A Case Study: How to Anchor Accreditation Requirements to Drive Learning Assessment Process Improvement and Efficiency
This session will take participants through the process of developing and implementing a new learning assessment schedule. It will also cover the key learning gains in how to leverage the accreditation requirements to drive the standardization of the learner performance review cadence across the school and programs and synergize the collaboration with faculty and school academic leadership teams to close the evaluation outcome loop. Participants will have the opportunity to provide feedback, ask questions, share their institutional approach in assessing learning outcomes, and reflect on the improvement opportunities to optimize their current assessment processes and practices.
Jie He and Nancy Ackerman, Capella University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Accreditation (AC)
Assessment and Planning for the 21st Century with eLumen
eLumen software enables your institution to continuously improve, meet accreditation requirements, and support skill-builders through data-driven decision-making. We make assessment & planning work for the 21st century with multi-dimensional curriculum maps, planning, integrated narratives and seamless LMS integration. Learn how eLumen is the tool to integrate key activities so you can focus on what matters - student success!
Jerry Anderson, eLumen
Presentation Type: Sponsor Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Accreditation (AC)
Assessment Reports Aligned with Accreditation Mandates
This presentation illustrates how to connect assessment practices to accreditation. The assessment template utilized to collect all assessment-related information aligns with institutional strategic plans for various divisions. Moreover, the presentation includes steps on how to complete an assessment report reflective of best practices in assessment. More than a presentation, this is a workshop that highlights the components of an assessment report, the elements needed in each component, and how to present data for improvement purposes. At the end of the presentation, the audience will be able to craft an excellent example to follow at their institutions.
Pedro Nino, North Carolina Central University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Accreditation (AC)
Assessment, Accreditation, and Federal Regulation: What You Need to Know
The relationships between institutions and programs, their respective accreditors, and the Department of Education are complex. This is particularly true for student success and learning assessment standards, which can cause confusion for assessment directors and accreditation liaisons. This session describes how common assessment practices intersect with accreditor policies and relate to the accreditors’ recognition by the Department of Education. The session will address common misconceptions about requirements, describe recent changes, and show you how to get involved.
David Eubanks, Furman University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Advanced
Primary Track: Accreditation (AC)
Demystifying Accreditation Evidence – Give Them Your Best, Not ‘All’!
Ready to level up your accreditation evidence? Too little evidence and you fail to make your case; too much and your evaluators will be frustrated trying to sift through unnecessary files. Join us for a game that is both fun and practical. You’ll learn to identify the best types of evidence to meet accreditor guidelines AND you’ll have a chance to win a prize.
Sheri Popp and Tisha Paredes, Weave Education
Presentation Type: Sponsor Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Accreditation (AC)
Effective Peer Review: Expanding Potential to Improve Quality, Accountability, and Equity Through the Institutional Acccreditation Process
The accreditation process is designed to assure all stakeholders that an accredited institution is evaluated in-depth, with rigor, and that it meets or exceeds the standards and criteria required to maintain accreditation. This presentation details a new process for peer evaluator training that supports informed and nuanced inquiry into educational quality grounded in the professional development of peer evaluators. Participants will explore case studies highlighting the WSCUC (WASC Senior College & University Commission) evaluator familiarization process, foregrounding the essential role of evidence in understanding higher education as well as standard, emerging, and new ways to understand and evaluate institutional performance.
David Chase and Justine Meyr, WASC Senior College & University Commission
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Advanced
Primary Track: Accreditation (AC)
Facilitating Cross-Discipline Conversations: Building Shared Awareness and Aligning Content Courses to Teacher Education Licensure Exams
There is a nationwide and statewide (Indiana) shortage of teachers. One hurdle for some people looking to enter the teaching profession is the professional licensure exam. The state of Indiana changed its teacher licensing exam in summer 2021, updating some of the topics that aspiring teachers need to know and understand to earn a teaching license after completing their degrees. In response, Purdue University Fort Wayne has initiated a series of campus-wide conversations to better align curriculum with the new licensure exam and improve licensure rates, while protecting academic freedom and avoiding the dreaded notion of teaching to the test.
Michael A. Flory and Brad Oliver, Purdue University Fort Wayne
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Accreditation (AC)
Helping Assessment Meet Accreditor Expectations
Institutional and programmatic accreditors have expectations regarding assessment. Sometimes colleges and universities have challenges meeting accreditor assessment expectations. These challenges often stem from not accurately communicating the assessment that is occurring, the institution not recognizing assessment that is less formal or informal, or the assessment that is happening is not sufficient to meet accreditor expectations – often not “closing the loop.” This presentation will share short- and longer-term approaches to address these common challenges.
Lee Van Dusen, Logan University; and Kimberly Paddock-O'Reilly, KPL Coaching
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Accreditation (AC)
It’s an Acquisition, Not a Merger: The Tale of the Hornets and the Wolverines
Higher education institutions are experiencing a plethora of issues that impact their bottom line. To remain financially viable, leaders are considering partnership options to sustain the institution. The partnership could be a merger or an acquisition, requiring the institutions’ accreditation agency to approve the transaction before it is finalized. To avoid a potential minefield of problems, it is imperative to have open and transparent communication between the institutions and their respective accreditation agencies. The story of Delaware State University’s successful acquisition of Wesley College will be used to highlight the journey to MSCHE approval in June 2021.
Lynda Murray-Jackson and Christine McDermott, Delaware State University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Accreditation (AC)
Leveraging Anthology's Assessment Management Solution Set for Continuous Improvement
Launching an institutional effectiveness plan is a complex endeavor, with decisions around what data to collect and what technology to use, and how best to engage and communicate expectations to an institution-wide audience. Aligning assessment expectations at different levels is often a challenge for many. Harmonize efforts across departments by taking a holistic approach to assessment, while allowing for flexibility. In this session, you will learn about how Anthology’s solutions can help you create a more collaborative assessment culture, one reflective of the progress taking place in your programs and across your institution.
Jenna Ralicki and Griffin Brock, Anthology
Presentation Type: Sponsor Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track:Accreditation (AC)
Micro and Macro Changes: Looking from Multiple Angles at Completer Data to Make an Impact
This presentation examines the impact of School of Education (SoE) graduates (now teachers) on student learning. We examine their ability to apply professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions to increase student achievement within their classrooms. This in-depth study revealed our completers’ views on the relevancy and efficacy of their learning in our SoE programs. Findings are used to inform ongoing curriculum development and improvement and drive both micro- and macro-level changes within a SoE’s teacher preparation programs. Participants will have time to reflect how they can collect longitudinal data to make changes to their own teacher preparation programs.
Katrina Reinhardt, Jean Lee, and Carin Neitzel, University of Indianapolis
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Accreditation (AC)
One-Year Review: Enhance Institutional Accreditation Efforts
In this presentation we will reflect on lessons learned in the first year of creating an office designed to enhance the effectiveness of institutional accreditation efforts for the University. The goal is to help session participants discover the experiences, perceptions, and potential solutions to accreditation challenges that many institutions are facing. We will share our processes of identifying meaningful outcomes of the accreditation office and implementing strategies to achieve them. At the end, we will explain how we will use the first-year self-assessment results to plan actions for improving our accreditation efforts at the institutional level.
Eric Cummings, Matthew Sinclair, and Jie Zhang, Vanderbilt University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Accreditation (AC)
Using the InTASC Learning Progressions to Build Common Assessments
Educator preparation programs seeking CAEP accreditation are required to assess all teacher candidates on the InTASC standards. Join accreditation coordinators from St. Bonaventure University as we share the process used by our faculty in identifying InTASC Learning Progressions and developing four assessments of these learning progressions that are used across all initial teacher preparation programs. We will also demonstrate how this process can be used to develop other standards-based assessments.
Rene' E. Hauser, Kathryn Andrews, and Adam Brown, St. Bonaventure University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Accreditation (AC)
Assessing Critical Organizational Capacities in the Development of Online Learning Tools
Professional education and credentialing continue to move online. Creating online tools for student learning is a complex organizational activity. To better understand how organizational capacities contribute to this process, we applied a systems perspective. We qualitatively assessed the capacities of a university research center with over 20 years of online professional development experience. We evaluated these capacities using evidence-based, salient themes related to organizational learning and effectiveness: systems connections, knowledge management, inquiry, adaptability, and culture. We share assessment results to highlight how insights into capacities and organizational learning can advance the creation of online learning tools for students.
Ryan A. Wilke and Andrew Dennard, Florida State University - Florida Center for Interactive Media
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Assessment in Online Courses and Programs (AO)
Back to Basics: Leaning on Rubrics in Accelerated Online Classes to Benefit Students, Faculty, and Administration
Can an old-timey tool like a rubric be rebranded and repositioned to provide a consistent and streamlined grading process for faculty as well as give students the specific direction and advice they need to make improvements? Can rubrics provide faculty coaching guides for chairs, or can they provide qualitative information for the IE folks in assessing PLOs?
This presentation has been designed to briefly discuss the historical development and use of rubrics in higher education and then focus on and practice the roles of rubrics in online accelerated courses, their contribution to student learning, faculty benefits of using rubrics, and administrative use of data.
Margareta Smith Knopik and Shirl Smith, Colorado Technical University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment in Online Courses and Programs (AO)
Co-Regulated Online Learning: Formative Assessment to Learn
The Griffith University Affective Learning Scale (GUALS) developed by Rogers et al. (2018) was utilized to code 2,300 reflective posts from online doctoral students. This presentation will answer recent research calls from Hansen, 2019; Hundley et al. 2019; Norris and Weiss, 2019; and Zahl et al. 2019 to respectively: assess growth mindsets, integrate affective learning outcomes based on reflection and introspection, transdisciplinary learning and assessment, and measurements of attitudes, skills, and values of professionals. Qualitative data were synthesized with quantitative data from weekly formative assessment questionnaires. Are we effectively communicating to students what we expect them to learn?
Vince Nix, West Texas A&M University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Advanced
Primary Track: Assessment in Online Courses and Programs (AO)
Course Modality Student Preferences and Creation of the Remote Learning Best Practices Inventory
This presentation will share the results and implications of two research projects conducted after a significant increase in online course scheduling at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College post COVID-19. First, there was no data specific to the community college student population concerning students’ preferences for seated verses online courses. Results from a student survey will be combined with observed enrollment patterns to guide future course scheduling. Second, an inventory creation project resulted in the student-normed “Remote Learning Best Practices” inventory. The new tool facilitates quick, efficient reviews of web course designs/teaching practices before or during course implementation.
Heather P. Hatchett, Cincinnati State Community and Technical College
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment in Online Courses and Programs (AO)
Learning Artifacts as Qualitative Evidence: Studying Learners’ Action Plans in an Online Course for Faculty About Inclusive Teaching
How can we use learning artifacts to better understand how an intervention influences learners? This presentation will describe the analysis of action plans that were submitted during an online course about inclusive teaching designed for faculty. We will describe the course context and design of the action plan assignment, and the qualitative analysis where we used emergent coding to identify themes in learners’ action plans. We will share our findings and clarify what they suggest about how the course influenced learners. Participants will practice coding, consider their own professional contexts, and reflect on the value of learning artifacts as evidence.
Melina Ivanchikova and Mathew Ouellett, Cornell University; and Amy Cardace, Fairleigh Dickinson University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment in Online Courses and Programs (AO)
Seizing Opportunity: Improving Reliability, Validity, and Data Through a New Grading Rubric Model
This session will discuss the design and implementation of a novel rubric model. In preparation for the rollout of new grading features in the learning management system (D2L Brightspace), Purdue Global re-envisioned our approach to grading rubrics and considered how a more standardized rubric structure could improve the reliability and validity of faculty grading, with the goal of providing a more consistent and equitable experience for students. This change has unlocked a treasure trove of data about how students perform on individual aspects of assignments and discussion boards. This session will explore potential current and future applications of such data.
Tamara L. Chiong, Purdue University Global
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment in Online Courses and Programs (AO)
The RECAP Framework: Fostering Student Engagement, Self-Reflection, and Formative Assessment in Online Learning
This presentation will focus on the presenters’ efforts to foster student engagement and self-reflection and facilitate regular formative assessment within asynchronous online courses using the RECAP framework. The RECAP framework is a simple weekly routine using short instructor-created videos and structured reflection prompts that can be implemented within any learning management system. Supporting data from course analytics and student feedback will be outlined, and examples from undergraduate and graduate-level courses will be shared.
Carrie Hagan, IUPUI Robert H. McKinney School of Law; Matthew Callison, South Fayette Township School District; and Alexandria Fox, IUPUI
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment in Online Courses and Programs (AO)
Transforming Online Grading, Assessment, and Testing Using Situated Cognition
The pandemic helped many appreciate that online grading, formative assessment, and summative testing can burn out instructors and leave little time for more efficient interactions. We reimagined assessment in an extended program of design-based research using situative theory in diverse online contexts to minimize private instructor-student interactions. We present ten new assessment design principles that some may find counter-intuitive. These principles focus on assessment functions (rather than ostensible purposes) and align learning across increasingly formal levels. They promise to maximize formative and transformative assessment functions, position students as authors rather than consumers, empower minoritized learners, and increase validity and credibility.
Daniel T. Hickey and Tripp Harris, Indiana University Bloomington
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Advanced
Primary Track: Assessment in Online Courses and Programs (AO)
What We Have Learned from Hexic HD: Leveraging Principles of Gamification to Increase Learner Engagement Using Your Gradebook
This session explores the use of gradebook design for a graduate online course, “Healthcare in the US,” offered at Purdue University’s College of Health and Human Sciences (HHS). While working with the faculty, it was mutually agreed that sound course design involved both formative and summative assessments using a balanced gradebook. The point-based gradebook was inspired by principles of gamification and self-regulation, like Microsoft’s Xbox Achievements feature that awards users when they reach certain criteria while playing a game. In this session, we will discuss how to leverage gamification to increase student engagement with gradebook design.
Allan Celik, Purdue University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Assessment in Online Courses and Programs (AO)
4 Short Questions for Stronger Assessments
Assessment practices differ across disciplines, institutions, and assessment professionals. What is a foundational characteristic of one cycle may only be a suggested action in another. People who are necessary to assessment work at one college may not even be involved at another. This session asks attendees four short questions about their assessment process: who, when, how, and why. The session will deliver an exploration about how these questions may be answered across institutions, and how the answer to one may affect the others. Participants will leave with a way to better categorize their own work and reflectively consider paths to move from their current assessment style to an assessment style that best aligns with their institutional mission and narrative.
Glenn Phillips, Watermark
Presentation Type: Sponsor Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
40+ Tips to Increase Survey Responses
Survey fatigue exists, but poor survey design and administration practices contribute to this – in addition to being their own detriments. There are many considerations for faculty, staff, and students which can make surveying more intentional, collaborative, and effective. This session will share 40+ actionable and practical tips which can increase survey response rates. Information is grouped in categories to help in focus and consideration for application. Common issues and possible benefits are presented for each tip. In addition to Q&A, participants will be engaged in discussion and activities related to feasibility and prioritization of tips for action at their institution.
Joseph D. Levy, National Louis University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
A Simple Framework for Assessing Student Services and Administrative Units
This presentation will focus on a simple, stress-free framework to assess non-academic units to achieve continuous improvement. Participants will learn how to use commonly available data to improve their departments’ value-added functions. This presentation will center around a lecture of the simplified process, demonstration of the elements of the process (for a variety of student services and administrative functions), and hands-on work in defining each step of the process (with presenter feedback). Participants will also be provided with an editable version of an assessment manual, complete with templates for assessment planning and reporting.
Edward Hummingbird, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute
Presentation Type: Pre-Institute Workshop
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
All About Rubrics
Instructors are increasingly recognizing the value of rubrics for assessing student learning. This session will introduce participants to various types of rubrics and how/when to use them. The format consists of presentation interspersed with opportunities for interaction, discussion, and questions. This session is designed for those who are new to assessment or would like to learn more about how rubrics can be used in teaching and learning.
Ellen E. Dobson, Campbell University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
Applying Equity-Centered Practices to Student Affairs Assessment
The integration of equity and assessment is an emergent topic in higher education. Professional conferences have had this topic as their theme or included a track in their session offerings. Student affairs practitioners are familiar with each of these concepts, but few are aware of how equity can be a foundation for assessment outside of the classroom. In this session, presenters will provide an overview of equity-centered assessment, provide a model for its application in co-curricular settings, and provide examples of equity-minded and equity-centered strategies. Participants will then create an action plan for applying these strategies in their own work.
Gavin Henning, New England College; and Anne Lundquist, Hope Center-Temple University
Presentation Type: Pre-Institute Workshop
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
Assessing a Longitudinal Educational Experience for Continuous Quality Improvement
We’ll explore the use of assessment tools to promote adaptability and continuous quality improvement (CQI) in a large educational program. The Scholarly Concentrations Program is a statewide, multi-level program complementing the core medical school curriculum and empowering students to delve into topics of personal interest. The pilot was launched with a “CQI” mindset; and after three years, a robust assessment plan is gathering feedback. While “building the plane as we fly it,” enrollment in the program has tripled in three years. This program example shows the ability to replicate CQI with other large educational programs anywhere.
Deb Birnbaum, Anthony Masseria, and Walsh, Sarah, IU School of Medicine
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
Assessment 101
What should students know and be able to do when they graduate? How do you know if they know and can do them? What data should you collect to improve student learning and inform planning and decision making? Assessment 101 methods help undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs at large and small schools answer these questions. Participants will learn how to design an assessment plan with data collection and follow-up activities for a student learning outcome in an academic program. Designed to help new or experienced assessment practitioners or faculty with their own assessment or to support their colleagues. Supports general education assessment and accreditation efforts.
Keston H. Fulcher, James Madison University
Presentation Type: Pre-Institute Workshop
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
Connecting Assessment to Learning Improvement at Scale
This session is for assessment practitioners, educational developers, and administrators who aspire to link assessment to improvement initiatives. Attendees will learn about key readings, the Learning Improvement Community, and an intense team-based professional development opportunity.
Keston H. Fulcher and Megan Good, James Madison University
Presentation Type: Sponsor Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment Methods/Learning Improvement (AM/LI)
Creating Dynamic Rubrics for Fast Feedback and Data Collection
The purpose of this presentation is to illustrate how to use Excel and some of its features to enhance the teaching and learning process. This presentation illustrates an automatic data collection rubric customized to the needs of the classroom. This rubric calculates student grades, alerts on student performance, organizes combined grades, and charts graphs. It can also be shared with students individually through a stamped pdf.
Pedro Nino, North Carolina Central University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
Credentialing, Credits, and Advanced Placement in World Languages
As businesses and governments recognize the value in knowledge of a second language, more and more students are entering higher education with high levels of proficiency. Many institutions are already using the Global Seal of Biliteracy, an externally validated credential, to increase enrollment numbers, recruit students, and recognize the achievements of current students. This presentation will present the Global Seal of Biliteracy and the benefits it provides to both students and institutions. Special attention will be paid to the assessments approved by the Global Seal of Biliteracy for awarding the credential to students.
Nick Gossett, Avant Assessment
Presentation Type: Sponsor Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment Methods/Global Learning (AM/GL)
Curriculum Assessment Process in a Graduate Degree Program
This session will showcase the process of curriculum assessment in a graduate degree program in organizational leadership. We will discuss the utilization of a depth of coverage analysis and a gap/redundancy analysis in this process. We will share the results of our own assessment of our curriculum as well as the tools and templates utilized in the process. This session will be useful for faculty, program directors, and others involved in larger-scale curricular revisions.
Kevin Rose, IUPUI
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
Diversity’s Impact on the Undergraduate Experience: A Study of Chinese International and Domestic Students
What is the impact of interactions with diverse others and culturally engaging coursework on the undergraduate student experience? After a brief overview of student engagement, Gurin’s informal interactive diversity topic, and the Culturally Engaging Campus Environments model, participants will review a research study examining how interactions with diverse others affects a sample of Chinese international and domestic undergraduate students at U.S. postsecondary institutions. Participants will end the session with a better understanding of how diversity interactions and coursework affect the student experience and how they can assess diversity activities at their institutions.
Ania Peczalska, University of North Carolina Wilimington
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
Herding Camels: Coordinating Program Assessment Across Locations and Modalities
Campbell University (home of the Fighting Camels) offers degree programs at four off-campus instructional sites and 100% online. Many programs use course-embedded assessments as measures of program effectiveness. The data produced by these assessments is informative only when the assessments have been administered, scored, and reported in the same way. In this session, you will learn how key assessment guides are used to promote fidelity of implementation among instructors. Find out how these guides make herding camels a bit easier!
Ellen E. Dobson, Campbell University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
Institutional Effectiveness 2.0 in Action—Empowering Stakeholders to Lead Beyond Their Role
Institutional Effectiveness 2.0 requires a new way of leading, collecting, and using data for decision-making. Through IE 2.0, leaders empower faculty and staff to not only contribute to an institution's success but give them latitude to lead beyond their titles. Ensuring that stakeholders have meaningful data to tell success stories and write new ones fosters decision-making required for improvement. Learn from practitioners who are putting theories of change into action, establishing communities of practice, and driving continuous improvement using data to elevate effectiveness, foster sustainability, and provide clear return on investment for students.
David E. Allen, Texas Christian University; Christopher Davis, University of Maryland Global Campus, Jack Neill, Vice President, Data Science & Analysis; and Colin Suchland, Lincoln Land Community College
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
Leveling Up Your Assessment Skills
If you are interested in advancing your assessment skills, come to our session and learn about James Madison University’s weeklong Assessment 101 workshop. Through this award-winning professional development, you can engage with every step of the assessment process from articulating student learning outcomes to using results for improvement. The experience is led by an assessment expert in the Center for Assessment and Research Studies.
Megan Good and John Hathcoat, James Madison University
Presentation Type: Sponsor Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
Making the Most of NSSE to Assess and Improve Quality in Undergraduate Education
The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and affiliated surveys for beginning students and faculty, help bachelors-granting institutions assess quality in undergraduate education and strengthen the learning environment by providing customizable comparison data and actionable information on student engagement in effective educational practice to generate institutional insights on learning and success. This session will highlight new NSSE items on sense of belonging and effective teaching, and discuss how NSSE can be used in college and university accreditation, quality improvement, equity and student success initiatives.
Jillian Kinzie and Cindy Ann Kilgo, National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), Indiana University Bloomington
Presentation Type: Sponsor Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment Methods
Methodology of College-Wide Non-Instructional Retention Assessment
At Milwaukee Area Technical College, the institution has made significant effort to retain more students through a structured strategic approach. Continuing in our data-centered, equity, and inclusive mindset, the College set forth to create a dynamic retention assessment dashboard. Specifically, the college was interested in retention of users of a program versus non-users. Attendees of the session will receive information on the College's approach to gaining interest, considerations for dashboard tools and development, and insights on how the data has been used post-dashboard completion.
