On the road again…I started this blog post with my first trip to Louisville at the end of September. Since then I have been to California on a site visit and to Indianapolis for the Assessment Institute. I have two more trips to make before Thanksgiving so I am definitely getting my reward miles in this Fall.
There were some great sessions at the 2016 Assessment Institute. I participated in the poster session and dragged a giant tube with my poster in it on the plane from Kansas City. The overhead bins are not fond of large cardboard tubes.
There are always tough choices to make in determining which sessions to go to, invariably the two sessions that look the best are stacked against each other in the schedule and decisions must be made. One session that I enjoyed and learned a lot in was a plenary and feature Sylvia M. Jenkins, President of Moraine Valley Community College. Her story of starting as a part-time librarian and progressing through to the Presidency of the Institution was inspiring. She is also a great advocate of assessment, her background had a lot to do with her deep understanding and support of assessment. She spoke of the responsibility of campus leadership to support assessment.
The second session I took lots of notes in was Dr. Tom Angelo from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I must admit I am a fan of Dr. Angelo’s and we use his book, Classroom Assessment Techniques, liberally here on campus. Dr. Angelo spoke on “Doing Assessment as if Teaching and Learning Matter Most.” It was a great reminder to keep ourselves focused on student learning, especially formative learning. I brought home some great examples and handouts I intend to share with my faculty.
The one downside about the conference that I experienced and heard about from my colleagues was the lack of presentations from the two-year community college sector. While there are many components of assessment that are common within the higher education community, it is also true that the two-year realm has some unique challenges. It would have been helpful to hear more from some of these colleagues. Perhaps next year – perhaps you will present!
