," Douglass said. "They're also interested in wanting their presentations to be in a more formal manner and prepping to make it a more professional environment."