Yan Wang, Jeff Janz, and Erich Zeimantz, Milwaukee Area Technical College
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
Moving Toward Competency-Based Assessment in Medical Education
Medical schools are increasingly recognizing the need to prepare students for competency-based assessment to support their professional development as they transition to post-graduate medical education. Making this leap can be overwhelming to students and faculty steeped in traditional grade-based approaches. To move closer to a competency-based program, the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine designed and piloted a holistic 5-point rubric combined with a standards-based grading scale to begin this transition across the curriculum. The presentation will review the successes, barriers, and opportunities for improvement.
Jaymi N. Russo and Rebecca Lustfield, University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
My Students Will Not Engage and that is NOT My Problem!
Student engagement can be a bit fickle, especially when trying to create an environment that is inclusive and equal for all; however, if instructors are armed with the right tools and the willingness to adapt strategies, they can increase student engagement in their classes without students feeling coerced or cajoled into participating due to cultural or physical limitations. It is a matter of looking at the students who do not talk and figuring out what makes them tick. Even in their silence, students are speaking, and it is up to the instructors to understand what is being said.
Myeisha Grady, Morton College; and Alison Slade, American Public University Systems
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
Realizing and Addressing Graduate Student Mental Wellness: The Precursor to Learning Professional Skills
As the mental health of students gains awareness, the skillset of faculty in realizing and addressing mental wellness (both preventatively and responsively) is still developing. This presentation will share practical tools for faculty who engage with students who may be experiencing mental health issues. Presenters are psychologists who will share how simple adjustments to syllabi, language, and classroom policies may have significant positive impact on the mental wellness of students. Time for questions or discussion will be provided.
Beth A. Trammell, Alyssa Brown, and Deborah Miller, Indiana University East
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
User Stories: Building In Equity and Impact from the Start
Successful assessment efforts center key partners and anticipate concrete capabilities that will result from the process. User stories provide structured means for communicating to the audiences that will benefit from assessment projects as well as the knowledge, skills, abilities, or other impacts those audiences can expect to gain as a result. Utilizing user stories for assessment ensures inclusion, makes benefits of assessment clear, and centers equity and impact from the outset of any assessment planning. This session will demonstrate how assessment practitioners can apply user stories to their work to build common understandings of research and enable rapid action on findings.
Megan Oakleaf, Syracuse University; Becky Croxton, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Shane Nackerud, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities; and Ken Varnum, University of Michigan
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
Using the CAOOL (A Variation of COOL, Nino 2012) to Write Strong, Clear, and Concise Outcome Statements
The purpose of the presentation is to introduce attendees to the CAOOL method to write strong outcome statements. Unlike the SMART principle and the ABCD method, CAOOL offers a unique approach to outcomes in that CAOOL specifically indicates what element should be included in the statement and the position of the element within the statement. CAOOL can be used to draft all kinds of outcome statements from general to specific and from administrative to co-curricular. As a variation to the COOL Syntax (Nino, 2012), CAOOL expands clearly on all the required elements of an outcome statement.
Pedro Nino, North Carolina Central University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Assessment Methods (AM)
Aligning People, Budget, and Strategy to Promote REAL Institutional Change
Colleges and universities operate in a resource-constrained environment characterized by intense competition, a looming enrollment cliff, and the need to continually innovate to meet student, faculty, staff, and community stakeholder needs. This session discusses the importance of aligning people, budget, and strategy to convey relevance, operate with efficiencies, invest in the academic enterprise, and provide leadership in times of institutional change. Approaches to effectively prioritize resources, implement strategies, and differentiate the value proposition of an institution or program will be shared.
Mark C. Volpatti, Valparaiso University; and Stephen P. Hundley, IUPUI
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Campus Business Operations and Services (CO)
Breaking Down Silos in Assessment Work: Intentional Community Building at a Large Decentralized University
Assessment occurs across departments and services. Larger universities may even have multiple assessment offices throughout their colleges and campuses. Siloed assessment work can result in duplication of efforts, isolation of practitioners, and fragmented skills development. This session shares approaches to fostering an assessment community in a highly decentralized research university. The presentation highlights University of Washington efforts to form an assessment working group, centralize survey efforts through a formalized review process, and unify departmental efforts through a retention task force. The session will conclude with a discussion on how others have approached building community in siloed and decentralized settings.
Jackie Belanger, Sean Gehrke, and Jillian Morn, University of Washington
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Campus Business Operations and Services (CO)
Designing Your Enrollment Trajectory: Analyzing, Strategizing and Operationalizing Toward Enrollment Planning Success
Across institutions of higher education, recovering from the global pandemic has transformed the face of the new student recruitment landscape. This session will explore enrollment planning through a “bottom-up” collaborative analysis and ideation journey that includes primary stakeholders, capturing real-time qualitative insights that complement essential quantitative trends. The Analyze-Strategize-Operationalize (ASO) Strategic Design Model walks participants through the steps of mixed methods data analysis, strategic prioritization, methodical implementation, and success-tracking. Applying elements of the discipline of Design Thinking, this unique data-centric enrollment planning process addresses a high need for collaboration across disciplines, involving enrollment stakeholders as ethnographers and problem solvers. From there, the human-centered approach to ideation and prioritization commences. Finally, an evaluation of capabilities occurs with stakeholders, during which strategies are connected to budget, timelines, and success metrics. This session will demonstrate how one campus used the ASO Strategic Design Model in its enrollment planning approach.
Errol Wint, IUPUI
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Campus Business Operations and Services (CO)
FERPA and the Parents' Voice
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records and gives students rights independent of their parents (sometimes referred to as the Buckley Amendment due to the senator who introduced the legislation). Yet, while there may have been good intent in establishing FERPA, today parents often feel left out regarding important information about their child attending college. As children leave home to attend college and develop into adults, college students still need the love and support of their parents. Familial involvement is vital for students to perform well during their academic career and complete their college degree.
Jeffrey co*ckrell, Tennessee College of Applied Technology Nashville
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Campus Business Operations and Services (CO)
Transition After Sudden Death of a College President
Colleges develop a transition plan when a president leaves. Such plans are intended to create a smooth transition of leadership so that the institutional mission continues without a loss of momentum. But this process is difficult when a president dies unexpectedly. This brief essay uses some examples to discuss how higher education institutions respond when a president dies suddenly. I cite a few examples of this occurrence and then offer some general guidance for boards to consider in the event of facing such a tragedy.
Jeff co*ckrell, Tennessee College of Applied Technology Nashville
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Campus Business Operations and Services (CO)
Assessing General Education at Community Colleges – Mission Possible
Community colleges are committed to open access and serving multiple missions. Students attend to complete certificates and degrees, transfer to four-year institutions, or complete individual courses for skill development. Many students attend part-time, around work and family obligations. Paths to completion are not perfectly sequenced. These considerations make assessment seem Mission Impossible. In this session, join community college professionals on their Mission Possible journey. Presenters will share their current assessment process and successful practices, including assessment of program health and maximizing assessment effectiveness. Attendees will be provided with practices to support moving toward the ultimate goal: Mission Accomplished.
Kathleen Gorski, Waubonsee Community College; Jennifer Billman, Harrisburg Area Community College; and Fiona Chrystall, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Community Colleges (CC)
Data! So Critical, It Closed the College! San Antonio College's Journey to Creating a Data-Informed Community
In an ever-changing environment, creating opportunities for campus-wide data discovery and reflection on our mission have kept our continuous improvement process evolving. Learn about how continuous improvement and processes, including Baldrige Excellence Framework, PDCA, and 4 Disciplines of Excellence, guided the journey to Aspen. San Antonio College (SAC) will share how we developed, launched, and transformed its assessment process through reflection on Key Performance Indicators, Learning Assessment, Strategic Planning, and Unit Review; and how we adapted to the virtual environment.
Francisco Solis and Rosalind Ong, San Antonio College; Rachel Dwiggins-Beeler, eLumen
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Community Colleges (CC)
Implementing Effective and Sustainable High-Impact Practices within the Academic Course
Do you need simple, effective, and transmittable high-impact practice ideas that you can seamlessly incorporate into your college course for lasting student engagement and success? Join Tennessee Board of Regents HIP Ambassadors of First-Year Experience practitioners who will share research, relevant findings, and successful helps that have been created, modeled, implemented, and evaluated into their community colleges' college success and other academic courses since 2010. Since the inception of these programs, these partner colleges have seen tremendous results in student retention, engagement, and workforce and university transfers.
Nancy L. Hamilton, Roane State Community College; and Lauren Jordan, Pellissippi State Technical Community College
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Community Colleges (CC)
Library-Friendly Assessment Framework at Community College of Philadelphia
Until recently, the administrative, educational support, and support (AES) units at the Community College of Philadelphia (CCP) lacked a systematic assessment process. In 2017, the director of IR and the library’s department head created an assessment framework to capture the unique contributions of non-academic units in supporting student success. Within its first year of implementation, over 90 percent of AES units created assessment plans and successfully completed their first assessment reporting cycle. This session will report on the experiences of two of the developers and reflect on lessons learned, highlighting the unique contributions of the library to the process.
Michael J. Krasulski and Elizabeth Gordon, Community College of Philadelphia
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Community Colleges (CC)
Successful Transitions – Using Human, Political, and Structural Resources to Ensure a Smooth Logistical and Cultural Transition to a New Assessment Director
Often, change can cause chaos to campus-wide assessment initiatives, but using existing resources from faculty, staff, and other stakeholders along with clear communication strategies and training can ensure when a new director is hired that previous hard work and progress doesn’t halt. This session will present organizational and strategic communication strategies with real-life examples of ushering in a new era with a new Director of Assessment.
Ashley A. Vasquez and Sheri Barrett, Johnson County Community College
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Community Colleges (CC)
The Quick Guide to Assessment – Improve Engagement in the Assessment Process
Institutions are challenged to create meaningful processes for assessment that promote student learning and continuous improvement. Assessment offices comprehensively understand these processes and assume faculty engaged in teaching and learning can easily follow along. This isn’t always the case. In this session, discover how one community college created their assessment process with helpful checklists, documents, and web pages only to discover additional support was needed. An overview of the process and tools designed will be shared. A newly created interactive Quick Guide to Assessment based on a dichotomous or decision key that improved process coherence and engagement will be featured.
Kathleen Gorski and Evan Thomas, Waubonsee Community College
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Community Colleges (CC)
A Multi-Institutional Assessment Collaborative for Evaluating Local Government and University Partnerships
The Educational Partnerships for Innovations in Communities Network (EPIC-N) convened a community of practice for universities looking to improve their assessment of local government partnerships. This session will share updates on the work since presentations given during the 2021 Assessment Institute highlighting the common tools produced and in development for evaluating faculty, student, and community outcomes in the short- and long-term. In particular focus will be the continued development of the methodology of Ripple Effects Mapping, as well as considerations in measuring community impact metrics using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Gavin Luter, University of Wisconsin–Madison UniverCity Alliance; Mazi Ferguson, University of South Florida; Laura Martin, University of Mississippi; and Jane Rogan, Indiana University Bloomington
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Community Engagement (CE)
Assessment As and Through Co-Inquiry: Multi-Institutional Reflection on Community-Campus Partnership Quality Using the Transformational Relationship Evaluation Scale II
How do we know whether partnerships are moving in the direction of transformational? How do we get on the same page about whether we intend them to? And what difference does inquiring into partnership quality make in the relationships, processes, and outcomes of community engagement? Facilitators share a multi-institutional assessment project that integrates inquiry and practice through co-creation of tools for reflection on partnership quality that is designed to generate actionable learning: the Transformational Relationship Evaluation Scale II and associated Reflection Framework. Participants will use excerpts from the tools, hear from pilot site representatives, and discuss implications for their contexts.
Patti H. Clayton, PHC Ventures, IUPUI, and The University of North Carolina Campus Engagement; Robert Bringle and Mary Price, IUPUI; Kim Dean-Anderson, University of Richmond; and Kristin Medlin, Collaboratory
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Community Engagement (CE)
Community Partners as Evaluators: Suggestions for Getting Valid Results
Community-based learning experiences allow students to apply learning in authentic contexts under the mentorship of practicing professionals. Evaluations completed by mentoring community partners can provide valuable data regarding student performance and career readiness. However, there are challenges with relying on community partners as evaluators, especially low response rates and evaluator misconceptions about the assessment process that affect evaluation validity. Drawing on experience collaborating with K12 mentor teachers in the student evaluation process, effective strategies for addressing these challenges will be suggested.
Natalie Schelling, Indiana University Kokomo
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Community Engagement (CE)
Democratically Engaged Assessment Inside and Out: Center-Wide Capacity Building for and Through Co-Inquiry into Civic Learning
Our “A Team” shares its ongoing work to infuse democratized inquiry into our assessment practices and organizational culture through intentional adoption of the principles of Democratically Engaged Assessment. The four teams of staff within our Center have developed questions, processes, and structures that query overlapping domains of civic learning and invite partner co-creation. Participants will engage with the central ideas and decision points of this journey: identifying their own relevant civic learning goals and drafting related questions, determining potential co-inquirers, considering ways to nurture co-inquiry among them, and exploring opportunities and challenges that might arise in the process.
Sarah Adams, Anthony Crenshaw, Kim Dean-Anderson, and Blake Stack, University of Richmond; and Patti Clayton, PHC Ventures, IUPUI, and The University of North Carolina Campus Engagement
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Community Engagement (CE)
Establishing Systemic Assessment of Campus-Community Partnerships with K-12 Education
Campus-community partnerships related to K-12 education contribute to the state’s economic and educational goals (Jacob et al., 2015). But how do institutions assess the impacts of their engagements and foster on-campus dialogues about strategies and opportunities? We address the significance and challenges of assessing K-12 impacts using Collaboratory, which tracks who is doing what, where, with whom, and for what purposes. Lastly, we discuss the benefits of interactive data visualization to untangle institutional contexts and examples of systemic assessment of K12 engagement by merging external and internal data with the data from Collaboratory.
Seonmi Jin and Anna Galvez, Indiana University Bloomington
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Community Engagement (CE)
Expanding the Rural Health Workforce: Development, Delivery, and Assessment of a Rural Scholars Program
A shortage of qualified health care providers is a continuous concern impacting rural health care. Rural health training programs are one method to address this care gap. These programs aim to cultivate knowledge, skills, and experience among health professional students with a passion for underserved care. Rural health training programs often provide service to local communities through practical requirements. However, impactful training programs require a robust assessment strategy. The development, delivery, and assessment of a rural health training program will be described, including the impact of associated community-based projects. Data, lessons learned, and best practices will be shared with participants.
Michelle Musser and Emily Eddy, Ohio Northern University College of Pharmacy
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Community Engagement (CE)
Institution-Wide Data Collection for Community’s Benefit: Aligning Methods to Foster Community Networking and Impacts
Community engagement takes many different forms and addresses all sorts of social issues. Due to the diverse nature of community engagement and the priorities and assets of community partners, there is a great need to understand the ways in which our campuses engage with community and how that may vary by campus unit, discipline, nature of the project, etc. This session will share how Indiana University is working to strategically align data collection efforts to more effectively recognize campus and community assets, deepen partnerships, and more strategically and efficiently increase campus-community connections among all IU campuses across the state.
Jane Rogan, Anna Galvez, and Jacob Simpson, Indiana University Bloomington; and Lauren Wendling, Collaboratory
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Community Engagement (CE)
Reconnecting Students with Their Campus Community During a Pandemic: Using On-Campus Community Partners in Community-Based Learning GIS Class Projects
Community-Based Learning (CBL) is an organized service activity that connects class content to student learning through contributions to the community. The definition of a “community partner” often describes them as “off-campus” and fails to recognize the value of utilizing on-campus entities as community partners. This value would seem to be potentially greater during a pandemic, as students have lost some of their connections to their campus. I will present, discuss, and interpret the findings of a CBL student survey regarding the value of working with on-campus community partners in UW-Parkside GIS CBL classes during the spring 2022 semester.
John Ward, University of Wisconsin-Parkside
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Community Engagement (CE)
What’s Your Why? The Carnegie Community Engagement Elective and People-Centered Systems Change
The Carnegie Community Engagement elective classification has evolved since its inception in 2005. Partnerships, reciprocity, institutionalization, and assessment continue to be central to the application. In addition, the realities of the times have necessitated pivots, incorporation of explicit diversity goals, and space for narrative and reflection to be deeply embedded in the process. The keynote will focus on people-centered system change, incorporating improvement science, as we continue to tackle assessing impact for students, faculty, staff, and community and how the Carnegie Community Elective Classification can be a tool for institutional transformation and innovation.
Marisol Morales, American Council on Education (ACE)
Presentation Type: Keynote Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Community Engagement (CE)
Building Student Engagement, Retention, and Persistence with Inclusive Language Credentials
This poster session focuses on research-based solutions that increase learner engagement and retention, especially among low-income, first-generation, and adult college students through Competency-based Exams (CBE) and stackable language credentials with workplace value. Evidence will be provided on the positive impact of language assessment and certification on English language learners as well as students in traditional foreign language programs or programs that offer field-specific language coursework (LSPs). Participants will be able to explore a variety of resources including qualifying language assessments, language placement tools, and tiered credentials that provide greater equity and inclusion for speakers of diverse languages.
Linda L. Egnatz, Global Seal of Biliteracy
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Competency-Based Education and Assessment (CB)
Co-Curricular Records, Data Sharing, and Transforming Understanding of Learning Beyond the Classroom
My Spartan Story, Michigan State University’s co-curricular record, launched in Fall 2020 to track and recognize co-curricular learning throughout the undergraduate student experience. The record creates powerful opportunities to understand what students are learning and how such experiences are implemented and assessed by faculty/staff--data which we recently made shareable to campus stakeholders through the creation of Tableau dashboards. This session will introduce you to foundations of our record, the creation process and launch of dashboards, findings on co-curricular learning, and how collectively our work is expanding knowledge and understanding of student learning beyond the classroom.
Sarah Schultz and Lance Sharp, Michigan State University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Competency-Based Education and Assessment (CB)
How to Assess Co-Curricular Learning Experiences at Scale
Attend this session and learn how your school can assess co-curricular learning at scale. Suitable will highlight how to use competencies, levels of proficiency, self-guided reflections, digital badges and co-curricular transcripts to assess the impact of co-curricular experiences for each student.
Sean Carson, Suitable
Presentation Type: Sponsor Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Competency-Based Education & Assessment (CB)
It Needs a Little More Salt: Assessing Competency-Based Learning on a Culinary Focused Campus
This presentation examines a multi-campus initiative at the Culinary Institute of America to develop a competency-based assessment methodology that provides answers (and a pathway for student learning improvement) to a common question from culinary faculty: “Why don’t my students possess the skills they should have for academic success in my class?”
Matthew Ruane and Cynthia Keller, Culinary Institute of America
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Competency-Based Education and Assessment (CB)
The Indiana Commission for Higher Education: A Systems Approach to Equitable Transfer Policies
The long and challenging campaign to improve education inclusion opportunities has been an uphill climb, crisscrossing pathways hampered by barriers and inconsistent policies affecting our most vulnerable students. Pandemic related achievement gaps have hit hard on educational attainment and transfer equity. National data underscores the growing numbers of disproportionately impacted students representing racially diverse, rural, first generation, low-income, and adult learners. Some would say we are entering a transfer crisis. This session will explain the steps the Indiana Commission for Higher Education undertook to address inequitable transfer policies and practice. Participants will join the discussion on influencing improvements at scale.
Jessica Barrett and Ken Sauer, Indiana Commission for Higher Education; and Mark Schneider, Ivy Tech Community College
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Advanced
Primary Track: Competency-Based Education and Assessment (CB)
The Pathways to Opportunity: Implementing a Unified System of Achievement for Learners to Earn and Demonstrate Value
As micro-credentials become more common in the workplace, institutions' desire to offer them increases. What exactly are these new offerings? Are there different types? How big or small should they be? How do we know they provide value to the learner, employer, and institution? Which micro-credentials should we offer? This session will discuss how WGU recently implemented its Unified Achievement Framework to design a system where learners earn incremental value as they make their way to higher level credentials. The framework ensures all different types of skills-denominated achievements are relevant, verified, and portable to provide value to employers and learners.
Laura Williams and Tyson Heath, Western Governors University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Competency-Based Education and Assessment (CB)
A Descriptive Analysis of Factors of Servingness Applied to Types of Minority Serving Institutions
Alternative perspectives have emerged about what it should mean to be a postsecondary institution identified as serving racially minoritized students. Using descriptive analyses of IPEDS data, the purpose of this study was to examine how minority serving institutions (MSIs) are serving their target student populations. This analysis was guided by a multidimensional framework of institutional servingness. The results suggest that while MSIs are enrolling significant populations of their target student populations, institutions possessed varying institutional structures and produced disparate student outcomes.
Shane Schellpfeffer and Esen Gokpinar-Shelton, Kansas State University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
A Framework for Applying Equity-Minded and Equity-Centered Assessment Practices
The integration of equity and assessment is an emergent topic in higher education. In this session, presenters will discuss the background and brief scholarly history of equity-centered assessment and will share a framework that combines a variety of forms of equity-minded and equity-centered assessment practices, providing concrete examples of each that apply to assessment in the classroom, outside the classroom, and across the institution. The rest of the session will provide participants opportunities to develop equity-minded and equity-centered assessment strategies that they can apply in their own work while getting feedback from other participants.
Gavin Henning, New England College; and Anne Lundquist, Hope Center-Temple University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Advancing Social Justice and Intercultural Competence in the Literature Classroom
In this presentation, I describe my strategy for decolonizing the curriculum in my American literature course at an urban Midwest university. In the current climate, where controversies surrounding the teaching of American history and critical race theory have had a chilling effect on the teaching of the nation’s racist past, an international intercultural activity in my postbellum American literature survey course provides students with an important foundation for learning the uncomfortable truths about American history without triggering responses of guilt and shame. I point to survey data conducted at the end of the event, student reflections, and student course evaluations to evaluate the success of the program.
Nancy D. Goldfarb, IUPUI
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Becoming the Village: Assessing and Improving a Department Climate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
The Technology Leadership and Communication department at IUPUI has engaged in a multi-year process of assessing the departmental culture around diversity, equity, and inclusion. Using baseline data from a previous climate survey, the department implemented initiatives to address issues and improve the climate, especially for women of color. A mid-point climate assessment was undertaken to measure progress. This poster session will discuss the assessments, initiatives, results, and future plans.
Kevin Rose, Katrenia Reed Hughes, Brandon Sorge, and Corinne Renguette, IUPUI
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Championing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Through Curriculum Development
Ensuring that curriculum reflects diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) can be challenging. Come learn about how to integrate SMEs, DEI reviewers, instructional designers, and quality control.
Jannette E. Flores, Jocelyn Sorensen, Michelle Stewart, and Evelin Suij-Ojeda, Westcliff University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Communicating Assessment Results: Methods to Visualize Equity Findings
Our focus on measuring equity and growth in student learning inspired us to develop innovative ways to visualize complex findings in order to make them accessible to faculty committees and instructors across disciplines. We will share our analytical approach and tools to measure and visualize student learning at a large R1 institution. We will discuss the methodological challenges of interpreting and communicating results and describe how we address these challenges using effective visualizations and clear contextualization. We will conclude with a series of examples of Excel-based visualizations of learning outcomes assessment in majors and GE programs.
