Category Archives: General Assessment Info

General information about the Office of Outcomes Assessment at JCCC and assessment in higher education.

Summertime Fun

Posted on by — 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 by — 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→

Serving Two Masters

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

There is a well-known Bible verse in the Book of Matthew that says, “No one can serve two masters.”  I was thinking about that adage recently when discussing assessment with some colleagues.  We were discussing a department’s assessment plan for the coming academic year and I was repeatedly asked if the accrediting body “would be okay with it.” Assessment has the unfortunate role of trying to serve two masters.  The first and primary role of assessment is to measure student learning in the classroom/program/college, and to use this information to inform curricular changes with the goal of increasing student learning. The second master that has begun creeping into my conversations with faculty is the issue of accountability.  Will this satisfy our accrediting body?  Will the state board think this is okay?  Does this meet the requirements? It is hard to meet the needs of two masters that are so fundamentally different in expectations and requirements.  So how does academia address Continue reading Serving Two Masters→

Assessment Stories

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

“Story telling is about connecting to other people and helping people to see what you see.” Michael Margolis I ran across this quote recently as I was looking for some interesting quotes to put into a presentation I was working on.  It didn’t fit my presentation, but it did make me think about telling a story. This past January, the professional development week that precedes the semester at JCCC included a panel of faculty who told their stories of assessment.  The panelists were wonderfully candid in sharing insights about their experiences and I was thrilled to hear all the different stories of how assessment had evolved in their disciplines.  Unfortunately, not many people attended the session. I thought the stories the faculty told about their respective assessment journeys were powerful and compelling. So, living in a digital age, I asked the faculty from the panel to come to the studio and tell their stories again – to the camera. Under Continue reading Assessment Stories→

Professional Development – A Plethora of Opportunities

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

  Definition of Professional Development – “the process of obtaining the skills, qualifications, and experience that allow you to make progress in your career.” (Macmillan Dictionary, 2014) Looking ahead over the next several months at JCCC, I find the opportunities for faculty development in the assessment of student learning remarkable in both breadth and depth. Leading off the new academic semester in January, the Office of Outcomes Assessment (OOA) will host a workshop that was piloted last summer. Assessment by Design – Comprehensive Overview, is a day-long, hands-on workshop which provides participants with an interactive and theoretical framework for addressing the assessment needs of their courses or programs. Come to this workshop as an individual faculty member working on assessing student learning in your courses, or bring your colleagues to address assessment initiatives for your program. During Professional Development Days, find your development opportunity in sessions such as: “Hits and Misses” in Launching Assessment Strategies, a faculty panel discussion Taming Continue reading Professional Development – A Plethora of Opportunities→

Assessment-More than Numbers

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Assessment – More than Numbers From my first forays into assessment work, I heard colleagues assert that assessing student learning is the responsibility of faculty with the goal of improving student outcomes.  I agree wholeheartedly with the statement, but then encountered examples of assessment processes that seemed to be driven more by the need to satisfy accreditors, state agencies, or other external bodies, all of which seemed ill-suited to foster faculty interest and involvement in assessment.  While I believe that Institutional Research or Assessment offices are colleagues that partner with faculty to assist, the actual work of assessment belongs to faculty and processes of assessment within institutions should be constructed in a way to ensure faculty ownership and use of assessment results. At Johnson County Community College we have found that using the cycle of assessment provides a theoretical and practical framework to engage faculty in authentic assessment activities. What was the Question? The cycle of assessment begins with a Continue reading Assessment-More than Numbers→

OOA Over the Summer…

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Over the summer – We were still busy in the Office of Outcomes Assessment… The OOA hosted a faculty workshop with Dr. Tom Angelo, on “CATs and COLTs: Classroom Learning Techniques and Collaborative Learning Techniques.” Dr. Angelo has consulted on teaching, assessment and learning improvement in 17 countries and throughout the United States for more than 60 higher education associations/systems and more than 250 postsecondary institutions. Internationally, Tom has been awarded fellowships from the Fulbright Program (Italy), the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Portugal), the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (Australia) and the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia. He has authored or co-authored five books and more than thirty-five articles and chapters. His best-known publication is Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, 2nd Edition, with more than 100,000 copies in print. The truly great news is he is coming back to JCCC in the Spring as the keynote speaker for the 5th Annual Continue reading OOA Over the Summer…→