June 2015 – Assessment by Design

Summertime Fun

Posted on June 23, 2015 by mmcmull5 — No Comments ↓

For the past two weeks, I have had the great joy of offering assessment workshops here on campus for colleagues from around the region. The workshop, Assessment by Design, is a one-day experience with curriculum designed to facilitate the development of an assessment plan at the class, course, or program level, independent of discipline. Faculty from both 2-year and 4-year schools participated and I loved the robust discussions that took place around assessment issues at their institutions. My favorite part of the workshops were the wonderful “ah-ha” moments that occurred when everything suddenly made sense to folks and assessment turned from merely a compliance framework to a key mechanism for improving student learning. All in all, it was a great way to kick off the summer. And do I ever love summer! “Summertime, and the livin’ is easy. Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high.” (George Gershwin) I know I have mentioned before on this blog that I am Continue reading Summertime Fun→

Hello, My Name Is

Posted on June 2, 2015 by mmcmull5 — No Comments ↓

I just got back on campus after spending time at the Association for Institutional Researcher (AIR) Forum in Denver. I had the opportunity to hear lots of great sessions from my colleagues and learn more about their institutions. That said, you would be inclined to think I would blog this week about some great sessions, but you would be wrong. When we checked in at the forum, we were given a preprinted name badge and a group of stickers to adhere to a blank space under our name. The point of the stickers was for us to “personalize” our name badges to better reflect the diversity of experience present at the conference. I chose ones like “I <3 statistics” and “Learning Outcomes” and the ever popular “Accreditation.” Some of my colleagues chose even more interesting stickers like “Data Diva.” I came really close to selecting that one but didn’t think I had quite earned the title of “Diva.” Not yet, Continue reading Hello, My Name Is→