Anna Sher and Priscilla Sung, University of California, Santa Cruz
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Advanced
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Design Principles for Culturally Sustaining Educational Assessment
There is broad agreement that schooling should draw on students’ racial, ethnic, linguistic, gender, and cultural assets. But the uptake of asset-based pedagogy remains sporadic because of resistance at multiple levels, including instruction, classroom assessment, and achievement testing. This presentation and paper introduce five design principles for formative and summative classroom assessment that are based on situative theories of learning and transfer. They encourage students to "transfer in" their diverse assets and use them to support generative learning that is likely to "transfer out" to diverse contexts. Examples from a graduate-level course on educational assessment will be presented.
Daniel T. Hickey and Charmian Lam, Indiana University Bloomington
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Designing Assessments and Assignments to Increase Equity by Increasing Value and Making Content Inclusive
Faculty and assessment professionals will learn about our model of culturally relevant assessment that encourages intentional design in assessments and assignments as a way to reduce equity gaps in achievement. We discuss simple changes in assignments that increase equity by allowing all students to fully demonstrate their learning. Participants will leave the workshop with an understanding of best practices that support increased equity in the assessment of student learning and practical ways in which assignments can be modified to increase equity.
Karen E. Singer-Freeman, Wake Forest University; Christine Robinson, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; and Harriet Hobbs, Clinton College
Presentation Type: Pre-Institute Workshop
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Equitable Approaches to Probabilities of Success: Determining the Impact of HIPs on First-Destination Outcomes
This poster showcases how one southern institution utilized logistic regression to examine the differences in the effect of certain high-impact practices (HIPs) on the likelihood of student success between white and non-white students. We discuss the basics of logistic regression and its advantages in analyzing dichotomous outcomes such as student success (i.e., successfully placed or not successfully placed). The findings indicate that internships and undergraduate research positively impact student chances of securing employment and graduate enrollment. Further, the impact of HIP participation on student success is much greater for non-white than for white students.
Ana Kriletic, Katie Boyd, and Kendall Mcgoey, Auburn University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Evaluation of an Inclusive Teaching Conference Supports Faculty Reflection, Planning, and Impact
When evaluations of professional development activities focus primarily on satisfaction, the information is rarely actionable or impactful. We present a three-part evaluation of an Inclusive Teaching Conference designed to encourage participant reflection and maximize actionable information. We combine pre- and post-surveys measuring knowledge and attitudes with open-ended polling questions encouraging reflection immediately following sessions, and post-event focus groups encouraging planning after the event. We share key outcomes from each form of evaluation and discuss applications to other settings. Attendees will learn evaluation activities that can be applied broadly and result in increased reflection and planning.
Karen E. Singer-Freeman, Betsy Barre, Anita McCauley, and Kristi Verbeke, Wake Forest University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Examining Demographic Differences in Survey Data: Why and How?
This presentation addresses the need for analyzing survey responses to answer questions about demographic differences which are central to many educational equity projects. We studied responses from learners in an online course about inclusive teaching practices where they rate their agreement with statements about their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. We will describe our choice of survey items: (1) items designed to measure inclusive teaching self-efficacy as central to the course; and (2) items from the research literature about diversity attitudes. We will also show how to run a simple statistical analysis to check for statistically significant differences between demographic groups.
Amy Cardace, Fairleigh Dickinson University; Melina Ivanchikova and Sneha Mishra, Cornell University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Gap Analysis and Data Visualization: Creating a More Equitable Assessment Culture in Higher Education
The aim of this session is to present the process used to determine the extent to which core competency development has been achieved among racial and gender groups in several academic programs at a mid-size urban serving university. A gap analysis will be presented that highlights differences observed when the actual state of competency development is compared to an expected state. Engaging visualizations that incorporate best practices and formal statistical tests will be employed to present the results of the gap analysis. The authors suggest that culturally responsive assessments are a key to closing identified academic achievement gaps.
Billie Anderson and Dea Marx, University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC)
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Identifying Biases in Performance Assessments: The Differential Item Functioning Approach
This session will focus on using differential item functioning (DIF) as a tool for identifying bias in performance assessment (PA) scores. Task aspect (item) scores for three PAs from a data analytics program in the College of IT will be statistically analyzed to determine if DIF is evident for various demographic groups. Of particular focus will be distinguishing between benign and adverse DIF based on an examination of the content in the task prompt scenario in which said content may be construed as controversial versus neutral in nature, and discussing ways to revise content to reduce DIF.
Marylee Demeter, Heather Hayes, and Goran Trajkovski, Western Governors University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Identity Navigation and Understanding in Demographic Surveys
This study is concerned with how undergraduate students in disciplines related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) select responses when answering demographic surveys, especially in cases where they were unable to map their identity to the following categories: first-generation, disability, and racialization/person of colour identification. Three types of demographic survey responses were identified: (1) alignment, (2) misreporting, and (3) misalignment. Responses were likely to be influenced by tensions between one’s self-determined identity and identity definitions placed onto them by others. A proposed adaptation of Tourangeau et al.’s (2000) Components of Survey Response model is proposed.
Christina A. Arayata, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Measuring Equity in Student Career Outcomes: Findings from the National Alumni Career Mobility Survey
The National Alumni Career Mobility (NACM) Survey was developed to help institutions strategically adapt career practices and equitably guide students toward fulfilling careers. The presenters will review the NACM Survey findings of 12,000+ alumni from 220+ institutions, specifically focusing on how the data reveals equity gaps in students’ campus experiences and their connection with career outcome inequalities 5/10 years after graduation. We will then discuss how campuses can use this data to take actionable steps to narrow equity gaps.
Kimberly Yousey-Elsener and Jeremy Podany, The Career Leadership Collective
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Our Work is Equity Work: Assessment as a Partner for Equity
It's been 5 years since Dr. Montenegro and Dr. Jankowski’s national conversation on equity and assessment through a NILOA paper Equity and Assessment: Moving Towards Culturally Responsive Assessment. The field of assessment has worked diligently to heed the call, but much work remains to be done. This session provides a refresh and reflection on the fundamental reasons why equity must be ever-present in assessment, explores how equity work has been done so far, and introduces areas of focus that remain unaddressed. Participants will learn about various resources and examples for embedding equity within assessment praxis and will leave motivated to participate in carrying the work forward.
Natasha Jankowski, New England College; and Erick Montenegro, Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education
Presentation Type: Keynote Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Reframing Assessment to Center Equity: Examples of Practice
In the past few years, there has been much talk regarding how to integrate equity and assessment. However, there have been few real-life examples to learn from to make equity-centered assessment a reality broadly across higher education. Notable authors from the book Reframing Assessment to Center Equity: Theories, Models, and Practices will share real-life examples regarding how they integrated equity and assessment. They will discuss challenges, pitfalls, benefits, and successes. Participants will leave with concrete ideas for equity-centered assessment on their own campus.
Gavin Henning and Natasha Jankowski, New England College; Anne Lundquist, Hope Center-Temple University; Erick Montenegro, Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, Gianina Baker, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
The Role of Assessment and IE/IR Professionals in Building Equity-Minded Decision Cultures
Data-informed decision cultures committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) require commitment and collaboration across the institution. Each administrative and academic unit provides unique expertise essential to the pursuit of environments supportive of student success. In this workshop we explore the intersection of DEI and the institution’s data function, including assessment, institutional effectiveness, and institutional research; develop common understanding of relevant concepts and terms; explore what it means to frame our work with an equity lens; and identify the ways in which we can contribute to efforts to diversify our field. Join us for a safe space to learn together.
Leah Ewing Ross, American Institutes for Research (AIR); Michele J. Hansen, IUPUI; Cyndi Langin, Hofstra University; and Bethany Miller, Macalester College
Presentation Type: Pre-Institute Workshop
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
The University of Oregon’s Live Equity Project
The purpose of this presentation is to describe distinct data dashboard projects at the University of Oregon that disaggregate outcomes data at the level of the institution, department, course, and practitioner. Together, these dashboards represent the University of Oregon’s Live Equity Project—a connected strategy to help educators at all levels make critically informed equity and student wellbeing assessments as a readily accessible component of how we engage in reflection, development, and action. This work was designed to support the Next Generation Student Success Initiative’s focus on equitable outcomes.
Austin Hocker and Vanessa Ralph, University of Oregon
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
The Use of Portfolios for Summative Assessment of End-of-Program Student Learning Outcomes in Prelicensure Two-Year Nursing Programs: Incorporating Diversity and Inclusion in Assessment Practices
Faculty who teach in two-year, prelicensure nursing programs often rely on rigid summative assessment practices to measure end-of-program student learning outcomes (EOPSLOs). Notably, these assessment methods exclude the student’s race, culture, ethnicity, or other differences that impact learning. Methods for summative assessment of EOPSLOs should consider the many ways students demonstrate learning. The presenter will highlight the effectiveness of portfolios in the summative assessment of EOPSLOs in two-year prelicensure nursing programs. The goal of this presentation is to reconceptualize summative assessments so that students’ styles of learning and demonstrations of learning are embedded into assessment methods.
Sharon Ferguson Beasley, Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN)
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Walking the Walk: Assessing Curriculum for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
As student populations become more diverse, it is becoming increasingly important to carefully reflect on our curriculum as it relates to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Are we creating a learning environment where all students feel valued, welcomed, and heard? In this presentation, we will look at the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Course Audit rubric, developed by faculty and staff at the University of Arizona Global Campus, to not only celebrate our areas of strength but identify areas of opportunity to revise curriculum to create a more inclusive curriculum.
Alaina Pascarella, University of Arizona Global Campus
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
What Makes an Assessment Professional Proficient? Examining and Updating Proficiencies for Assessment Librarians and Coordinators Through the Lens of Social Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Higher education is calling for increased accountability in an evolving climate in which social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (SJEDI) must be a cornerstone of our work. Campus administrators have responded by assigning assessment duties or creating positions to assess value and create a culture of assessment. But what defines an assessment professional? What proficiencies do they need to succeed? Join session presenters who are leading efforts to update the Proficiencies for Assessment Librarians and Coordinators to ensure SJEDI is centralized in our practice, outline proficiencies that should be included, and consider sources when updating standards.
Becky Croxton, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Megan Oakleaf, Syracuse University; Je Salvador, University of Washington Bothell & Cascadia College Campus; and Jung Mi Scoulas, University of Illinois Chicago
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DV)
Academic Integrity in Action
Academic integrity and addressing plagiarism are important topics for educational institutions worldwide. Institutions must ensure that faculty and staff are properly prepared to define plagiarism, address student plagiarism incidents, and educate students on how to uphold academic integrity. This session is focused on creating a universal understanding of plagiarism. The session will also prepare educators to address incidents of plagiarism and share strategies for promoting academic integrity through instructional strategies and resources. Participants will have the opportunity to refine their understanding of plagiarism and make a strategic plan to combat incidents in their own classrooms.
Alicia Kozimor and Claudia Coleman, Grand Canyon University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
An Introduction to Curricular Analytics and Its Applications to Assessment
Curricular analytics is an emerging analytical technique used to quantify the level of complexity of a given curriculum. The results from using curricular analytics can be useful when considering curriculum redesign. Among other things, curricular analytics aims to identify which courses act as roadblocks to student success as they advance through their degree plan. This session will provide an overview of curricular analytics, how it is applied to improve student success and student outcomes, and how assessment professionals can use the results of curricular analytics for program improvement.
Shane Schellpfeffer, Kansas State University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
Assessment Collaboration: Growing the Number of College Ready Students
Indiana is modeling a best practice to ensure credit by exam articulation policies being intentionally aligned to Indiana’s transfer initiatives and secondary Graduation Pathways. Higher Education’s addition of Cambridge International exam equivalencies aligned to Indiana’s transfer initiatives offers another form of credit counting toward an earned milestone in high school. For decades there have been concerns about the random acts of dual credit which do not align with degree pathways upon college enrollment. This session offers one assessment lens to review Indiana legislation on awarding credit inclusive of Cambridge credit.
Carolyn Gentle-Genitty and Michael Beam, Indiana University; Adina Chapman, Cambridge International; Ken Sauer and Tari Lambert, Indiana Commission on Higher Education
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
Building a Regional Program Assessment Peer Group: From Pandemic Support to Meaningful Collaboration
Presenters will discuss the formation, structure, and process of a multi-institutional support group of assessment professionals who work at public institutions across a state. Presenters come from diverse backgrounds in assessment and higher education, a variety of office and organizational structures, and a range of institutional types. The presenters will share what they have gained from the group. Additionally, there will be discussion on strategies participants may use to establish and operate similar support groups in their regions.
Jessica M. Turos, Bowling Green State University; Jennifer Hebert, University of Akron; Shannon Helfinstine, Kent State University; Alison Kaufman, Youngstown State University; and Marc Scott, Shawnee State University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
Connecting the Dots: Five Strategies for Educational Efficacy and Equity
How can you engage in curriculum mapping, outcomes assessment, and data use that advances equity and catalyzes student success? What are the gaps in these practices and processes that creates barriers to meaningful use, action, and impact? How we can efficiently and effectively combine what must be done for accreditation with what needs to be done for equity, continuous improvement, and student success? Attend this session to learn FIVE key strategies that you can adopt and adapt within your own institutional contexts to be more powerful in meeting various accountability demands while firmly championing equity and student success.
Divya Bheda, ExamSoft Worldwide LLC, part of the Turnitin Family
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
Connecting the Value of Learning to Employment—Comprehensive Learner Record’s Role in Institutional Effectiveness
Student participation in learning has emerged since the pandemic. Institutions are enabling learners to reflect on their knowledge and skills they practice in courses, co-curricular, employment and other experiential activities. Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR), a dynamic, verifiable portfolio of student learning outcomes linked to skills accelerates this metacognitive process while also providing evidence of institutional effectiveness. Through this active learning session, The University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) will share their process for assessment of student learning, which serves as a foundation for student engagement in learning while also providing essential data for continuous improvement.
Christopher M. Davis, University of Maryland Global Campus; Suzanne Carbonaro, Heliocampus; and Darragh McNally, University of Maryland Global Campus
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
Data Storytelling in Assessment: A Practical Guide to Narrative Centered Research Design, Visualizations, and Reporting
Assessment practitioners are increasingly considering how they might use data storytelling approaches to communicate data in compelling ways (one of the goals articulated in the Grand Challenges in Assessment project). This poster shares practical guidance on how to effectively use data storytelling in the dissemination of assessment findings through narrative centered research design, visualizations, and written reporting. This presentation provides an overview of the cognitive science behind effective visualizations, key questions to consider when building compelling data stories, and actionable techniques attendees can implement in their own assessment work.
Jillian Morn and Jackie Belanger, University of Washington
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
Expanding Assessment Practices through Collaboration: Applying Implementation Fidelity: Practical Approaches
Skeptics of assessment continue asking if assessment practices truly impact student learning. Program theory (PT), implementation fidelity (IF), and collaboration with other partners will enhance assessment practitioners’ potential for benefiting assessment practices. Workshop attendees will explore essential components of IF and PT and a practical application of these to an institution-wide initiative for improving two essential learning outcomes. This initiative cultivated collaborations and the integration of teaching, learning, and assessment and often resulted in improved student learning; however, IF and PT have the potential for increasing the initiative’s success. After discussing a practical application of these processes, attendees will draft strategies to collaborate with other essential partners to guide implementation fidelity at their institutions.
Teresa L. Flateby, T.L. Flateby and Associates
Presentation Type: Pre-Institute Workshop
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
Higher Ed Goes to School: Borrowing the Tools of Change Management to Drive Learning Success
The panel presentation outlines the experience with change management at Benedict College, a 150-year-old private HBCU and recipient of the 2019 ACE/Fidelity Investments Awards for Institutional Transformation. The discussion includes an overview of industry best practices and the formal change management methodology the college adopted to drive its institutional transformation – one of the first such initiatives at an institution of higher learning. Specifically, it focusses on three strategic directions and areas of assessments: Voice of Customer, Professional Development, and Knowledge Management, designed as components of a larger, data-driven, and student-focused approach articulated by the institution's leadership.
Alexander Gorelik and Tami Ashford-Carroll, Benedict College
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
Hot Takes on Hot Topics: Examining Assessment Trends for Betterment Opportunities
With regulation changes, new research and literature, and the increasingly diverse needs of students, a number of emerging trends directly affect assessment or create opportunities for assessment to advance betterment. This workshop will examine the following topics: increased expectations for co-curricular/student affairs assessment, learning recognition practices, and student engagement in assessment. Additionally, an overarching focus on advancing equity through assessment will be an undercurrent through each of these topics. Through reflective activities, group discussions, and Q&A, participants will have the opportunity to share practices and brainstorm actions to apply for advancing institutional practice in response to these assessment trends.
Joseph D. Levy, National Louis University
Presentation Type: Pre-Institute Workshop
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
Improving Assessment in the Academy: Engaging More Voices, Broadening the Conversation
Assessment—whether viewed as an external mandate, as an internal campus practice, as an administrative office, as a unique profession, or as a scholarly field—has been the focus of myriad conversations focused on its improvement over the last few years. This panel aims to extend the notion of “improvement” beyond questions of accreditation processes and methodological concerns by raising (if not fully answering) important questions stemming from the professional experiences and expertise of the panelists. Questions the panel will raise, discuss, and invite participants to consider and address include: (1) How can we leverage culturally relevant assessment and evaluation practices that are used to tell the story and demonstrate the impact of institutions that face historic structural and political barriers? (2) Faculty are critical in the assessment process, but research suggests that faculty dynamics can often perpetuate racial and social inequities, and faculty labor issues stand in the way of giving assessment the time needed to be meaningful – how can and should this be addressed? (3) In the real world of “offices of one,” what are appropriate expectations of our assessment colleagues? (4) How do we prevent maintain high professional standards and expectations without overburdening—and burning out—colleagues amidst the “Great Resignation?” (5) What does assessment scholarship look like? What is the balance between scholarly approaches and true scholarship in our day-to-day work?
Kate Drezek McConnell, American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U); Franz Reneau, Georgia Tech and HBCU-CEEQA; Mark Nicholas, Framingham State University; Jennifer Grouling, Ball State University; and Bethany Miller, Macalester College
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
Moving Forward: Results from the Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs) Feedback Survey & VALUE Rubric Revisions
AAC&U’s Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs) The Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs) define the knowledge and skills gained from a liberal education, providing a framework to guide students’ cumulative progress. The VALUE rubrics articulate basic criteria for each ELO with performance guidelines demonstrating progressively more sophisticated levels of achievement. Beginning in Summer 2022, AAC&U initiated an empirically driven, community-based approach to ensuring that the ELOs—and by extension, the VALUE rubrics—represent the knowledge, skills, dispositions, and mindsets that are most critical to today’s students, employers, and society. This session will share the results of the ELO Feedback Survey and share AAC&U’s vision for VALUE rubric revision.
Kate Drezek McConnell and Ashley Finley, American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U)
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
Refining Assessment Through Learner Experience Design
Learner Experience Design (LX) can help educators meet the expectations of evolving students and learning contexts. LX incorporates techniques, mindsets, and approaches from the field of User Experience (UX) and design thinking with a focus on empathy for students. Having a deep understanding of student perspectives enables educators to create innovative, engaging, and effective learning and assessment opportunities. Participants in this workshop will learn how to integrate LX into their curriculum and assessment development workflow. They will identify insights from student interviews, develop personas, ideate solutions, and reflect on ways LX can help them become more innovative and effective educators.
Jerry C. Schnepp, Judson University; and Christian Rogers, IUPUI
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
Taking Time: Part-Time Students and Student Learning Outcomes
Many of our assessment practices have been designed for full-time traditional students; one group of nontraditional students remains particularly invisible: part-time students. Defined by IPEDS as “students who are not full-time,” this inherently makes full-time students the default, and part-time students the aberration – even though part-time students currently (and historically) make up somewhere around 35-40% of all enrollments. What do we know about what they are learning? How do their experiences impact what they learn? This presentation will explore these questions, share some initial results about assessment practices with part-time students, and provide space for reflection and recommendations.
Sarah K. MacDonald, James Madison University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
The Evolution of Engagement: Benedict College’s QEP - Financially Informed & Thriving
Benedict College identified a bold, timely, data informed, and mission driven Quality Enhancement Plan. Living Your BEST Life: Financially Informed and Thriving, was designed in response to a national crisis – student loan default rates. We will discuss culturally relevant strategies used to effectively engage all stakeholders, share student learning outcomes, and highlight the evolution of engagement of our Campus community. Participants will be empowered by a renewed appreciation for the critical role of assessment professionals.
Vareva Harris, Walletta Johnson, and Verna Orr, Benedict College
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
The Poverty Simulation: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Impacting Students' Perspectives on Poverty
Cultural awareness and empathy are difficult concepts to convey, measure, and impact within undergraduate students. Many students believe themselves to be culturally competent but lack a real learning experience to such. The purpose of this study is to assess the impacts of cultural awareness in undergraduate students as it relates to poverty. An interdisciplinary approach was taken to impact the cultural competency of future professionals. Students engaged in The Poverty Simulation were submersed in a life of poverty. A self-reflection and a survey was utilized to assess the impact.
Stephanie N. Pratt and Cheryl Beyioku, Indiana University Kokomo
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
Transforming Assessment into a Dialogue for Improvement
For students to effectively demonstrate their understanding of learning, the steps taken to solve a problem are often more important than the final answer. When assessments are limited to multiple choice or fill in the blank this key learning concept is lost. Educators and students need technology to support the learning process rather than impose limits.
Creative assessment design and thoughtful use of analytics technology can support learning. By offering varied assessment types and rich formative feedback educators can transform assessment into a dialogue for improvement.
Join us to learn from innovative educators making assessment a more human experience.
Dalen McClintock, Crowdmark
Presentation Type: Sponsor Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
Tuning the Assessment Process: Streamlining for Efficiency
Focusing on quality improvement, we are conducting a tuning process of our assessment protocol based in action research and program evaluation design. Tuning is an assessment method to determine what students should be able to do upon completion of a program. Working backward from graduating a competent professional, the project team will consult content experts and curriculum developers to devise and map learning outcomes through the curriculum, demonstrating a formative process. Students will scaffold from demonstrating basic content knowledge, clinical skill, and professional disposition through demonstration of proficiency. Recommendations will be made for future evidence-based program evaluation.
Debra G. Leggett and Walter Frazier, Walden University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
Writing Course-Level Learning Outcomes: Bringing Taxonomies Into Action
Syracuse University’s University Senate approved a set of six institutional learning goals and corresponding framing language in December 2018. The Shared Competencies aims to enhance undergraduate education through an integrated learning model. The Shared Competencies are ethics integrity and commitment to diversity and inclusion, critical and creative thinking, scientific inquiry and research skills, civic and global responsibility, communication skills, information literacy, and technological agility. To support faculty/staff communities of practice in identifying specific learning outcomes for each competency, we developed a guide based on the two key taxonomies: (A) Fink taxonomy of significant learning (b) Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive development. The reason for selecting Bloom’s taxonomy is to help faculty develop “higher” order learning outcomes and corresponding learning experiences. In addition, Fink’s taxonomy is cross fitted to ensure the inclusion of humanistic, caring, and meta-learning dimensions. Cross fitting these two taxonomies, we identified verbs to guide writing learning outcomes and developed draft learning outcomes to provide examples that communities of practice can use to spark conversations on what students should be learning. These documents are under revision and change based on faculty discussions. Through this workshop, participants will be using Bloom’s and Fink’s taxonomies to write program and course learning outcomes addressing the domains and levels of learning.
Zeenar Salim and Amanda Johnson Sanguiliano, Syracuse University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment (ET)
Getting Ahead: Incorporating Assessment to Inform Chapter Services and Interventions
This work focuses on chapter level assessment and utilizing data to identify priorities and needs, as well as when and where to deploy resources. Presenters will share high level goals assessment, multiple methods for collecting data, and how they combine and analyze data into trends that guide their resources and conversations with students and advisors. Practitioners utilize and demonstrate Robert Stake’s (1983) framework for responsive program evaluations that leads to positive change.
Noah Borton, Delta Upsilon Fraternity; and Becky Gleason, Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginners
Primary Track: Fraternity and Sorority Life (FS)
Hazing and Wellness and Assessment That Can Make a Difference
The influence of mental health, health wellness, and hazing are all hot topics. Presenters will review data and discuss the intersection of these topics and how to both diagnose, track indicators, and create chapter level change for a safer and stronger chapter experience. Current data from students will be shared to highlight new insights into hazing and specifically how positive mental health promotion may be a mitigating factor in hazing motivations and behaviors.
Meghan Grace, Plaid, LLC; Dan Bureau, Louisiana State University; and Noah Borton, Delta Upsilon Fraternity
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginners
Primary Track: Fraternity and Sorority Life (FS)
Identity! Why Identity Development in Learning is Critical: How Fraternities and Sororities are Vital Partners
This session will explore why identity is important to student learning and how we go about starting to measure identity in positive ways that will not only enhance student learning but recast fraternities and sororities as a place for positive identity development. Drawing on theory and practical application, presenters will encourage session attendees to consider how to incorporate and assess identity development in their own practice and contexts.
Mary Howard-Hamilton, Indiana State University; Becky Gleason, Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity; and Rafael Matos, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginners
Primary Track:Fraternity and Sorority Life (FS)
Measurement Matters Inside and Outside of the Classroom: Learning and Career Readiness in Fraternities and Sororities
Today’s campuses understand the value of a degree is more than what occurs in the classroom; it’s the attainment of skills and abilities across the collegiate experience. They want cross-curricular, co-curricular, and career ready delivery with a more comprehensive view of student learning. In this session, participants will learn about frameworks to demonstrate student learning and identify ways to measure it. Learning should be an integrated approach where students’ techniques and skills gained both formally and informally are valued. Presenters will utilize the Comprehensive Learner Records (CLR) framework - capturing, recording, and communicating learning when and where it happens in a student’s experience to map to career ready skills and abilities.
James Barber, William & Mary; Annie Carlson Welch, University of Georgia; and Rafael Matos, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginners
Primary Track: Fraternity and Sorority Life (FS)
Turn Your Mountain of Data into a Comprehensive Assessment Program
This practical session will engage participants in a planning process to develop a comprehensive assessment model. Headquarters or campus professionals will review components of a comprehensive model, make an inventory of assessment data, and identify two to three strategies to use data. The goal of this workshop is to maximize the use of existing data and help determine what to start or stop collecting.
Dan Bureau, Louisiana State University; Heather Matthews, Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity; and Noah Borton, Delta Upsilon Fraternity
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginners
Primary Track: Fraternity and Sorority Life (FS)
A Collaborative Appraisal of Assessment Practices for Continued Improvement
In this interactive session participants will use human centered design tools to facilitate a dialogue and identify key issues and insights across their assessment practices. Participants will collaboratively frame the potentials, problems, and successes in their assessment practice through a Rose, Bud, Thorn Analysis, and locate patterns across the group to prioritize effective solutions through Affinity Clustering. Through this series of collaborative activities, workshop participants will gain knowledge and exchange ideas that they can bring back to use on their own campuses to generate impactful advances in their assessment.
Dana Scott, Thomas Jefferson University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Assessing Environments that Motivate Teaching Excellence
Multitudes of theories, findings from scholarly work, and our everyday experiences show us that inequities and discrimination are built into the systems and structures of higher education. In this session, we will present a framework that guides our understanding of how institutions can create faculty teaching environments that motivate teaching excellence and support diverse faculty. Join us for a discussion about how this framework manifests on your campus as well as on campuses that participated in a related assessment project. Participants will leave this session with ideas on how to assess and improve their institution’s teaching environments for diverse faculty.
Allison BrckaLorenz, Indiana University Bloomington
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Assessment Made Simple Through Targeted Professional Development
The University Program Assessment Committee (UPAC) at a private liberal arts university focuses on continuous student learning improvements. UPAC facilitated a two-part Assessment Summit for faculty and staff to move the needle from a good assessment process to one marked by excellence aligned with the NILOA transparency framework. The summit aimed to better engage campus stakeholders, establish more realistic goals, write concise program learning outcomes, and increase student clarity. Participants in this session will learn to adapt strategies that lead to continuous improvement of program assessment, engage in methods designed to simplify assessment processes, and maintain more meaningful assessment practices.
Ute S. Lahaie, Mary Cook, and Seth Hepner, Walsh University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Competing Dialogues and Tensions with Rubrics: Acknowledge, Accept, and Adapt
Rubrics can be used as effective tools for learning, teaching, grading, and assessment data but only with shared goals and faculty buy-in. However, there are competing dialogues and tensions around the use of rubrics, be it pedagogical or administrative, as they relate to academic freedom, and implications for policy and practice. We need to work on collegial acknowledgement of the faculty struggles with rubrics usage and engage in constructive dialogue. This session will share the success stories of faculty empowerment and the failed efforts when rubrics assessment is tied solely with the program evaluation process.
Mamta Saxena, Northeastern University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Creating an Inclusive Collaboration for Inclusive Classrooms
How can we support faculty in creating and supporting inclusive classrooms? This interactive session explores the design and assessment of a collaborative faculty development program at a large decentralized institution. The program was designed as a series of workshops offered by support offices across the university and incentivized through a certificate of completion. The program was assessed with mixed-methods to compare self-reported competency to qualitative assessment of participant reflections. Participants will be prompted to consider how to utilize the wide variety of expertise and knowledge in the university when developing faculty development programs, and how to best evaluate those programs.
Christina A. Bifulco and Chris Drue, Rutgers University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Developing Faculty Standards to Support Mission-Driven Student Outcomes
Institutions often create shared student learning outcomes across programs that support and reflect their mission. For students to achieve these outcomes, faculty must have the skills to deliver meaningful, high-quality educational experiences. This session will share a novel approach to creating faculty standards to guide the acquisition of these skills. Faculty standards foster self-evaluation and can be used to create faculty development opportunities. This case highlights outcomes around ecological approaches to health and cultural fluency. The session will ask participants to consider using the framework to develop their own shared faculty standards to support student learning outcomes.
Sean J. Fitzpatrick, Renee M. Broughten, and Kara S. Koschmann, St. Catherine University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Exploring Contract Cheating in UAE Universities: Faculty Members’ Perspectives
Around the world, students are increasingly relying on outsourcing their assignments to third parties to do their graded assignments (Hill et al., 2021), a phenomenon known as ‘contract cheating,’ and UAE College Students are not exceptions (Khan et al., 2019). Faculty are at the forefront, dealing with and preventing this practice. This research aims to explore faculty members’ perceptions of contract cheating. Specifically, it attempts to delve into questions of how they detect it, ethically approach it, and what practices they follow to inhibit this emerging practice, if any. The paper at hand sets out to understand teachers' responses to online cheating, and how they manage it in the UAE.
Mona Humaid Aljanahi and Mohammed Aljanahi, United Arab Emirates University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Exploring Your “Why”: A Case for Infusing More Faculty Development Approaches in Assessment
The tension between assessment for accountability and for improvement has persisted over 20 years. This tension is still present and manifests in our work. In most assessment offices, there are requirements (e.g., reporting) that faculty may perceive to be ‘bureaucratic’ (i.e., accountability approach). Likewise, many offices offer educational development opportunities (e.g., workshops, consultations) in the spirit of improvement. In this interactive session, participants will explore this tension in their work reflecting on their personal ‘why’ statement for assessment practices. Participants will be encouraged to consider ways to reduce bureaucratic elements (while maintaining compliance) and increase educational development approaches.
Megan Good, James Madison University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
From BINGO Cards to Curriculum Maps: A Curriculum Alignment Initiative
In day-to-day teaching, curriculum maps are often ignored, leading to disconnects between a program’s map and the learning outcomes in individual classes. A request for rewritten maps can lead to frustrated faculty and unutilized maps. To challenge this, the Student Learning and Assessment Committee at a small liberal arts college developed a process to reform curriculum mapping that engaged faculty and shifted the understanding of the value of the maps as living documents. The process and results will be shared, and participants will reflect on both structures and relationships that may assist with their own curricular initiatives.
Meredith L. Dodson, Susanne Lewis, and Sarah Peterson, Olivet College
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
How to Onboard a New Dean
This poster presentation will describe an onboarding process for a new academic administrator or faculty department chair. The onboarding includes a 30-60-90 Day Plan and a categorized list of questions that will make the administrator familiar with faculty/administrators on campus; policies related to course scheduling, academic assessment, course development, the faculty tenure process, budgeting; and external stakeholders at high schools, partner institutions, and the community. This onboarding process can be useful for anyone who is interested in an administrative career or for anyone who is hiring an administrator or department chair.
Lirim Neziroski, Illinois Valley Community College
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Inclusive Teaching: How Are We Measuring Impact?
Various initiatives are underway in higher education to foster equitable and welcoming learning environments, but there is an elephant in the room—how are we measuring their impacts? During this presentation we will discuss how colleges and universities can gauge the outcomes of their inclusive teaching efforts at the course, departmental, and institutional levels. We will explore existing measures that can be used to get started, as well as more robust, comprehensive assessment plans. Participants will be empowered to monitor progress towards more inclusive instruction after this keynote presentation.
Tracie M. Addy, Lafayette College
Presentation Type: Keynote Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Launching Effective Assessment Practices Through Collaborative Leadership
Walsh University’s assessment committee leadership team identified several university-wide continuous improvement initiatives. These initiatives include new formats in leadership, collaborative improvements in assessment, alignment with the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment’s (NILOA) transparency framework, creation of more organized and formal assessment plans, course development and connection with online learners, innovative impacts to increase communication, and future plans in assessment. Collectively, these initiatives identified our “so that,” which is ultimately student success. This was the driving force for embarking on this journey.
Amy J. Heston, Mary Cook, and Ute Lahaie, Walsh University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Learner-Centered Assessment, Using Human-Centered Design Tools to Collaboratively Frame and Extend Assessment Practices
In this interactive workshop, participants will learn how to use a variety of strategic design tools and work collaboratively to identify key issues and insights to advance their assessment practices. A series of tools will be introduced that use both convergent and divergent strategies to evaluate and improve assessment practices. Accessible to all levels of experience, participants will collaboratively learn from one-another. Participants will be provided with strategies to facilitate the use of these tools across their campuses, from course-wide to university-wide assessment, allowing them to continue to generate ideas for impactful advances in assessment beyond the workshop.
Dana Scott, Thomas Jefferson University
Presentation Type: Pre-Institute Workshop
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Lessons Learned from a Title V Program Impact on a Community College General Education Program
This study evaluated the legacy of a community of practice in which 32 faculty had the time and space to craft capstone assignments. This Title V project supported five cohorts in the span of five years. Three years later after the grant termination, this study examined impact on: 1) faculty teaching skills, 2) curriculum design/redesign, and 3) program developers’ skills. This study generated recommendations to create processes that sustain the grant-based practices once the funding ends. This includes identifying barriers that impede the practice of sustainability and looking at partners that can create capacity and structures beyond the grant period.
Silvia Reyes, Sarah Brennan, and Nelson Nunez Rodriguez, Hostos Community College of CUNY
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Pedagogical Advice in Assessment Processes in Higher Education
This experience presents exploratory results on the aspects that involve pedagogical advice in assessment processes, considering the profile of the pedagogical advisor as the agent responsible for promoting reflective teaching and decision-making that in turn promote changes in the teacher’s classroom practice for improvement of the students' learning processes.
Participants will have the opportunity to recognize the principles that allow the development of a pedagogical follow-up, taking into account the characteristics of the role of the pedagogical advisor as a co-thinker, collaborator and critical friend. To do this, the dynamics of the session will be supported by activities that promote reflection through the use of surveys and analyses of case studies.
Katina I. Camargo and Fadia Khouri, Universidad del Norte
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Sharing Assessment Successes: Engaging Faculty in Learning Improvement Storytelling
In this highly-interactive workshop designed for assessment professionals and faculty assessment leaders, the participants will learn the key tenets of assessment for learning improvement and how to incorporate them into publishable learning improvement stories through a combination of presentations, examples, and small group discussions. Participants will take away practical guidance and strategies to (1) identify potential stories and story writers, (2) motivate and engage faculty members in writing and publishing, and (3) devise action plans for writing and collecting learning improvement stories. The session will end with the dissemination of resources that includes directions for submitting stories to the Learning Improvement Community website.
Kelsey Kirland, Old Dominion University; Katie Boyd, Auburn University; Jill Kern, Brown University; Yao Z. Hill, University of Hawai‘I at Mānoa
Presentation Type: Pre-Institute Workshop
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Shifting the Institutional Culture of Assessment: From a Siloed Activity to a Collaborative Endeavor
In many institutions, assessment is associated with accreditation and viewed as a “top-down” process. Faculty care about students’ learning and meaningful teaching, but they may perceive assessment as a task to satisfy administrative demands or to comply with accreditation; additionally, faculty may not be involved in assessment processes at the institutional level. At Community College of Philadelphia, stakeholders worked to shift the culture of assessment from a siloed activity to one where faculty and administrators worked together. In this session, the presenters will demonstrate the steps and strategies undertaken that resulted in a positive shift in the culture of assessment.
Girija Nagaswami, Sesime Adanu, Amy Birge-Caracappa, Elizabeth Canapary, Elizabeth Gordon, Ilze Nix, Stephanie Scordia, and Eric Shannon, Community College of Philadelphia
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Standing Up: Efficacy of Upstander Intervention Workshop in Medicine
Mistreatment of medical students, trainees, and faculty, including abusive and discriminatory behavior by patients/visitors and colleagues, commonly occurs and negatively affects those who are the target of these behaviors. While many educators are committed to developing a positive environment, they often lack the necessary skills to facilitate discussions about these harmful acts when they occur. In 2021, the faculty development and diversity team at IU School of Medicine delivered a series of workshops to over 900 faculty and learners. Presenters will provide an overview of the workshop, how efficacy was assessed using the Kirkpatrick model (2006), and notable pre-post results.
Amy Ribera, Emily Braught, Megan Palmer, and Alvaro Tori, Indiana University School of Medicine
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
The Assessment Developer: Training Courses, Consultations, Combating Assessment Assassins, and More!
Do students know what assessment is and why learning outcomes are important? Do all your faculty and staff know how to design assessments and complete assessment reports? Have you eliminated all the Assessment Assassins lurking in the shadows of your institution? If you answered no to any of these questions, you may need an Assessment Developer! The Assessment Developer role was created at Glendale Community College (AZ) to meet the educational needs of faculty, staff, and students. Join us to learn how to adapt one or more of their projects for use at your institution.
Julie Bauer Morrison, Glendale Community College, AZ
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
The UPLIFT of Adjunct Faculty at HBCUs
As the presence of adjunct professors continues to rise at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, faculty developers at these esteemed institutions have expressed challenges in providing support and resources to part-time faculty members. Additionally, the institutional goal of student success drives faculty development endeavors, and it's imperative that all faculty, especially those at HBCUs, are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and tools to provide a quality educational experience to their students. The UPLIFT Model for Faculty Development for Adjuncts provides faculty developers at HBCUs and other post-secondary institutions with actions to strengthen their support for adjunct faculty.
Amber C. Ward, Delaware State University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Using Faculty Learning Community to Support Lectures in High-Stakes Evaluation
A faculty learning community (FLC) is a community of practice with a specific goal. It can be an effective professional development mechanism. An FLC explores how faculty can gather and submit evidence of teaching effectiveness for annual review and promotion. Peer-supported review of teaching (P-SR) is a method that promotes reciprocal learning through discussions and reflections of teaching artifacts. Participants review each other’s evidence to provide constructive feedback and to exchange teaching ideas. The study of multiple FLC cohorts will gather non-tenured faculty perceptions to determine if conducting peer-supported reviews in an FLC builds confidence and alters teaching behaviors.
Becky Tugman, Taimi Olsen, and Karen High, Clemson University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Faculty Development (FD)
Assessment of General Education Learning Outcomes at a Community College
Delta College has developed an integrated general education model that is embedded in all degrees instead of the traditional distributed model. We use embedded assignments to collect data and a common rubric for scoring. We will focus this presentation on sharing details of our assessment methods, including student and course selection, types of assignments, and methods for scoring artifacts. We will share results and lessons learned related specifically to our Reason Quantitatively and Cultivate Wellness outcomes. Lastly, this session will address common problems and share solutions that have been implemented to create a sustainable faculty-led college-wide assessment plan.
Maureen Donegan, Carla Murphy, and Eric Wiesenauer, Delta College
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: General Education (GE)
Civic Commitment
It is pertinent to ensure students delve into multi-sectoral strategies that are rooted in community engagement. This equips them with a creative, meaningful, empowering, and productive development. Deep interaction and positive contributions to the society are rewarding experiences and offer students ownership, as well as a platform to internalize analytical solutions. It is “not only an agreement to follow, but an active decision to assume responsibility in considering the rationale, implications and potential outcomes of any particular process” (Shaeffer, 1992). In this session, attendees will examine pragmatic ways to offer substantial pedagogical techniques to ensure the assignments are embedded.
Ritu Sharma, Purdue University Global
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: General Education (GE)
Designing a Hybrid FYE Course: How Student Satisfaction and Learning Gains Vary by Course-Delivery Methods
Our FYE program aims to enhance students’ four core learning skills in areas of basic research, collaborative learning, presentation, and report writing. We have conducted direct assessment (comprehension tests) and indirect assessment (student surveys) to assess and improve our program since it started in 2017. In 2020 and 2021, we redesigned the course to be on-demand with larger class sizes due to COVID-19. In 2022, we are designing a blended learning course, incorporating on-demand contents with smaller sized face-to-face class activities. This presentation will share results of the 2022 assessments, comparing them with previous fully on-demand / fully face-to-face courses.
Satoko Imaizumi, Takahiro Abe, Tetsuya Shiroishi, Koji Fujiwara, Douglas Gloag, Takao Hashizume, and Katsumi Senyo, Yamagata University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: General Education (GE)
Developing a Common Rubric to Assess General Education Competencies
Rubrics are essential tools used in recording, measuring, and analyzing student learning. Rubrics help to clarify goals; communicate expectations; and assess student performance in an accurate, unbiased, and consistent way. As Leavell College revamped their general education assessment process, they discovered a common rubric was instrumental for assessing student learning and beneficial in creating a simple, realistic, and sustainable assessment process. In this session, I will share our development of a common rubric for assessing one general education competency. The principles we learned can help other institutions looking to develop or revise their existing general education assessment process.
Sandra F. Vandercook, Leavell College at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: General Education (GE)
Driving from Assessment to Instruction and Navigating the Gaps in the Road
Do you know how to connect assessment to instruction and identify gaps along the way? The process of identifying common points of intersection between General Education assessment and classroom instruction is a vital extension of assessment in order to facilitate continuous improvement. In this presentation, the road from assessment to instruction will be followed using examples and an interactive game to discuss ways in which assessment can inform instructional strategy. Participants will construct a unique path from assessment to classroom instruction to take back to their institution.
Jennifer Daines and Nancy Trojanowski, Colorado Technical University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: General Education (GE)
Exploring Power BI Visualizations for General Education Curriculum Assessment
This presentation provides an overview of the redesigned General Education Curriculum assessment process at Florida State University. It is focused on the pivotal technologies used to develop and implement the centralized and automated data collection and reporting process. At the forefront of the new approach is the use of Power BI to aggregate and visualize student performance on learning outcomes at different levels of detail. These visualizations allow faculty and other stakeholders to direct their efforts on the analysis and use of the reported student performance data to identify potential areas for improvement and effectively target solutions.
Caitlyn Jessee and Galiya Tabulda, Florida State University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: General Education (GE)
Faculty Collaboration to Enhance Assessment Practices in General Education Curriculum
Presenters will outline a comprehensive model for academic outcomes assessment that includes traditional assessment techniques within a program as well as broader assessment techniques that include a variety of faculty. Twice per year, an outcomes assessment day is hosted by academic assessment staff. This documented procedure helps ensure that improvement occurs in our general education curriculum, regardless of the modality. In addition, discussion of AAC&U Value rubrics with their respective key assessment with full-time and part-time faculty members offers an opportunity for enhanced credibility and reliability of data.
Kerry L. Jones and Michelle Maus, Tiffin University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: General Education (GE)
General Education 101: Creating a General Education Assessment Process
In developing a comprehensive assessment process for their general education programs, those responsible for assessment must ask and answer several questions related to how their general education competencies support and meet their institutional mission and satisfy their regional accreditors. In answering these questions, our faculty determined that we needed to overhaul our general education assessment process. In this session, I will share the Leavell College journey to develop from scratch a new assessment process that would work in our setting. The principles we learned can help other institutions seeking to develop or revise a general education assessment process.
Sandra F. Vandercook, Leavell College at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: General Education (GE)
Hand in Hand: Building a New General Program for Meaningful Assessment
Until recently, general education at the University of Northern Iowa had not undergone a significant change for nearly 40 years. The program, known as the Liberal Arts Core, was built on a distribution model with assessment retrofitted. In 2017, the faculty senate formed a committee to re-envision general education with assessment at the forefront. Over the next four years, the committee met diligently to design and implement a new program built on best practices and transparency. UNI Foundational Inquiry (UNIFI) was born out of the process, featuring measurable outcomes, several best practices, available micro-credentials, and over 120 accepted courses.
John Ophus, Brenda Bass, Deirdre Heistad, and Donald Gaff, University of Northern Iowa
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: General Education (GE)
Intentionality and Assessment in Succession Planning in Health Sciences Education
Succession planning for academic administrators requires careful planning and intentionality. In this session, attendees will review the leadership pipeline application developed by Charan and colleagues and the 360-box grid on performance and potential first reported by Noe. While understanding the need for succession planning is cognitively sound, organizations may value a step-wise methodology for hiring, identifying, nurturing, and promoting talent. Herein, the discussion will emphasize transitions and development for academic deans and the role of assessment in the process of documenting and communicating performance metrics.
Dave Weldon, William Carey University School of Pharmacy; and David Fuentes, University of Portland School of Nursing
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: General Education (GE)
Jumpstarting General Education Program Review: A Systems Thinking Approach to the Self-Study
Often overlooked in the discussion of general education program development and assessment is the issue of program review. The Association for General and Liberal Studies (AGLS) offers a “Guide to Assessment and Program Review” intended to stimulate a collaborative discussion for the improvement of a general education program. At the heart of the “Guide” is a set of twenty systems-analysis questions aimed at improving program quality. This workshop focuses on the initial stage of the self-study and provides attendees an opportunity to “test-drive” the tool and practice basic general education program evaluation steps.
Jody DeKorte, Purdue University Global, Christine Robinson, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; and Harriet Hobbs, Clinton College
Presentation Type: Pre-Institute Workshop
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: General Education (GE)
Norming on Student Artifacts for General Education Assessment: Tips and Tricks
Assessing general education is hard. At Southern Methodist University, we’ve adopted a post-hoc assessment model for assessing student learning in general education. Student artifacts are collected across different outcomes using a sampling method and assessed by trained faculty/raters (juried) anonymously each summer. Norming and calibrating raters to interpret and implement institutional rubrics has helped us strengthen inter-rater reliability and yield a consistency in scoring. This session engages attendees to participate in the norming exercise using anchor student papers and our faculty collectively developed rubric. Tips and tricks on how to effectively plan and carry out the process will be shared.
Yan Cooksey and Dayna Oscherwitz, Southern Methodist University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: General Education (GE)
Reflections and Path Forward with Graduate Attributes: Communities of Practice Three Years After Implementation
In Fall 2019, Lindenwood University adopted a community-of-practice model approach (Wegner et al., 2002) to general education assessment. This coincided with the development of a Three-Year Roadmap for assessment and a path toward specific outcomes for general education that led to the creation of Graduate Attributes. After three years of implementation, this presentation will examine areas of strength and improvement for assessment. Further, this presentation will cover the processes of a collaborative assessment process by using Communities of Practice for general education assessment, signature assignments, and a graduate attribute alignment process created under the theoretical framework of Constructivist Alignment.
Robyne L. Elder, Lindenwood University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: General Education (GE)
"Yes, And" Rather Than "Either Or" - Infusing Global Challenges into Undergraduate Education
What should undergraduate students know and do regardless of major? How do we express our land-grant mission in our curriculum? How do we infuse real-world global relevancy and engaged learning opportunities into our curriculum to reach all students?
These are just some of the questions explored at Clemson University to create a new “Crossings” curriculum with a 6-hour Global Challenges requirement. Connected to and informed by educational assessment data, the new curriculum represents a “yes, and” rather than “either, or” approach to undergraduate education and its intersections with global education and the major course of study.
Taimi Olsen and Abby Boyd, Clemson University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Global Learning (GL)
An HLM Analysis of the Relationship Between Undergraduate Student Global Learning Outcomes and Academic Majors
Using data from NSSE’s Global Learning Module, the purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which student global learning outcomes is associated with students’ academic majors. The analysis was guided by an internationalization-at-home framework with an emphasis on global learning and Biglan’s seminal work of classification of academic majors. The results suggest that student global learning outcomes scores significantly vary across academic majors. Furthermore, certain institutional-level factors significantly mediate the impact of academic majors on global learning outcomes after the major-level random effect is accounted for. Implications for practice and research will be provided.
Esen Gokpinar-Shelton, Indiana University Bloomington
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Global Learning (GL)
Assessing International Student Services: A Beginner’s Guide for International Student Advisors
This session will provide an overview of an assessment and evaluation plan developed for international student service offices. The presentation will cover five functions with their related operational, learning, and program outcomes. The practical focus of this session will show participants how to 1) build a successful assessment plan for international student services, 2) use data collection methods that use a variety of summative and formative, qualitative and quantitative, and direct and indirect approaches to receive the desired outcomes, and 3) use the results to “close the loop” to improve services and implement changes.
Györgyi S. Mihályi, Kent State University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Global Learning (GL)
Creating a Common Assessment Tool in Virtual Global Learning
In this presentation, we present the efforts at a large urban institute to create an assessment tool for student learning in the virtual global learning setting. Virtual global learning involves interactions in different formats that leverage technology for students in different countries to achieve learning outcomes. This presentation describes the process that a faculty learning community at the institute used to develop an assessment survey tool for institute-wide global learning dimensions that can be integrated across disciplines and at different levels. Dimensionality reduction and pilot study are expected to be used to refine the survey instrument.
Lin Zheng, Leslie Bozeman, Rob Elliott, Audrey Ricke, and Lamia Scherzinger, IUPUI; Rita Koryan, Indiana University Bloomington, Frank Wadsworth, Indiana University—Purdue University Columbus
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Global Learning (GL)
Decentering the Whiteness of Cultural "Competency" Assessment and Pedagogy
Key professional associations for global learning educators have defined assessment of learning outcomes as a standard of excellence, as is delineating ways to dismantle policies and practices that perpetuate structural inequity. Yet, according to numerous scholars, assessment in practice frequently does perpetuate systemic racism. In this interactive, workshop-style session, two facilitators of differing race, age profiles, and disciplinary training will work in partnership with audience members to problematize the “unbearable Whiteness” (Cabrera, 2019) of Intercultural Competence assessment. Our goal? To build a critical consciousness around our assessment praxis and to start articulating an agenda for socially just intercultural competence assessment.
Katherine N. Yngve and Nastasha Johnson, Purdue University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Global Learning (GL)
Global Learning Assessment Roundtable
This semi-structured session will provide attendees and presenters with an opportunity to share strategies, discuss challenges, and receive feedback on ideas related to the assessment of global learning. It is open to faculty, staff, administrators and students of any level of experience with global learning and/or assessment.
Leslie Bozeman and Hilary Kahn, IUPUI; Darla Deardorff, Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA); and Dawn Whitehead, Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Global Learning (GL)
Global Learning in Practice: Assessing Intercultural Competence Development in a Faculty and Staff Workshop Series
The “Worldview Workshop series” was created and conducted in a large public university to promote intercultural competence for faculty and staff who interact with diverse students and colleagues. This presentation features assessment findings on the impact of the series on participants’ intercultural competence development, how the findings were used to improve the program, and an introduction to four assessment tools used to gather data from the program coupled with a hands-on activity using one of the tools.
Aletha Stahl and Lan Jin, Purdue University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Global Learning (GL)
Outcomes and Assessment of Virtual Global Health Experiences
During the past two academic years, DMU students from various health sciences programs participated in virtual global health experiences. We sent out pre- and post-program assessments to students to measure interprofessional skills, intercultural competency, understanding of global health, and the value of a virtual global experience. Our data show virtual international experiences can provide both intercultural and interprofessional gains among students in health professions. While these virtual experiences were developed to provide global experiences during pandemic travel restrictions, our data show that there are educational gains, and this opportunity provides global experiences to students who may not otherwise travel internationally.
Sondra Schreiber and Amy Morris, Des Moines University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Global Learning (GL)
“You Need to Unmute Yourself”: Assessing Communication Practices of Graduate and Professional Students in the Virtual Environment
Preparing graduate and professional students to communicate in virtual environments is a highly nuanced and emerging area of practice and study, in part because some of these skills are discipline-specific. The pandemic accelerated our need to teach and assess communication virtually. Two interconnected problems remain: 1) how do disciplines decide what communication skills are necessary for graduate and professional students working in virtual spaces?, and 2) how do we assess those skills? In this session we will engage participants in multi-disciplinary conversation about which communication competencies are required to work effectively in virtual environments, how we can best assess these skills, and what we can learn from cross-disciplinary collaboration around communication skills.
Krista Longtin and Darla Imhausen-Slaughter, IUPUI and Indiana University School of Medicine
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Correct or Incorrect? Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) Standard Setting and “Grading” Methodologies Utilized in Health Professions Education
A common approach to assessment of students’ clinical knowledge and skills in health professions education is the Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE). While OSCEs can be used formatively as a tool for providing constructive feedback to students, many are used summatively and to make determinations about students’ competency with the desired skills. Such competency-based judgments require the need to establish a fair and defensible standard or cut score. The purpose of this session will be to present several well-established methods for cut-scoring, including an overview of procedures with examples. Advantages and disadvantages of various approaches will be discussed.
Mike Rudolph, Lincoln Memorial University School of Medical Sciences; Jill Augustine, Mercer University College of Pharmacy; and Justine Gortney, Wayne State University Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Decentralized Approach to Assessing Graduate Medical Education Trainee Wellness at a Large Medical School
Launching a centralized survey administration is a common strategy for large organizations to assess climate issues affecting wellness and workplace satisfaction. This decision is often driven by expediency and the desire to compare results across national benchmarks. Yet, drawbacks to a centralized approach often place the responsibility to share results on a single unit or assessment professional. In this session, participants will learn how a graduate medical education team at a large medical school partnered with program directors to administer the Stanford Professional Fulfillment Index to trainees, prompting discussions about wellness and targeted interventions.
Amy Ribera, Emily Braught, Zeina Nabhan, and Sydni Thomas, Indiana University School of Medicine
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Development of a Graduate School Assessment Committee
The Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) is a STEM-focused, graduate-only institution that has recently begun identifying ways of improving the assessment processes within the institution. Assessment at the graduate level can be challenging due to lack of common outcomes, small classes/cohorts, and emphasis on non-class-related activities (e.g., research). To provide more support for, as well as oversight of, the assessment processes at AFIT, AFIT created the school’s first Assessment Committee. The presenters will share the process used to create the committee; the goals, activities, and accomplishments of the committee thus far; and the continuing challenges faced by the committee.
Andrea I. Bakker and Alice Grimes, Air Force Institute of Technology
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Development of an Annual Competency-Based Assessment for a Professional Degree Program
While competency-based education is not a new concept in higher education, its implementation and assessment in certain fields is still in its infancy. This presentation will detail the steps taken to develop and implement an annual competency-based assessment for a professional degree program. Topics will include approval, blueprinting, question selection and development, implementation, scoring, evaluation, and use of the results. The process is applicable to both competency-based and traditional programs. Although it is most suitable for assessment specialists, the presentation is applicable to numerous academic programs, and all participants should find it beneficial.
Elizabeth A. Sheaffer, Samford University McWhorter School of Pharmacy
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Advanced
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Entrustable Professional Activity-Based Competency Assessment in Experiential Learning
Competency-based assessment, defined as the attitudes, skills, and knowledge components needed for mastery of a complete activity, is common in health professions education. This program will present one institution’s approach to creating and implementing a new, competency-based assessment plan for experiential learning, based on profession-defined entrustable professional activities (EPAs). Two years of data will be shared at aggregate and deidentified individual levels to illustrate how this assessment data can be used at student, curriculum, and accreditation levels. The purpose of this program is to give participants tools to implement such a competency-based approach at their institution.
Robert D. Beckett and Michelle Kibiger, Manchester University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Evaluating a Pharmaceutical Calculations Course Using Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Evaluation
As is the case with many Colleges of Pharmacy, some students at one private institution were failing Pharmaceutical Calculations. At the same time, many students would excel in the course. Our team was tasked with evaluating the course, suggesting course changes while maintaining the elements that were working. We began a deep dive into the data guided by Kirkpatrick’s four levels of evaluation. We examined student surveys (reaction), previous course data (learning), calculation ability throughout the program (behavior), and ultimately performance on the certification exam (results). Our findings lead to substantial changes in the course that proved to be effective.
Ben C. Stephens, Kimberly Daugherty, and Sarah Raake, Sullivan University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Faculty Maxed and Data Taxed? Solutions for Incorporation of Systems Data in Curricular Review in a Doctor of Pharmacy Program
Seeking solutions to use assessment to drive learning and program improvement can be time and energy intensive for faculty. Our program is using specific elements from existing systems for curricular review in a way that tries to minimize additional faculty work incorporating existing data in the curricular review and quality improvement process. With training and support, faculty are harnessing data from our learning management, exam, survey, and competency management systems and have used it to evaluate curriculum maps, conduct course review, and provide student feedback. These abilities have been empowering to faculty and contributed to ongoing assessment efforts.
Justine S. Gortney and Sarah Agnihotri, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Wayne State University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Giving Mentors Their Due: Using Mixed-Methods to Ascertain this Perspective within the Context of a Predoctoral Training Program
As part of an overarching evaluation to determine its efficaciousness, the Predoctoral Training Program in Biological Data Science at Brown University included both quantitative and qualitative methods to identify areas of concern, illuminate unique or unexpected events, and provide context to the experiences and events of program participants. This session will provide an overview of an inventory for the collection of trainee and mentor perspectives, addressing the domains of research competency, mentor-trainee relationships, and mentoring skills. Qualitative data for the continued refinement of the inventory and understanding of the context for the quantitative data will also be presented.
Judy A. Kimberly and Sohini Ramachandran, Brown University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Objective Structured Clinical Exams: Is Virtual Comparable to In-Person Performance in Pre-Experiential, Third-Year Pharmacy Students?
Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE), provided in-person or virtually, assess student pharmacist readiness for advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs). Due to the pandemic, our program moved to remote coursework implementing virtual OSCEs (vOSCEs). While lots of literature exists supporting online teaching, the impact on student performance utilizing OSCE vs. vOSCE has not been well evaluated. The process of development, incorporation of standardized patients, successes and challenges, and comparison of vOSCE performance to previous in-person OSCEs in a third year pharmacy capstone course will be discussed.
Justine S. Gortney and Brittany Stewart, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences; Wayne State University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Remediation: Tips for Offering a Second Chance to Demonstrate and Assess Minimum Competency
It has become increasingly more common for Doctor of Pharmacy programs to offer students course remediation opportunities. Successful remediation allows students to remain on track to graduate and maintains on-time progression rates. Remediation approaches vary in terms of timing, maximum opportunities allowed per student, structure, preparation efforts, and faculty workload. This session will highlight the remediation practices of three pharmacy programs. The pros and cons of each will be described, providing best-practice approaches to remediation and tips for enhancing remediation at other institutions. The impact that the different remediation approaches have had on curricular outcomes, retention, and on-time progression will be shared.
Jeremy Hughes, Chicago State University; Katelyn Alexander, East Tennessee State University; and Lauren Angelo, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Simultaneous Implementation and Assessment of a New Curriculum: Building a Plane with the Check Engine Light On
For cohort-based programs such as medicine, nursing, and pharmacy, major curricular redesign implemented in a multiphase approach presents challenges for program assessment. Benchmarking against previous cohorts is difficult. New course structures, series, and assessment techniques must be simultaneously evaluated, and shifts in learning and programmatic outcomes must be rapidly identified and proactively addressed. Agile project management and design thinking were used in iterative cycles of piloting, assessment, and quality improvement to inform the changes. Herein, we discuss early and mid-cycle assessments of a newly implemented curriculum and future plans for full-circle assessment when the entire curriculum is deployed.
Edward Ofori, Paul Fina, Jeremy Hughes, Mohd Shahid, Trishia Shaw, and Betty Vu, Chicago State University College of Pharmacy
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Ten Tiny Targeted Tips Toward Terrific Graduate- and Professional-Level Assessments
This fast-paced session is intended for faculty and curriculum planners at all levels in graduate- and professional-level schools. In a quick-tip format, the presenters will run through 10 tips for those new to, learning, and more fluent in planning for effective assessment in graduate-and professional-level programs.
Debra Moss Vollweiler, Pace University Elisabeth Haub School of Law; and Susan Stephan, University of Cincinnati College of Law
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Training Tomorrow’s Teams: Assessing Competency in Didactic Interprofessional Education Activities
As programs implement didactic interprofessional education (IPE) activities, more information is needed on effective assessment and evaluation strategies. Prior efforts have focused on student self-evaluation at a single-point in time and/or observer-evaluation of a team involving multiple students. Recognizing the importance of developing collaborative practice-ready graduates, more information is needed on strategies to evaluate student learning longitudinally as well as individual student competency when collaborating on interprofessional teams. This session will describe strategies to measure student competency on the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Core Competencies through longitudinal engagement in didactic-IPE curricula and considerations for observer-based evaluation in didactic-IPE activities.
Jacqueline M. Zeeman, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Using an Open-Systems Approach to Achieve and Assess Programmatic Outcomes in HBCU/PBI Pharmacy Programs
With pandemic and admissions pressures, new approaches are needed to ensure programmatic outcomes, including board examination success, faculty development, alumni engagement, and mission fulfillment. A series of collaborative pilots were implemented between six Historically and Primarily Black Doctor of Pharmacy Programs to address shared needs for professional development, prepare students for standardized examinations, and support recent graduates as they prepare for licensure. An open-systems model of information and resource sharing was developed to address stakeholder needs. This session will describe these efforts and outline open-systems approaches to incorporate strategic partners in defining problems and posing actionable solutions.
Jeremy Hughes, Chicago State University; Tonya Martin and Jocelyn Spates, Florida A&M University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Public Health; Aisha Morris Moultry, Texas Southern University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences; and Mohd Shahid, Chicago State University College of Pharmacy
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Utilizing Authentic Assessment to Measure Graduate Student Competencies
Traditionally, comprehensive exams have used a high-stakes question and answer format. In this presentation, we discuss our program’s shift to using a Portfolio-based assessment to ensure our students have mastered competencies in evaluation, assessment, and methodology. We will discuss the sections of this portfolio and provide suggestions for others on how they can use portfolios as an assessment tool. We will further demonstrate how we: a) map our curriculum to the student performance standards, b) link these standards to the portfolio, and c) close the loop through instructional improvement based upon student portfolio performance.
Jennifer A. Morrow, Leia Cain, Louis Rocconi, and Gary Skolits, University of Tennessee
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
What Do We Need in Our Toolkit? The Professional Development Needs of Higher Education Assessment Professionals
What skills do assessment professionals (APs) need to be successful in higher education? APs come from eclectic academic backgrounds, often with no prior training in assessment. However, with the increased importance of assessment in higher education, APs also manage additional responsibilities and roles. To meet these demands, training and professional development opportunities are essential for APs. Join the presenters as they illustrate the findings of their national survey on APs’ academic backgrounds, training sought, and professional development needed to be successful. Attendees can utilize the information to drive the creation of future AP professional development and academic curriculum.
Nikki Christen, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville/Tennessee Technological University; and Jennifer Ann Morrow, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Who Has Time for Stress? Exploring Student Stress and Its Relationship to Student Time Use
Research suggests that health professions students experience significant stress and are at risk for major depression. However, little is known about the relationship between student time use and stress. It is imperative to recognize the implications of time as a finite resource and the time expectations health professions education has for students. This session will summarize current research on the topics, engage participants in active discussion, and outline actionable strategies that can be used to support student wellbeing and minimize unnecessary stress triggers.
Jacqueline M. Zeeman, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Graduate/Professional Education (GR)
Between Theory and Practice in Saudi Arabia
In this session, we explore the process and significance of strategic planning at Northern Border University (NBU) in Saudi Arabia. In this plan, the university adopted High-Impact Practices to achieve student learning core competencies. NBU’s assessment relies on data from a modified AAC&U rubric for each academic year in a HIPs sequence and a student survey of the HIPs experience. Additionally, we will discuss the liminal space between what exists and the vision, which is the contextualizing of High-Impact Practices. Participants will discover the cultural components and adaptations of implementing High-Impact Practices from a Saudi university perspective.
Robin Schofield and Jo Ellen Becco, Pikes Peak Community College; Jehan Alandejani and Muhannad Almutiry, Northern Border University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
Direct and Indirect Assessment of Engaged Learning and High-Impact Practices (HIPs)
This workshop will introduce strategies for conducting direct and indirect assessment of student learning within high-impact practices (HIPs) and other forms of experiential and applied learning. Attendees will learn the steps in building a formal assessment process and how to report the results. Attendees will have the opportunity in the workshop to map learning outcomes for their programs to specific assessment types, as well receive suggestions/feedback on appropriate rubrics. Attendees will then be guided through an assessment exercise where artifacts of student learning will be assessed using AAC&U VALUE Rubrics.
Jerry Daday and Tom Hahn, IUPUI
Presentation Type: Pre-Institute Workshop
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
ePortfolios at Adams State University: A Model of HIPs "Done Well"
A common concern in implementing high-impact practices is ensuring they are “done well.” Additionally, it is common for organizations, including institutions of higher education, to make promises in their marketing materials that may not carry through in their customers’ (students’) experiences. At Adams State University, we address both of these concerns in our implementation of undergraduate ePortfolios. This presentation will allow attendees to learn about the model we have developed for ePortfolios “done well” that ensures we are holding to our promise that “Great Stories begin here.”
Deanna Bartee, Kimberly Chacon, and AJ Webb, Adams State University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
Equipping Students with Relevant Job Skills Through Experiential Learning Courses
Anchored in the NACE job skills best practices, this panel of high-impact practices enthusiasts from Middle Tennessee State University will share EXL techniques and strategies they use in their classrooms to maintain HIPS integrity while ensuring graduates know what to expect and are prepared for the realities of the post-covid job market. Presenters will demonstrate how their Experiential Learning (EXL) courses prepare students with necessary job skills as identified by the NACE Career Readiness Competencies.
Carol Swayze, Odie Blackmon, Mike Boyle, and Janet McCormick, Middle Tennessee State University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
Ethical and Inclusive Strategies for Designing and Evaluating ePortfolios
This session prioritizes collaboration and application, where participants will work together to critique their own work to co-create a more equitable classroom. First, participants will reflect on their own assessment ecosystem, identifying the various factors that contribute to their current practices. Then, the facilitators will utilize the AAEEBL Digital Ethics Principles in ePortfolios to outline ethical considerations that might be foregrounded to support the learning and growth of all students. Participants will critically examine their own assessments and identify opportunities to revise based on the resources provided.
Morgan Gresham, University of South Florida
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
Findings from a 6-year Program-Level ePortfolio Initiative in Kinesiology
In 2016, a faculty team in the IUPUI Kinesiology Department obtained an internal grant to implement a program-level ePortfolio for their undergraduate majors. However, soon after initial implementation, the team reconvened and found this implementation missed the mark. In 2018, after 18-24 months of professional development, the team recast the ePortfolio into a process-oriented rather than product-oriented project. The team focused their efforts on collaborating with students in support of their diverse ways of learning to ensure maximal inclusivity. For this faculty team, providing choices to students within their ePortfolio project yielded improved engagement and inclusive outcomes.
Mark Urtel, Lisa Angermeier, Stephen Fallowfield, and Rachel Swinford, IUPUI
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
Fostering Data Literacy Skills Early as a Foundation for Undergraduate Research
As faculty who facilitate undergraduate research, we focus on strengthening our students’ data literacy skills. This workshop brings together pedagogical scaffolding and best practices to clarify the concept of data literacy, identify key elements of this form of literacy, build instructional design to target this skill set, and situate this content within the curriculum to best meet the needs of the student and program. We consider a wide range of data sources so participants outside of STEM disciplines benefit from the content as well. We present sample assignments and illustrate the intentional scaffolding of class assignments to develop core competencies.
Jocelyn Evans, University of West Florida; and Sara Evans, Kennesaw State University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
High-Impact Experiences for High-Impact Practices Faculty
We are aware that high-impact practices provide significant educational benefits for students who participate in them. But how often do we focus on developing a high-impact experience for faculty who will be working with these students? While this workshop will focus on faculty development for the First-Year Experience, the strategies can be applied across any high-impact practice. Audience members will have the opportunity to engage in reflective activities, group discussion, and Q&A to provide faculty development experience for faculty teaching high-impact practices.
Angie E. Wood and Rebecca Aslinger, Chattanooga State Community College
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
High-Impact Practices in Tennessee Community Colleges: Investigating Causal Relationships Between HIPs Participation and Student Success
The session will discuss implementation of high-impact practices (HIPs) in Tennessee community colleges, and methodology and findings of quantitative assessments of the causal impact of HIPs participation on student outcomes. Specifically, the presentation will describe HIPs taxonomies and coding in Tennessee community colleges, explain the approach to addressing the selection bias, and present key findings of two longitudinal studies that estimated the effect of participation in service learning and undergraduate research HIPs on academic performance, probability of graduation, transfer, departure, and time to these outcomes. Statistical and practical significance and policy implications of the results will be discussed.
Alex Gorbunov, Gus Gluek, and Chris Tingle, Tennessee Board of Regents
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
HIPS For All: Developing a Campus-Wide HIPs Training and Assessment Plan
This interactive session will document all that Ball State University has learned from our efforts to designate and assess courses as High-Impact Practices. These campus-wide efforts included trainings for faculty and advisors as well as promotional efforts for students and faculty. Conversation will include challenges we faced as well as unanticipated benefits. Presenters include administrators and faculty members to give an authentic look at the initiative from the many levels of execution and experience. We’ll also invite audience members to think through how they can replicate our efforts on their campus.
Kristen McCauliff, Ashley co*ker, Carole Kacius, and Mary Konkle, Ball State University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
HIPs Small Groups – From Introduction to HIPs Implementation
Participants in this session will learn how Chattanooga State Community College HIPs Master Faculty lead other faculty in designing their own HIPs projects. Faculty participate in the Chatt State Summer Institute. Post-Institute, they can apply to be part of a “small group.” Once accepted, these faculty are mentored by HIPs Master Faculty through the Fall semester, with regular monthly meetings. These meetings support faculty as they develop their own HIPs assignment, align assessment with learning outcomes, and provide feedback for coding a course that indicates to students that the course they’re enrolling in is a high-impact practice.
Tracie L. Clifford, Shawn Brabham, and Christopher Gilliland, Chattanooga State Community College
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
HIPs Workshop and Coaching for Faculty Professional Development: Online and Interactive
Learn about the multi-institutional HIPs workshop implemented at the Colorado Community College System. The faculty workshop and coaching model focuses on High-Impact Practices and the 8 elements to ensure effectiveness. Most importantly, the course allows a space for faculty to talk about teaching and design. The model is asynchronous and addresses Service Learning, Collaborative Projects, Diversity Global Learning and culturally relevant design elements. Faculty work at their own pace and are supported by our HIPs leadership team along the way. Come to hear about lessons learned and how to implement the workshop at your institution. Spoiler Alert: Faculty loved it!
Jo Ellen Becco, Raine co*ke-Clark, Bruce McCluggage, Sylva Miller, and Robin Schofield, Pikes Peak Community College
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
Increasing Engagement of Pell-Eligible Students in Faculty-Mentored Research Experiences
To increase the number of low-income students who participate in faculty-mentored research experiences at Louisiana State University, we have developed a 2-year program to engage Pell-eligible students in a program called Explorers. Students in the program participate in programming sessions in which they receive instruction on life and college skills, introductions to research skills and practices, and meetings with peer mentors. They are also matched with a faculty mentor. This presentation will explain how we developed this program, connected with strategic campus partners, and selected the first cohort of students and faculty mentors.
Sarah Ferstel and Joseph Givens, Louisiana State University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
Institutional Culture: Educators as Unified Advocates for HIPs
Recent work by Jillian Kinzie and others shows that gaps in HIPs participation are persisting across lines of race, socioeconomic status, and parents’ educational attainment. In other words, we have yet to live up to the potential of high-impact practices to engage and educate students of all backgrounds with fidelity and equity. This session shows how four universities are taking a rigorous, systematic approach to involving more of their students in high-impact practices - changing not only student behavior, but also institutional culture.
Ken O'Donnell, California State University, Dominguez Hills; Tiana Iruoje, Indiana University Bloomington; Theresa Paul, Western Carolina University; and Kristina Phillips, Jackson State University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
It’s Tool Time! How to Share HIP Resources with Faculty Using an Online Toolkit
In 2019, the University of West Florida embarked on a journey to collect, organize, and display high-impact research, tools, and resources. The journey started with separate documents from two different academic divisions, and developed into a robust “HIP Faculty Toolkit.” The Toolkit houses resources that are easily accessible and modifiable, and is hosted in an institutionally sound environment that is continually assessed for usability, relevance, and practicality. Join us to examine ways to organize and centralize HIP resources, and highlight best practices.
Sarah Fox and Andrea Nelson, University of West Florida
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
Lifting Learning Barriers—Positioning Embedded Tutoring as a High-Impact Practice to Increase Student Mastery of Core Competencies
Course-embedded tutoring programs have been offered through campus writing centers at US colleges and universities since the early 1990s. Such programs have gained popularity in more recent years due to a growing body of research demonstrating the positive impact of tutoring on student retention, persistence, and success, especially for at-risk student populations. Lincoln Land Community College is piloting innovative assessments that include AAC&U VALUE Rubrics and real-time feedback through embedded tutoring as a co-curricular practice in general education courses. By pledging these resources, LLCC positions co-curricular reinforcements within the college’s GenEd curriculum as a High-Impact Practice.
Colin E. Suchland and Tiffany-Anne Elliott, Lincoln Land Community College; Suzanne Carbonaro, Heliocampus
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
Mapping the Landscape of Your Campus's HIPs
How do you develop a campus-level focus on HIPs when programs are well underway without any central coordination? At Purdue University – West Lafayette, we started by conducting a landscape analysis – a “snapshot” of the scope and scale of relevant programs. This session will explain the approach used, provide examples of information-gathering tools, and lead participants to consider how to adapt Purdue’s approach to meet the needs of their own campus context.
Jennifer Dobbs-Oates, Kathryn Stremiecki, and H. Anne Weiss, Purdue University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
NSSE HIPs: Expectations versus Realizations
The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) data is used to examine the expectation versus realization of HIPs in the college experience. The expectations of HIPS pertaining to adult and online students are examined to see if the expectations of the NSSE HIPS that first-year students have are aligned with the realization of HIPs seniors have experienced. Methods on how to promote the HIPs to first-year students will be discussed, as higher expectations may tend to drive the realizations of HIPs in higher education. An increase in HIPs is known to increase engagement and graduation rates, as well as enhance the college experience.
Pamela Morris, Linda Clark, Christina Cobb, and MA Higgs, Middle Tennessee State University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
Peak Learning in High-Impact Practices: A Qualitative Study
This study qualitatively investigated built environment peak learning moments for students. Utilizing NVivo, researchers conducted a word search query that indicated significant learning within High-Impact Practices (HIPs). Results are discussed within the context of this presentation. This research contributes to the literature on HIPs and can be expanded to additional degree programs. Follow-up analysis will investigate other identified peak learning moment themes. This presentation will expose participants to peak learning moment research, Nvivo as a qualitative assessment tool, and resources to support similar studies of HIPs and peak learning moments to inform institution-wide research.
Kendall M. McGoey, Katie Boyd, Ben Farrow, Tom Leathem, and Eric Wetzel
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
Taking the Assessment of High-Impact Practices (HIPs) to the Next Level
Many institutions have evidence of the benefits and outcomes of their HIP programming. In compiling the new volume Delivering on the Promise of HIPs we identified assessments that appear to be moving to the next level, employing rigorous research designs and sophisticated quantitative techniques to study HIPs. In this panel session, authors and contributors will discuss these robust studies and advise how to work with faculty, and assessment and institutional research professionals to use the data you have, what data you might need, and how to tell a more powerful story.
John Zilvinskis, Binghamton University, State University of New York; Jillian Kinzie, Indiana University Bloomington; Jerry Daday and Steve Graunke, IUPUI; Ken O'Donnell, California State University Dominguez Hills; Alaa Alsarhan, Utah Valley University; and Adam N. Wear, University of North Texas
Presentation Type: Keynote Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (HP)
The Impact of HIPs Participation on Students' Persistence and Retention
High-Impact Practices (HIPs) are expected to engage the students at different levels and types of activities. As a result, students' persistence and retention are expected to increase. At Utah Valley University (UVU), we developed a visualization dashboard to measure the impact of individual and collective HIPs on students' persistence and retention. The dashboard uses correlational and inferential analysis to study persistence and retention. Results suggest a positive relation between enrolling in one or more HIPs and student persistence and retention.
Ala'a Alsarhan, Utah Valley University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
Transforming HIPs from an English to Arabic Platform
We capitalized on using High-Impact Practices’ (HIPs) documented deep-learning outcomes to promote advancing of oral and written communicative skills. One of the limitations of these successful HIPs practices in achieving desired outcomes is its limit to English speakers. We aimed to translate HIPs practices from an English platform to Arabic and implement HIPs to achieve the desired deep learning outcomes in the Arabic language. As a pilot project, we tested the new Arabic HIP platform and its rubrics in a cohort of nursing school students. The results are preliminary and a part of an ongoing project.
Jehan A. Alandejani, Feras Almadani, Muhannad Almutiry, and Mohammed Alshehri, Northern Border University; and Gary Sayed, California State University Dominguez
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
Utilizing Alumni Data to Improve High-Impact Career Mobility Practices
The National Alumni Career Mobility (NACM) Survey was developed to help institutions strategically adapt career practices and equitably guide students toward fulfilling careers. The presenters will review the NACM Survey findings of 12,000+ alumni from 220+ institutions; discuss the six High-Impact Career Practices of the most prepared, satisfied, and economically mobile alumni; and highlight the practical connections between campus career practices and three challenges: employment instabilities, career outcome inequities, and return-on-investment perceptions.
Kimberly Yousey-Elsener and Jeremy Podany, The Career Leadership Collective
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
Wrestling with Reflection: Tangible Techniques for Unearthing Authentic Student Reflections Through Video
This session showcases ways to successfully solicit reflection from students utilizing video. Reflection is an essential element of high-impact practice. We overview the scholarship on reflection and highlight key models. The session provides practical methods to structure video-based student reflections at the individual and group level to provide a personal, humanized learning experience for students and faculty. Despite differences in course, college, and creative content, instructor methods yielded consistent positive results with regard to both student feedback and instructor assessment. Presenters will provide tangible ways to expand on methods and pedagogies already in place, regardless of position within the institution.
Andrea Nelson, Jocelyn Evans, and Kylie Pugh, University of West Florida
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: HIPs in the States (High-Impact Practices, including ePortfolios) (HP)
Aligning Strategic Planning, Accreditation, and Institutional Assessment for a Future-Ready University
This interactive workshop models CSULB’s strategy of aligning institutional outcomes with our core values, strategic priorities, institutional outcomes, institutional research data, and WSCUC criteria for review into actionable, meaningful, and sustainable assessment. We will discuss how we incorporated Bolman and Deal’s Four Frames model of leadership into the structure of our new assessment approach to ensure coordination of assessment efforts across campus and ensure fruitful dialogue about results. Using the institution’s core value “Diversity is our Strength,” we will highlight how our “Pyramid of Success” is guiding data-informed analysis across and between divisions. Workshop includes breakout activities.
Sharlene Sayegh and Jody Cormack, California State University, Long Beach
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Institution-Wide Data Collection/Use (ID)
An Assessment of Economic Viability of Academic Programs
Higher education institutions need dedicated resources to finance their strategic plans and continue to do things to the level of quality their faculty aspire. It is crucial that each university looks at program economics to cultivate responsibility for resource allocation among its administrators and help them make informed decisions. In this presentation we build a simple and practical cost model that analyzes revenues and expenses of academic programs and assesses their economic viability. The model can be sustained by faculty and can be easily customized to allow them to tweek it to fit the parameters of their own institution.
Zeinab H. Amin, The American University in Cairo
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Institution-Wide Data Collection/Use (ID)
Assessment, Institutional Effectiveness, and Institutional Research: The Intricate Dance of Data Democratization
If we truly believe in data-informed decision cultures, we must acknowledge all stakeholders as data producers, data users, and decision makers. To that end, assessment, institutional effectiveness, and institutional research are not service providers or simply curators of information. Rather, we are partners in discovery, which requires helping institutional colleagues clarify goals and refine questions in addition to the analysis of data, making sense of results, communicating findings, and generating insights. This session explores how assessment, IE, and IR work together in pursuit of data-informed decision cultures.
Leah Ewing Ross, Association for Institutional Research (AIR); Michele Hansen, IUPUI; and Robynn Shannon, West Virginia University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Institution-Wide Data Collection/Use (ID)
Bears Care: A Covid Response Survey Provides a Lasting Booster for Student Success
The spring 2020 semester included administration of a brief survey to see how students were coping with the pandemic, including technical, financial, and academic concerns, as well as to connect them with campus resources. This crisis management tool would go on to have more practical and longstanding applications, including retention efforts, building a sense of belonging, and raising awareness of campus resources while keeping the survey and administration streamlined and low-cost. This walks assessment professionals through the survey’s evolution, use, and benefits.
Mark Woolsey and Keri Franklin, Missouri State University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Institution-Wide Data Collection/Use (ID)
Collaboration Between Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Planning Departments
Discover how a university embarked on a comprehensive strategic planning process that closely involved the Institutional Effectiveness and Research Department. Missouri Baptist University is a faith-based university located in St. Louis. After one year of collecting feedback from stakeholders and writing the 5-year strategic plan, MBU began the implementation phase. An Empowerment Team was established to encourage departments to execute the plan. Key Performance Indicator Champions were identified and trained. The Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Research worked alongside the KPI Champions to identify existing metrics and data points to establish key performance indicators that aligned to the plan’s initiatives.
Melanie M. Bishop and Tim Delicath, Missouri Baptist University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Institution-Wide Data Collection/Use (ID)
Determining a Cut-Off Value of High School GPA in College Entry Math Placement by Using Logistic Regression and ROC Curve
Nearly all colleges and universities offer placement exams to students in order to assess students’ level of college readiness, but not all students take them, and the cutoff score which determines whether or not a student is placed into remedial courses is not always accurate. This set of circ*mstances has encouraged many universities to adopt a multiple-measures approach when it comes to course placement. Most often, a combination of placement test scores and/or ACT/SAT scores are used. However, our analysis shows high school GPA to be one of the significant predictors when evaluating cut-off scores and course placement.
Han Zhang and John Standard, University of Wisconsin-Parkside; and Carolyn Eastman, Carthage College
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Institution-Wide Data Collection/Use (ID)
Engaging Your Audience: Creative Ways to Visualize and Disseminate Assessment Data
What are the most engaging and effective ways to visualize and disseminate assessment data? How do we avoid the dreaded ‘data dump’ and instead showcase our data in a meaningful way for our clients? The session leaders will guide attendees through a variety of creative, interactive, and innovative ways to visualize and disseminate assessment data to their stakeholders. The session will consist of small-group discussion, hands-on activities, and large group reflection.
Jennifer A. Morrow, University of Tennessee; and Nikki Christen, Tennessee Tech University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Institution-Wide Data Collection/Use (ID)
Infrastructures and Insight: An Institution-Wide Approach to Data Collection at Auburn University
Auburn University has developed two infrastructures for the collection of general education learning outcomes for its students. These infrastructures allow Auburn to capture baseline data from incoming freshmen and make comparisons to end-point data captured at graduation, with an average response rate of 98%. Analysis of this data exposes differences in student motivation and informs our office of potentially inaccurate data. We are also able to connect student success and high-impact practices (HIPs). In this session, we will explore our successes and failures in creating this infrastructure. Also discussed is how this data is used across various communities at the institution.
Stuart A. Miller, Katie Boyd, Anna Claire Stinson, and Dory Thompson, Auburn University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Institution-Wide Data Collection/Use (ID)
Institutionalizing Systematic Assessment Reporting - Considerations for Leaders
Even organizations with the best of practices go through periods of drift and change, and sometimes key positions go vacant for longer than anticipated. This presentation will explore some considerations for “rebalancing” the internal and external institution-level assessment needs of a specialized university on the west coast. Audience members will be invited to identify common sticky spots and potential solutions, and to share best practices from their own experience. The presentation will elucidate the interplay of people, technology, policy, and process that may shape or influence the scope and depth of comprehensive institutional assessment designs.
Leslie Wasson, Samuel Merritt University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Institution-Wide Data Collection/Use (ID)
Line Up! Exploring Alignment Between Institutional and Programmatic Learning Outcomes with a Diversity, Equity, & Improvement Lens
In 2020, Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) approved new institutional graduation core competencies which infuse anti-racism and equity into the definition of each competency. This poster presents the process by which we analyzed the alignment of our programs with each of these seven core competencies and the findings of our analysis, which highlight the nuances of assessing this type of alignment. We will share data visualizations and reflections on the value of looking closely at this aspect of institutional assessment data (Hutchings, 2016). Attendees will reflect on the power of using institutional learning outcomes to promote greater equity and inclusion in our curricula.
Sarah Jacobs and Kirstin Moreno, Oregon Health & Science University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Institution-Wide Data Collection/Use (ID)
Maneuvering the Ship: A Model for Planning, Budgeting, and Assessment
Data-driven planning and budgeting are important elements in leading an institution of higher education. In challenging times institutions must learn to use data to identify strategic priorities, assess results and align resources in areas that will lead to success. This workshop will help participants develop a systematic approach for planning, budgeting, and assessment. Ideas for adding flexibility will be shared that can be useful in a changing environment. The presenter will also share methods for creating buy-in and sustainability.
Lindsey Graham Guinn, Barnard College
Presentation Type: Pre-Institute Workshop
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Institution-Wide Data Collection/Use (ID)
Qualitative Analysis of NSSE Text-Based Feedback to Deduce Emotion
Research over several decades has identified 7 basic emotions: surprise, joy, anger, contempt, sadness, disgust, anger, and fear. In this research, we carried out a qualitative analysis of text-based feedback provided by student responses to the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) using machine learning. This presentation will show how we used the spaCy--an NLP library--to train a model to identify the emotions in the feedback from the survey and will describe the steps taken to develop the model by extracting the key features, encoding the words, and loading the model to make predictions.
Allie Michael and Abdullah Akinde, Austin Peay State University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Institution-Wide Data Collection/Use (ID)
Shifting Institutional Culture: Moving from Program Review to Program Improvement
In 2018, the San Diego College of Continuing Education (SDCCE) reorganized its Office of Planning Research and Institutional Effectiveness (PRIE) with the charge of developing an annual integrated planning model for improved program reviews (instructional and administrative), strategic planning, resource allocation, and student learning assessment. The PRIE team discovered the linchpin and a major key to success was the use of program review to build a data-informed culture. Learn how SDCCE embedded research and assessment into its integrated planning model and how program review has transitioned to a focus on program improvement through research, data-coaching and a new feedback loop.
Jessica Luedtke and Marne Foster, San Diego College of Continuing Education
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Institution-Wide Data Collection/Use (ID)
Tailoring Excel Dashboards to the Needs of Campus Units
This session will expose participants to a multi-year iterative process whereby an assessment office created interactive Excel dashboards to connect career outcome data with other student data. We will elaborate on a new set of Excel dashboards developed to raise awareness about student data available on campus, recognize the value of campus collaboration, and bring campus partners into the conversation of specific research questions to be visualized to better support their units. The final products include 1) HIP dashboard providing more granular picture of HIP participation, and 2) Equity dashboard exploring student success through an equity lens.
Ana Kriletic, Katie Boyd, and Kendall Mcgoey, Auburn University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Institution-Wide Data Collection/Use (ID)
The Modal Participant – Using the Statistical Mode to Find the “Typical” Student in the Classroom
In 2021, Harold Washington College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago, assessed the college’s Institutional Learning Outcome (ILO) “Participation.” In an attempt to view this data from a different perspective, the modal responses from question banks were analyzed to identify the “typical” student. The results of this approach were compared to standard central tendency statistics. The committee's interpretations of the findings and suggestions for improving student participation will be shared.
Phillip Vargas, Harold Washington College
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Institution-Wide Data Collection/Use (ID)
35 Years of Assessment Innovation: Reflections and Future Directions
Since the 1980s, James Madison University has pushed the envelope. Senior administrators built a general education program predicated on student learning outcomes. The institution launched a first-of-its kind PhD program that not only addressed the growing need for assessment leaders but also deepened the field's research. In this session, faculty from the Center for Assessment and Research Studies will share insights they have gleaned along the journey and comment about the future of our field.
Sara Finney, Dena Pastor, and Megan Good, James Madison University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Applying Research and Practice in Assessment’s (RPA’s) New Review Rubric – Part One
Research and Practice in Assessment (RPA) is an online journal that serves the assessment community, focusing on the advancement of scholarly discussion among assessment researchers and practitioners in our evolving discipline. Recently, RPA adopted a rubric to aid reviewers and scholars in the blind peer-review process. In this session, participants will dive into the rubric exploring the meaning of each criteria and practice applying the rubric to hypothetical manuscripts of varying quality. In Part One of this session, we will explore the rubric criteria in depth and apply the manuscript to an exemplary hypothetical manuscript.
Megan Good and Robin Anderson, James Madison University; and Nicholas Curtis, Marquette University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Applying Research and Practice in Assessment’s (RPA’s) New Review Rubric – Part Two
Research and Practice in Assessment (RPA) is an online journal that serves the assessment community, focusing on the advancement of scholarly discussion among assessment researchers and practitioners in our evolving discipline. Recently, RPA adopted a rubric to aid reviewers and scholars in the blind peer-review process. In this session, participants will dive into the rubric exploring the meaning of each criteria and practice applying the rubric to hypothetical manuscripts of varying quality. In Part Two of this session, we will apply the rubric to a low-quality hypothetical manuscript and debrief the experience through discussion.
Megan Good and Robin Anderson, James Madison University; and Nicholas Curtis, Marquette University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Assessing General Education Outcomes in Program Capstone Courses
Follow one institution’s journey of redesigning, integrating, and assessing a shared set of General Education outcomes fully aligning their liberal arts education efforts among primary academic units. Covered with be the influences AAC&U’s VALUE rubrics, Indiana’s statewide transfer core requirements, and their distinctive context. The project’s phases include: outcome writing, integration among Gen Ed courses, integration among program courses, rater calibration training using asynchronous and hybridized modalities, and assessing mastery levels among program capstone courses.
Frank Poncé and Bart Breuhler, Indiana Wesleyan University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Assessment as a Tool for Institutional Transformation
The purpose of this session is to share the lessons learned by the Gardner Institute staff based on more than 20 years of student success work. We will briefly review the assessment data and the learnings that have shaped our work to improve equitable student outcomes. We will then consider how, as educators, we can use these lessons to move towards a comprehensive institutional approach to creating just design as an impetus to transform postsecondary education. We will end by crowdsourcing barriers to institutional transformation and ways to overcome these barriers.
Jill Kramer, Katie Locke, and Brent Drake, Gardner Institute
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Assessment for Mere Mortals: Change Management and Establishing a Culture of Assessment
Implementing new assessment processes or advancing current initiatives requires more than good intentions and a strong concept. This interactive workshop/testimonial provides insight into the fundamental elements of launching and sustaining assessment efforts. Straight from the trenches, continuous improvement evangelists explore the practical application of utilizing key principles of change in higher education to avoid pitfalls, applying change management techniques, and incorporating factors of sustainability. The intent is that participants leave with tangible takeaways and actionable methods.
Kelly Kellogg, Bill Carroll, Kim Hughes, and Brook Wiersig, Carl Albert State College
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Assessment for Mere Mortals: The Viking Expedition for Continuous Improvement
In 2018, Carl Albert State College's Assessment Team set out to start a campus wide "assessment revolution." In order to advance assessment efforts and align with accreditation expectations, the team of five continuous improvement evangelists were tasked with a four-year HLC Assessment Academy project that focused upon maturing from the course to academic program level while assessing general education and implementing co-curricular and non-academic assessments. The "Viking Exploration Map" and session provide an overview of best practices and lessons learned along the journey. The premise is to share actionable insight with fellow colleagues to assist with their expeditions in assessment.
Kelly Kellogg, Bill Carroll, Kim Hughes, and Brook Wiersig, Carl Albert State College
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Collaboration, Communication, and Collegiality: Keys to Strengthened Learning Outcomes Assessment in Health Professions Education
Program learning-outcomes assessment supports data-driven decision making and improvement in program quality (Stufflebeam, 2003; Guerra-Lopez, 2007). This session describes implementation of an assessment management system for a Doctor-of-Pharmacy program. The initiative, initially undertaken to capture student performance to meet accreditation requirements, led to more fundamental changes. It helped establish a systematic review of curricular mapping, alignment of course learning outcomes to program learning outcomes, conscious alignment of assessment with the learning outcomes, and faculty development. A focus on Collaboration, Communication, and Collegiality with strong information-sharing between faculty and administration with institutional commitments helped build a positive culture for learning-outcomes assessment. These factors are critical for program success.
Minakshi Lahiri and Carol Goldin, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Creating Better Assignments for Learning and Assessment: AAC&U's VALUE ADD Tools for Written Communication and Critical Thinking
A key finding fromresearch resulting from AAC&U’s VALUE (Valid Assessment of Learningin Undergraduate Education) Initiative is that what faculty ask students todoin class assignments strongly affects how well they do it. With thatrecognition in mind, AAC&U has created new Assignment Design andDiagnostic (ADD) Tools thatare intended to help you and your colleaguescreate and/or revise assignments designed to produce student work thatdevelops and accurately demonstrates theirabilities targeting specificlearning outcomes. During this session, participantswill be provided with an overview of the literature underpinning thesetools as well as an introduction to their components. Attendees willthen be provided with sample critical thinking and written communicationassignments to examinethrough the lens of the VALUE ADD Tools. We will conclude by exploringinsightsregarding assignment design that emerged while using these tools.
C. Edward Watson, American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U)
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Excellence in Assessment Leadership
The focus of this presentation is to describe the skills and attributes of a successful leader and determine how assessment specialists can use these leadership qualities to build an assessment culture and positively impact peoples’ experiences with assessment. Additionally, presenters will provide ways for an assessment leader to increase faculty engagement in assessment activities and advance scholarship in the discipline. Navigating how to be an effective leader in a climate with insufficient administrative support and resources will also be examined.
Jennifer Laubenthal, Mike Carson, and Anja Mueller, Central Michigan University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Herding the Cats: Making Assessment Work on a Decentralized Campus
For so many, the absence of staff is common since the pandemic due to declining enrollment and budget constraints (Kelchen, Ritter, and Webber, 2021). Assessment officers find themselves in a position of needing campus constituents 'on the same page' to move forward in (re)implementing effective assessment practices with limited staffing and a changing landscape. Accordingly, this session addresses the myriad of approaches to identifying assessment related needs and (re)gaining campus buy-in. In addition, strategies for implementing effective assessment practices and (re)gaining momentum will be discussed. Finally, this session will explore the steps needed to (re)launch team-driven impactful campus-wide assessment initiatives.
Monique S. Baucham and Amy O'Neal, University of Houston
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Implementing the Grand Challenges in Assessment Strategic Plans
The Grand Challenges in Assessment project has created national strategic plans around three challenges: 1) Using assessment findings to direct immediate pedagogical improvements; 2) Using assessment findings to increase equity; 3) Producing visible and actionable assessment findings that drive innovation and improvement. Panelists will describe practical ways campus leaders and assessment professionals can begin to address these challenges resulting in rapid and important improvements that increase equity, learning improvement, and evidenced-based decision making.
Karen E. Singer-Freeman, Wake Forest University; Christine Robinson, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Ciji Ann Heiser, Western Michigan University; Justin Hoshaw, Waubonsee Community College; Daniel A. Bureau, Louisiana State University; Jessica Taylor, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; Robert Aaron, Northwestern University; Karen White-Goyzueta, Ivy Tech Community College-South Bend/Elkhart; and Sheri Popp, Weave Education
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Leading By Example: Faculty Leading the Way to a Stronger Culture of Assessment
We will present the way in which we addressed a lack of assessment culture at our institution, after a history of top-down unsuccessful activities. We will provide the framework through which a faculty-led task force advanced assessment culture with a focus on using peer-led strategies for effective change. We will share data from a survey of faculty knowledge, skills, and attitudes to show how this data is also informing specific programming within our larger strategic framework. Participants will engage in activities to help reflect on their own institutional structural histories that hold back success and will develop actionable strategies for supporting long-term structural change that supports a culture of assessment.
Lauren S. Schlesselman and Sarah Croucher, University of Connecticut
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Leading from the Middle: Leveraging Assessment Challenges and Opportunities
Assessment professionals can find themselves positioned in unique, but sometimes ambiguous, roles when supporting program improvement and accountability. Promoting a culture of assessment necessitates strong problem-solving, communication, and leadership skills that often must be employed from the “middle” of conversations among stakeholders. Achieving positive outcomes requires building and managing relationships, applying proven strategies firmly grounded in assessment theory, and leveraging technology effectively to facilitate the development of successful academic programs. Assessment professionals from four Doctor of Pharmacy programs will share their experiences navigating this middle space, describing strategies to address challenges and embrace opportunities in learning outcomes assessment.
Beth K. Janetski, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Mary Higginbotham, The Ohio State University; Minakshi Lahiri, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; and Ben Shultz, University of Illinois-Chicago
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Learning Partnerships to Improve LEAP Projects and Programming: Using Feedback from Faculty and Staff Members of LEAP Indiana
Scholars recommend soliciting student feedback to inform the curriculum design process. The LEAP Indiana Executive Board and Programming Committee did just that with the board of directors and faculty across the state. We will share a brief history of LEAP Indiana projects, and then conduct a creative feedback session in which participants help us learn how the LEAP Indiana might best serve Indiana faculty. This will be an interactive (and we think fun) session!
Lisa Angermeier, IUPUI; Molly Hare, Indiana State University; and Rachel Kartz, Ivy Tech Community College
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Measurable Elements of Immediacy to Effectively Lead as an Academic Administrator
Academic administrators leading in the professional programs, from the dean to the department chairs, can benefit from the principle of immediacy in education (Anderson, 1979). Following the Fiske Model for Content Stereotype, this session will help attendees develop strategies for balancing warmth and competence as a leader (Fiske, et al., 2002). Using the elements of immediacy and Fiske’s model, the presenters will outline a methodology by which leaders can be their authentic selves, build rapport with their various stakeholders, and create an accessible and approachable leadership team that sparks innovation, psychological safety, and organizational health and effectiveness (Newstrom, 2016).
David Fuentes, University of Portland; and Dave Weldon, William Carey University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Passing the Baton: Preparing for a Smooth Transition of Assessment Leadership
Change is an event. Transition is a process. Institutions of higher education experience changes regularly, including change of institutional leadership, change of leadership within a department or unit, reorganization of units, addition of new curricular or co-curricular programs, and even changes brought about by factors beyond the control of the institution such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Whenever changes occur, opportunities to transition to a new approach become available. Faculty and staff involved in assessment can leverage changes to evolve assessment efforts on their campus.
Katie Busby and Karen Black, The University of Mississippi
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Program Review in Practice: From Purpose to Process to Progress
Program Review is a widely acknowledged and accepted approach to ensuring and improving quality in higher education. At IUPUI, program review is a collaborative process designed to bring to bear the judgment of respected colleagues in assessing and improving the quality of academic units, student affairs and co-curricular units, and research centers and institutes. The process involves multiple stakeholders, including students, faculty, community members, school and campus administrators, and external specialists in the field or discipline. This session provides an understanding of the purposes and processes of program review and engages recent participants of the program review process to share insights of planning for, conducting, and using results from program review for planning and improvement within their respective units.
Caleb J. Keith, Brittany Kelly, Eric Teske, and Brian Krohn, IUPUI
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginners
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Program Review: Purposes, Perspectives, and Processes
Program Review is a widely acknowledged approach to improving quality in higher education. This workshop identifies the purposes of program review and examines its evolution and impact in helping colleges and universities improve student learning outcomes as well as co-curricular programs, research activities, and administrative services. Perspectives of faculty, chairs, academic unit leaders, student affairs and co-curricular professionals, research administrators, and other leaders will be shared, along with the important role of peer reviewers in serving as consultants and critical friends. Processes of planning for, conducting, and using results from program review will be highlighted.
Caleb J. Keith and Stephen P. Hundley, IUPUI
Presentation Type: Pre-Institute Workshop
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Re-Building Program Assessment: A Case Study of Assessing, Revising, and Revitalizing Academic Program Assessment at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)
In 2019, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) substantially revised its academic program assessment process. Feedback from faculty program directors led to a second substantial assessment and revision in 2021 based on professional best practices and a thorough review of the Middle States standards for accreditation. The new process was implemented quickly in order to revitalize program assessment at NJIT and ensure that programs were in good standing for an upcoming Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) self-study visit. Attendees will learn from this case study and leave with numerous resources for reference and adaptation for building or rebuilding their assessment processes.
Jeremy P. Reich, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Selling Assessment – Using Resources from the Communication Studies Discipline to Make Assessment Attractive, Engaging, and Persuasive to Multiple Stakeholders
The Communication Studies Discipline can provide a great deal of insight and direction for assessment professionals on how to communicate with multiple stakeholders most effectively, whether in one-on-one, group, or public speaking settings. Using these strategies can increase the likelihood of maturing and advancing assessment initiatives on campus.
Ashley A. Vasquez, Johnson County Community College; and Michelle Selk, San Jacinto College
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Shifting the Culture of Outcomes Assessment
This learning session presents a historical overview of a gradual cultural shift occurring at a small Midwest university concerning faculty’s buy-in of outcomes assessment in teaching. Furthermore, this presentation will discuss ways to promote a cultural change of acceptance of outcomes assessment actions while also enhancing faculty’s understanding of the benefits of engaging in this activity. Lessons learned from this experience will be discussed in detail. The session will conclude with the projected next steps in the process.
Michelle C. Maus and Kerry Jones, Tiffin University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Starting Strong as Assessment Leaders
So, you’ve been hired as an assessment leader at your institution. Or, perhaps you’ve been assigned the task of overseeing assessment for your area. Now what? This interactive workshop will provide participants with insight and resources to start strongly in their assessment roles. Participants will work collaboratively to identify initiatives that can benefit their institution and build their own resumes as assessment professionals. Participants will discuss methods for prioritizing tasks, organizing processes, and building stakeholder relationships. This session would be particularly helpful for new assessment leaders, but could be useful for leaders at any stage looking for a “refresh.”
Amanda Wornhoff and Allie Michael, Austin Peay State University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
The Career Continuum in Assessment Leadership: Applying Change Models to Pursue and Be Successful
Assessment leadership positions require a diverse set of skills, mindset, and approaches to successfully make evidence-based curriculum and programmatic improvements and promote positive change. This interactive session will use Lewin’s theory of change as a framework to engage attendees in identifying the key characteristics and strategies to start and be successful in an academic assessment career. Participants will work in small groups to learn and adopt strategies to rapidly transition into a new role or conduct succession planning for future assessment transitions. The presenters include new and experienced assessment leaders who will share their experiences during the assessment career continuum.
Rahul Garg, Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine; David Fuentes, University of Portland School of Nursing; Jeremy Hughes and Edward Ofori, Chicago State University College of Pharmacy
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
The Landscape of Learning: Results from the VALUE Scoring Collaborative
Through the VALUE Scoring Collaborative (formerly the VALUE Institute), certified faculty members and educators evaluate student work using widely accepted standards for each learning outcome represented in the VALUE rubrics. Any higher education institution, department, program, consortium, or provider may upload samples of student work to a digital repository for assessment. To better gauge student learning and institutional teaching, the VALUE Scoring Collaborative examines achievement across student population groups, such as first-generation students, racial and ethnic groups, and their year in school. The Collaborative uses this data to construct a national macro-view of the quality of student learning in higher education based on AAC&U’s Essential Learning Outcomes. This session will present a “deep dive” into the results generated by the VALUE Scoring Collaborative (2014-2020.
Beth Perkins and Kate Drezek McConnell, American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U)
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment (LA)
Assessing Prototype Courses that Improve Student, Faculty, and Institutional Experience with Interdisciplinary HIPs
We present three tensions and data that emerged when combining interdisciplinarity, experiential learning, and project-based learning. Grounded in extensive research on HIPs, multiple faculty delivered different courses following a common conceptual framework. We identify the learning benefits for students and analyze demographic data for student success outcomes. We also explore the labor of faculty doing this work. Data speak to making the work equitable and interesting and to leveraging the affordances of interdisciplinary teaching teams. Finally, we explore the ways that programs like this might scale at an institution after humble beginnings in innovation centers and other administrative carve-outs.
Ellie Louson and Emilio Esposito, Michigan State University; Bill Heinrich, Orbis; and Patrice Ludwig, James Madison University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Learning Improvement (LI)
Assessment Clinic: A Statistical Workshop for Examining Basic Group Differences
Examining student learning is the cornerstone of the assessment profession in higher education. Assessment professionals must leverage statistical analysis to provide evidence of student learning. This session is targeted to coach beginners on how to use statistics beyond basic descriptive data (mean, standard deviation, etc.). Examining the differences between two groups is a key part of an assessment toolkit. This workshop teaches participants how to select a statistical test, account for assumptions, run a procedure, and ultimately share results. Specifically, participants will learn how to appropriately conduct independent- and paired-samples t-tests and well as the Mann-Whitney U test.
Jeff Barbee, The Ohio State University; Ramya Kumaran, University of Illinois, and Dan Trujillo, Auburn University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Learning Improvement (LI)
Beyond Bloom’s: Revising an Evidence of Learning Assessment Framework Using a Delphi Method
This highly interactive session will explore the development and use of an assessment framework using a simulated Delphi method. The proposed super-synthesis framework builds on what is known with an equity lens in an attempt to bridge knowledge, modes of inquiry, and pedagogies and address gaps. Attendees will leave with a refined eye for the nuance of the Delphi method as a tool to reach consensus and reflect on lessons learned and the potential future impact of an outcomes framework on the way assessment practitioners do daily work.
Constance R. Tucker, Sarah Jacobs, and Kirstin Moreno, Oregon Health & Science University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Learning Improvement (LI)
Faculty Learning Community on Learning Improvement
The Office of Assessment and Accreditation at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte has provided faculty members with financial support on summer projects for a number of years. In order to examine the impact of the projects on student learning, the office expanded the length of the projects to two years and used a faculty learning community design. Faculty members were introduced to learning improvement concepts through professional development on designing plans and how to examine the impact on student learning. This change has resulted in a more collaborative effort between the faculty members and members of our office.
Mitchel L. Cottenoir, Sarah Birdsong, Erik Byker, and Christine Robinson, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Learning Improvement (LI)
How Do You Know Your Students Know What You Want Them to Know?
Co-presenters will lead a panel discussion of improving measures of student learning through adaptive learning, experiential learning, formative and summative assessment, and co-curricular learning. Panelists will share their expertise and knowledge gained from their deep dive into the research as part of the Grand Challenges project. The group will discuss learning through each topic area and the methods used for measuring student learning in those contexts. Presenters will wrap up the conversation with participants by focusing on methods of measuring student learning in and out of the classroom.
Jessica N. Taylor, University of Tennesse at Chattanooga; Chadia Abras, Johns Hopkins University; Justin Hoshaw, Waubonsee Community College; Robbie Morse, Ivy Tech Community College; and Rene' Schmauder, Clemson University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Learning Improvement (LI)
Implementing and Assessing a Creativity-Focused Education Model as a Core Element of Learning Across Disciplines
Changes in technology and systems of learning are rapidly transforming the workplace. This demands a proactive, immediate, and on-going evolution in education. Creativity is an essential skill for both success and resiliency in such an environment. This presentation will give an overview of how embedding creativity into a core curriculum, across disciplines, can cultivate a confident and flexible mindset to improve student learning through exploration of creative aptitude. Data collected from a system of assessment, designed to evaluate broad aspects of creativity, will be presented, including sample rubrics and survey prompts.
Dana Scott, Maribeth Kradel-Weitzel, and Anahid Modrek, Thomas Jefferson University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Learning Improvement (LI)
Improving Learning Links: The CUNY Justice Academy Transfer Assessment Project
In this interactive presentation, participants will explore the CUNY Justice Academy Transfer Assessment Project: an effort to support students’ transfer of skills and knowledge from associate degree programs to transition year courses in baccalaureate degree programs at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The project includes formative assessment of key major and general education courses, and activities to integrate student perspectives, which yield faculty-designed early semester academic supports and a pilot collaboration with community college partners to identify and improve curricular links between degree programs. Together, we will explore strategies to improve learning links between articulated degree programs.
Wynne E. Ferdinand, John Jay College of Criminal Justice CUNY
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Learning Improvement (LI)
Instructor Engagement with General Education SLO Data: Interpretation and Action Planning
Because many instructors lack training in interpreting and using SLO data for program improvement, assessment leaders seek strategies for building instructors’ skills in these areas. To that end, we developed a workshop using three General Education SLO data sets as professional development and program improvement tools. Drawing on familiar language connected to student success and reflective teaching, we elicited ideas from instructors about their interpretation of the data and how the university and individual instructors can better support student learning. Data from polls and open-ended questions during the workshops provide insight into instructors’ understanding of how to use SLO data.
Jennifer Hart and Cathy Barrette, Wayne State University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Learning Improvement (LI)
Keeping it Simple: A No-Frills Approach to Developing Outcome Statements, Curriculum Maps, and Assessment Measures
Effective assessment of academic programs requires the crafting of clear, measurable learning-outcome statements aligned with the curriculum as well as the use of high-quality assessments that yield actionable data. However, meeting these criteria can be perplexing, particularly for those new to assessment. This interactive session introduces assessment basics, beginning with the writing of outcomes using learning taxonomies. Curriculum mapping is presented as a tool for identifying where (and how) outcomes are integrated, and different types and purposes of assessments will be discussed. The presenters will provide examples of how to pull this information together into a coherent, well-crafted assessment plan.
Mike Rudolph, Lincoln Memorial University and University of Kentucky; John Eric Lingat, U.S. Government; and Kaitlyn Mathews, University of Kentucky
Presentation Type: Pre-Institute Workshop
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Learning Improvement (LI)
Learner Motivation and Engagement in Asynchronous Online Discussion: A Multi-Semester Experiment
Over half of the college students in the U.S took at least one online course in 2019-2020. It’s ever more important to deliver an interactive quality experience to a growing online learning community. Asynchronous discussion forums are a widely used tool to help accomplish that goal. A student-facing discussion leaderboard was implemented in a graduate engineering course at a private research university in the U. S. from 2020 to 2021. This presentation will share the findings of the multi-semester quasi-experimental study on learner motivation and engagement in asynchronous online discussions, as well as implications for future research.
Hong Shaddy, Johns Hopkins University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Learning Improvement (LI)
Making Assessment Quick, Valid, and Meaningful
Assessing course learning outcomes is important for accountability, improvement, and accreditation, but it can be time-consuming and difficult to identify or create valid, efficient, and practical learning outcome measures. This project reports on the experience utilizing Kaufman’s Creativity Scales and the Big Five Inventory Openness Scale to measure changes in creativity among students in a 200-level introductory creative writing course, which also meets a fine arts general education requirement. Results suggest that pre-existing validated scales can offer a promising way to effectively and efficiently measure student learning outcomes, guide instructor reflection, and help shape curriculum to better meet those outcomes.
Kevin Whiteacre and Liz Whiteacre, University of Indianapolis
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Learning Improvement (LI)
Rubrics That Support Teaching and Learning
Traditional assessment has a terminal focus rooted in student mastery as it is demonstrated through a summative assessment. This model of assessment is built by quantifying learner outcomes and offering a grade as a rating. It perpetuates a grade-centric classroom culture and sometimes fosters a competitive spirit over a collaborative one. This terminal format of assessment does not offer a process for learning. A progressive means of assessment, on the other hand, offers multiple opportunities to demonstrate improvement and clearly communicates criteria for measurement that can be both qualitative and quantitative through rubrics, enabling students to view assessment as a process.
Karen D. Harris, Rutgers University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Learning Improvement (LI)
Strategies for Using Exam Reviews as Assessment for Learning
The learning process is often thought to occur before exams, but learning can happen during and after exams when reviews are carefully designed and viewed as assessment FOR learning. This session will review strategies for exam reviews including the advantages and disadvantages of each while highlighting best practices to ensure exam integrity and student learning. Attendees will benefit from presenters’ lessons learned after trying multiple review methods. Additionally, the process of “exam wrappers” and “exam autopsy” will be explored with ideas on implementation in both remote and in-person settings. Tools to enhance exam reviews, including student documentation, will be shared.
Ashley N. Castleberry, University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy; Kimberly Daugherty and Sarah Raake, Sullivan University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Learning Improvement (LI)
Taking Stock of the Effectiveness of a Meta-Assessment Process
In 2016, Auburn University adopted a Meta-Assessment framework for academic program assessment in response to recommendations from our accrediting body. Like many assessment offices at large institutions, we were left grappling with issues of buy-in and mistrust. By disposing of a required narrative and focusing solely on communicating about assessment as an educationally purposeful activity, we improved our campus reputation and shifted focus to acting as a faculty support center. This session will highlight our process that provides meaningful opportunities for faculty to engage in the assessment of student learning and learning improvement activities.
Dory Thompson, Katie Boyd, and Stuart Miller, Auburn University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Learning Improvement (LI)
You Decide What Matters: Facilitating the Design of a Faculty-Driven Assessment Plan
After 26 years with an entrenched distribution requirement, American University approved a core curriculum emphasizing metacognition and habits of mind. This year, as full implementation of the curriculum was achieved, attention turned to how assessment would be conducted. Like at many other institutions, attitudes about assessment at American range from indifferent to hostile, with few rising in defense of its value. This session describes a replicable approach to shape realistic assessment plans that balance exhaustion and ambition (or lack thereof). Most importantly: the primary motivations for this approach to assessment were teaching and student learning (not compliance or measurement).
Brad Knight and Cindy Bair Van Dam, American University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Learning Improvement (LI)
Assessment and Equity: What Do We Mean?
This session extends earlier research exploring and framing out the state of research in assessment literature. Using our 5 lenses for assessment work, this concurrent session will discuss recommendations for equitable practice and examples in methods, in data analysis, in vetting findings, in reporting, and in policy. Presenters and attendees will also share their own examples of using an equity lens of practice for each phase of the assessment cycle, including rubrics and program review.
Gianina Baker, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Cindy Cogswell, Ohio University; and Marjorie Dorime-Williams, University of Missouri
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: NILOA (NI)
Assessment as a Profession
In this panel, presenters will expound on their reflections on writing RPA’s special issue about assessment as a profession exploring questions of “Who are we?” and “What do we do?”. Each panelist will discuss their own professional identity in higher education assessment in an attempt to further define ourselves as a profession, field, and/or discipline. As we build our own assessment knowledge, it is important for self-reflection to move forward.
Gianina Baker, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Nick Curtis, Marquette University; Megan Good, James Madison University; and Ruth Slotnick, Bridgewater State University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: NILOA (NI)
Assessment Practice at Community Colleges
In an effort to continue good assessment practice, this session will focus on equitable assessment at community colleges. Using available resources from the Office of Community College Research & Leadership, attendees will explore and discuss opportunities for improvement within assessment process and practices among our community colleges.
Gianina Baker, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: NILOA (NI)
Pandemic Insights to Shape a Better Future: A New Frontier of Assessment for Teaching, Learning, Equity, and Student Success
Teaching and learning throughout the pandemic has been filled with constant shifts and changes. While there was social distance, there was a shared experience throughout higher education–of change, adaptation, and pivoting–to continue the teaching and learning endeavor. From September 2021 through October 2021, a survey was conducted to explore what could be learned from the various shifts and changes to assessment-related processes and practices to inform the future of assessment. This keynote provides a brief overview of findings as well as updates to conversations of different areas of assessment development that arose from the findings. Focusing upon partnerships, students, and equity, we invite colleagues to share, explore, and examine the five strategic priorities in our effort to reimagine the future of assessment.
Gianina Baker, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Divya Bheda, ExamSoft Worldwide LLC, part of the Turnitin Family; and Natasha Jankowski, New England College
Presentation Type: Keynote Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: NILOA (NI)
Assessment of the Auburn University Learning Assistant Program (AULAP): Does a Learning Assistant Make a Difference for STEM Learning?
The Auburn University Learning Assistant Program (AULAP) was initiated in 2015 with funding from the College of Sciences and Mathematics at Auburn University. The AULAP aims to cultivate STEM undergraduates’ active learning with the learning Assistants (LAs) to facilitate discussions among student groups in a variety of classroom settings. We conducted the program evaluation to assess: 1) Did the AULAP improve students’ active learning of STEM courses? 2) Did the AULAP improve students’ learning satisfaction and retention intention? 3) students’ identified expectations for AULAP; and 4) improvement strategies based on the feedback from students, LAs, and instructors of AULAP.
Yan Dai, Chih-Hsuan Wang, and Min Zhong, Auburn University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: STEM Education/Student Partnership and Engagement in Assessment (SE/ST)
Ethnocentricity vs Belongingness: Outcomes of Formative Assessment in Core Undergraduate STEM Courses
It is not enough to (attempt to) increase diversity of our students, faculty and/or staff. It is not enough to build Centers and mentoring programs for BIPOC students, staff or faculty (vital though they are). It is of critical importance to also (attempt to) teach students of all ethnic backgrounds to be less ethnocentric --and to value this as a career competency. In this case study we will look at how individualized formative assessment, using validated psychometric instruments in large-enrollment undergraduate STEM courses, appears to have reduced ethnocentricity and improved retention and graduation of marginalized student groups.
Katherine N. Yngve, Purdue University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: STEM Education (SE)
How Assessment Can Help You Institutionalize Your STEM Programs
In this keynote, Professor Riskin will describe how she has worked closely with evaluation teams to institutionalize two key programs in STEM at the University of Washington. The first is UW ADVANCE which began with a National Science Foundation grant in 2021 to advance women faculty in STEM and continues to this day. The second is STARS, which provides two years of holistic support to first-generation college students and students from low-income backgrounds in engineering and computer science. In both cases Professor Riskin and colleagues worked closely with UW’s Center for Evaluation & Research for STEM Equity to make the case for permanent funding. In addition she will present her thoughts on how evaluation and assessment can support STEM faculty in their efforts to publish their work in engineering education and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Eve A. Riskin, University of Washington
Presentation Type: Keynote Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: STEM Education (SE)
Reflect and Illustrate STEM Assessment Faculty Mental Models to Help with Intentional Classroom Assessment Decisions
Understanding how STEM faculty conceptualize assessment is important in promoting more intentional course decision making in student learning assessments. Our presentation will leverage brief and concise findings from a research study that explore and illustrate engineering faculty mental models in engaging participants, especially those who teach in STEM courses, and reflecting and illustrating their assessment mental models. The activity of drawing one's own mental model can make the “implicit” explicit, assisting STEM faculty in understanding their own assessment conceptualization. Such understanding can help faculty make more informed decisions on how they design and implement assessments in their STEM classrooms.
Andrew Katz, Kai Jun Chew, Holly Matusovich, and Amanda Ross, Virginia Tech
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: STEM Education (SE)
Trends in STEM Assessment: Conversation with the Leaders of the STEM Education Track
Join this interactive session to discuss, debate, and deliberation on the most important trends in STEM assessment. Leaders of the STEM Education track will facilitate attendees in discussing current assessment projects unfolding in various campus contexts, debating which assessment ideas, experiences and/or practices must be maintained, improved, or discontinued in the future, and the large group will deliberate on how to utilized this platform to educate and inform the future of STEM assessment practices.
Darrell D. Nickolson, IUPUI; Anne Weiss, Purdue University; Wayne J. Hilson Jr., Nazareth College; and Nicholas Curtis, Marquette University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: STEM Education (SE)
Updates on the SUN (Science Undergraduate Network) Program: Foregrounding STEM Success in the HBCU Context
This presentation highlights critical insight gained from a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded S-STEM grant project secured by Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) aimed at identifying and foregrounding the factors that contribute to the success of low-income, and academically gifted students with demonstrated financial need. The SUN program through scholarships mentoring, cohort building, research experiences/internships, and professional skills development this initiative enhanced the overall recruitment, retention and preparation of STEM students at PVAMU. The session will underscore key findings that will support similarly situated institutions in their efforts to promote the success of diverse STEM students.
Fred A. Bonner II and Stella Smith, Prairie View A&M University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: STEM Education (SE)
Using a Questioning Technique to Promote Thinking with Pre-Service Elementary Teachers
Asking questions is an essential yet often understudied learning skill for learners. The Question Formulation Technique (QFT) is a strategy to help learners use their own questions to guide learning. QFT promotes three types of thinking: divergent thinking, convergent thinking, and metacognition, all of which are needed to engage in STEM inquiry. The presenters will provide an overview of QFT and share how they have used this process to improve pre-service teachers’ engagement and learning. Participants will leave the session with a good understanding of QFT and some working knowledge of how to use it in their future STEM teaching.
Gaoming Zhang and John Somers, University of Indianapolis
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: STEM Education (SE)
Administrative Buy-In: How to Help Administrative and Educational Support Units Develop and Lead Assessment Practices
This session aims to create a connection between the academic assessment practices and the administrative and educational units. More often than not, discussions on assessment focus entirely on courses and academic programs, even though we know learning takes place outside the classroom too. Our university has researched other universities, colleges, and articles from NILOA to develop a process to help turn office functions and priorities into effective assessment practices that lead to continuous improvement. Participants will have the knowledge to go back to their own campuses and lead productive assessment discussions within the administrative offices.
Karol A. Batey, Texas A&M International University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Student Affairs and Co-Curricular Programs and Services (SA)
Assessing for Student Success: Innovative Strategies for Student Affairs Professionals
The reinvention of student affairs for the next decade is a critically important focus for many higher education institutions, and with that in mind, this presentation seeks to create space for Student Affairs professionals to come together and discuss best practices and strategies around assessment, as well as look toward research and resources around the future of higher education assessment. Join us for this strategic presentation which will include best practices discussions as well as a Q and A around assessment in student affairs assessment practices.
Candace Morgan and Debra Hunter, Anthology; and Nicole Mayo, University of Cincinnati
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Affairs and Co-Curricular Programs and Services (SA)
Assessing Holistic Well-Being for Student and Institutional Success
Holistic well-being supports student success and leads to positive outcomes for both students and institutions. Now more than ever, students are struggling with mounting societal, campus and personal challenges – all of which impact their well-being and opportunity to succeed. Without proper tools to measure whether universities and colleges are adequately supporting multifaceted student well-being, institutions cannot target interventions effectively. The Student Well-Being Institutional Support Survey (SWISS) captures student perceptions of how their campuses are supporting aspects of their well-being, and provides institutions specific, actionable information on areas of strength and opportunity. Findings from the nationwide pilot administration, discussions for implications, and suggestions for taking data to action will be discussed.
Frank E. Ross, III, Butler University
Presentation Type: Keynote Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Affairs and Co-Curricular Programs and Services (SA)
Assessment Shops of All Sizes: Essential Experience and Skills in Student Affairs Assessment
This session will explore essential, and desired, skill sets for working in student affairs assessment across a variety of office sizes. Required skills vary a great deal, and depend heavily upon the institutional culture for assessment, partnerships with administrators and faculty, and the size or scope of the student affairs division. This session covers an overview of skills needed for any student affairs assessment department, in addition to delineation of specific skills useful in a medium-to-large department (3 FTE+), in a small department (1-2 FTE), and also with fewer than 1 FTE dedicated to the assessment role in student affairs.
Robert W. Aaron, Northwestern University; and Cindy Cogswell, Ohio University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Student Affairs and Co-Curricular Programs and Services (SA)
Data Gala: Telling Your Co-Curricular Assessment Story
In this presentation we will share strategies to build a culture of assessment, including a Data Gala, and discuss the challenges and successes of building a culture of assessment at all levels of a division of student affairs. Specifically, seeing and understanding your work in an assessment strategy, how to know if you are making an impact, and demystifying assessment to help you tell the story of the students at your institution.
Cindy Cogswell and Taylor Tackett, Ohio University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Affairs and Co-Curricular Programs and Services (SA)
Impact of Co-Curricular Activities on Student Learning
Thus far, in higher education, co-curricular activity assessment measures have infrequently been applied as noteworthy data points for program and institutional improvement. In this presentation, we discuss how leadership at Johns Hopkins University rallied key stakeholders from all divisions across the university in a conversation around co-curricular learning. We further examine how these engagements led to a meaningful discussion and actionable outcomes vis-à-vis integrating co-curricular activities in the comprehensive assessment of student learning, clearly defining their relationship and value to curricular programs and students’ stated goals.
Chadia Abras, Brianne Lauka, and Janet Schreck, Johns Hopkins University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Affairs and Co-Curricular Programs and Services (SA)
Impact of Weeks of Welcome on Student Sense of Belonging and Retention
This project explores the relationship between student engagement and experience through Weeks of Welcome programs, their sense of belonging at the end of the initial transition stage to college, and the first-year success. The results will help us understand potential connections between students' engagement in Weeks of Welcome during their transitioning phase upon entering and the first-year success, measured by academic performance (GPA) and progress (retention). Specifically, whether students' level of engagement and perceived benefits matter in developing a stronger sense of belonging to the university and ultimately affect their success through the first year.
Yiyun Jie, Virginia Commonwealth University
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Affairs and Co-Curricular Programs and Services (SA)
Increasing the Odds for Transfer Student Success with Delineated Engagement Pathways
This study investigates which co-curricular, extracurricular, pre-college, and demographic factors contribute to transfer versus first-time-in-college freshmen student retention and success at a large, public university in the southeastern United States with a high transfer population. Analyses include a deep-dive exploration into differences in campus engagement trends and measures of success for transfer students based upon (1) their number of incoming credits, (2) first-generation status, (3) in-state versus out-of-state, and (4) the type of transfer institution. The results will help institutions understand what engagements they should emphasize with incoming transfer students that are nuanced based on a variety of factors.
Becky Croxton and Anne Moore, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Affairs and Co-Curricular Programs and Services (SA)
The Many Uses of CAS Standards
Many know the Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS) for its provision of standards for the purpose of self-assessment and program review. While this use is very important to enacting high quality programs and services, there are many other ways to use CAS Standards. This session will provide an overview of the many ways that CAS Standards might be used as a framework for quality enhancement efforts in the delivery of programs and services.
Daniel Bureau, Louisiana State University; and Robert W. Aaron, Northwestern University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Affairs and Co-Curricular Programs and Services (SA)
The Tale of the ‘Messy NSSE’: Using National Survey Instruments to Better Understand Students, Make Stronger Decisions, and Share the Impact of Our Work
Deep in the highlands of Scotland, a mythical creature stalks the waters of the Great Loch Ness. Nessie is rarely seen, and hard to understand. In many ways, student affairs educators regard NSSE (the National Survey of Student Engagement) similarly. NSSE, much like other nationally-normed assessments, can be scary and mystifying, and hasn’t served student affairs functions well enough within assessment initiatives. Yet, one public, 4-year institution’s student affairs division undertook a concerted effort to better understand how it could utilize NSSE data internally to understand students, make better informed decisions, and better share the impact of its work. By longitudinally examining NSSE data from specific student affairs specific variables, NSSE became less nebulous and provided a better lens for student affairs to analyze and improve its portfolio of student interventions.
Zachary N. Clark, College of Lake County
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Affairs and Co-Curricular Programs and Services (SA)
Understanding the Relationship Between Extracurricular Involvement, Sense of Belonging, and Flourishing for College Students
The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between college students’ extracurricular activities involvement, sense of belonging, and flourishing in a large public 4-year university using the NCHA III survey results. This study conducted an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to categorize extracurricular activities to develop predicting factors. Partial correlation and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between flourishing, extracurricular activities, and sense of belonging. The findings showed that engaging in prosocial activities, socializing, and creating a sense of belonging had positive relationships with students’ flourishing. Media consumption was negatively associated with students flourishing scores.
Yingying Jiang and Yiyun Jie, Virginia Commonwealth University
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Affairs and Co-Curricular Programs and Services (SA)
Using Accreditation Standards to Strengthen Student Affairs Assessment Practices
It’s never too early to start! Whether your institution’s accreditation reaffirmation is around the corner or just completed, it’s time to start thinking about how Student Affairs processes, practices, and services play a role in the accreditation of your institution. Join us as we provide baseline knowledge on the role of Student Affairs in accreditation, how you can start planning for your next review, and some of the things we’ve learned along the way at the University of Georgia. This session is for you whether you are the accreditation liaison for your division or just graduated from a master’s program.
Katie H. Burr and Annie Carlson Welch
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Affairs and Co-Curricular Programs and Services (SA)
What Do Campus Leaders Need to Know about Learning Analytics? Enabling Decision Making…Not Division
Is your co-curricular or extracurricular unit considering, initiating, already engaging with, or leading campus partners in institutional learning analytics efforts? Do you have a seat at the table when campus leaders discuss student success and the role of learning analytics? Do you have more questions than answers about the if, how, and why of participating in learning analytics? In this moderated discussion, hear from a panel of library deans, researchers, and academic librarians who have grappled with many of these same questions and are now beginning to engage in learning analytics and assessment with and on behalf of their students.
Megan Oakleaf, Syracuse University; Becky Croxton and Anne Moore, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Michael Levine-Clark, University of Denver; and Joe Pirillo, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Affairs and Co-Curricular Programs and Services (SA)
Bite-Size: Preparing Assessment Data for Student Consumption
Closing the loop on the assessment cycle with the application of results is often the least-prioritized step. Within the Campus Center and Student Experiences unit at IUPUI, staff have succeeded in engaging student leaders in this important work. The results have been a more purposeful focus on co-curricular learning and a greater number of constituents engaged in strategic goal setting and implementation based on information gathered through various assessment methods. In this session, presenters will share their strategy for engaging student leaders with a bite-size approach; and student leaders will discuss the impact of their involvement in the process.
Brian Starkel, Justen Cox, and Linda Wardhammar, IUPUI; and Jayson Davis, Customer Success Growth Coach, Phired Up Productions
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Student Partnership and Engagement in Assessment (ST)
Co-Creating More Humane and Compassionate Assessment through Student-Staff Partnership
In this keynote address, Dr. Alison Cook-Sather will review arguments regarding inequities in the realm of assessment in higher education and offer recommendations from student partners for more humane and compassionate assessment approaches. She will present several pandemic-inspired innovations in summative assessment that faculty and students co-created through pedagogical partnership, and she will discuss the ways in which partnership enacts and supports formative assessment for faculty and students. Finally, Dr. Cook-Sather will invite reflection on a set of questions focused on equity in assessment.
Alison Cook-Sather, Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges
Presentation Type: Keynote Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Partnership and Engagement in Assessment (ST)
Engaging Students in Quality Assurance Processes: Barriers and Opportunities
Focusing on the reciprocal value of engaging students in quality assurance (QA) processes, this session aims to identify common ways that students are currently being engaged in the review and development of academic programs. Stemming from case examples at one Ontario postsecondary institution, including the piloting of a QA Academy for student reviewers, both challenges and opportunities regarding student engagement in QA will be examined.
Jovan Groen, Western University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Partnership and Engagement in Assessment (ST)
Factors that Predict Openness to Student-Staff Partnerships in Student Affairs Assessment
Grounded in Freirean Pedagogy of Partnership, a pilot study for a dissertation was implemented to determine if certain factors influence the value student affairs professionals see in student-staff partnership in student affairs assessment. Participants learn the details of a pedagogy of partnership and the various factors that made up the pilot study. Participants will work together to develop ways to partner with students at each stage of the assessment cycle. Based on the results of the study, attendees can look at their own campuses to determine if they should start, deepen, or broaden student-staff partnerships in student affairs assessment.
Chadwick D. Lockley, University of North Florida
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Student Partnership and Engagement in Assessment (ST)
Involving Students as Partners: Student-Sourced Solutions to Assessment Challenges
This presentation will share how to involve students as partners in the assessment process in order to improve teaching and learning, build community, and collaboratively problem-solve with students. Arguing for more engagement in student-sourced solutions to assessment challenges, particularly in light of the need for community and student re-engagement from pandemic learning, this session shares literature on the impact of student involvement and engagement in assessment on learning and the college experience, examples of student engagement and partnership from the field, tips and tricks, and resources to further the work. Participants will have a chance to share additional examples, consider how to engage in community with our students and learners, and explore students as solution providers.
Natasha Jankowski, New England College
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Partnership and Engagement in Assessment (ST)
Mid-Semester Feedback through Student-Faculty Partnership: Formative Assessment of Pedagogical Practice and Student Engagement
A student-faculty partnership approach to gathering mid-semester feedback can constitute formative assessment both of pedagogical practice and of student engagement in learning. The Students as Learners and Teachers (SaLT) supports this approach as part of semester-long, one-on-one, pedagogical partnerships or as stand-alone, feedback-gathering sessions. The approach includes multiple steps: faculty-student pairs co-create feedback questions; student partners conduct the feedback sessions and organize the feedback; and student-faculty pairs process the feedback and prepare the faculty member to share it with enrolled students. This session presents this approach, guidelines for implementing it, and outcomes for faculty and students.
Alison Cook-Sather, Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Partnership and Engagement in Assessment (ST)
Reflection on Engaging Undergraduates in the Assessment Process: A Review of the Student Learning Analyst Program
The Student Learning Analyst (SLA) program was implemented in Fall 2016 and provided an opportunity for undergraduates to engage in the assessment process as student employees. Since then, the SLA program has continued to provide an impactful opportunity for students to be actively involved in assessment. This session will review the SLA program's development, implementation, and evolution, highlighting lessons learned and strategies for success. Also, during this session, we will discuss opportunities for engaging students in the assessment process at other institutions.
Jessica M. Turos, Bowling Green State University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Partnership and Engagement in Assessment (ST)
Student Partnership in Assessment: Ideas for Meaningful Student Engagement
The program assessment process has been in place for more than three decades, and our practices are constantly evolving. Even so, the key stakeholders, students, do not yet have a consistent, meaningful seat at the table. This workshop will engage participants in a hands-on set of discussions and activities--intentionally planning for student partnership and engagement in assessment. Participants will learn to engage students to bring new insights into education and elevate students’ voice in the assessment process. Participants will develop strategies for partnering with students to increase the likelihood of meaningful change.
Nicholas Curtis, Marquette University; and Robin Anderson, James Madison University
Presentation Type: Pre-Institute Workshop
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Partnership and Engagement in Assessment (ST)
Trends in Student Partnership and Engagement in Assessment: A Dialogue
Formally, student partnership and engagement in higher education assessment work is still in its infancy. However, many examples of gold-standard practices already exist both in the U.S. and around the world. Join the track leaders of the IUPUI student partnership and engagement track for a conversation around the history, the current trends, and the future of student partnership and engagement in assessment.
Nicholas A. Curtis, Marquette University; and Robin D. Anderson, James Madison University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Partnership and Engagement in Assessment (ST)
An Introduction to Xitracs Assessment™ - Providing the Tools for Informed Decision-Making
One of the major challenges for assessment leaders and other campus roles is how to gather needed (and meaningful!) data efficiently and consistently on learning outcomes, program objectives, strategic plans, and more. Xitracs™ makes it possible to do just that—to tell your unique story. Xitracs™ helps you to track and manage processes at your institution to identify key strengths and gaps in teaching and learning. This presentation will offer an overview of our flexible, modular system, including the user-friendly Portal for faculty and staff.
Stephanie Allen and Howard Taylor, Xitracs™ by Concord USA, Inc.
Presentation Type: Sponsor Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Use of Technologies in Assessment (UT)
Assessing Students’ Computerized Adaptive Test Performance using WebCATSim
WebCATSim is a web-based, test-simulation tool used to assess student test performance in a computerized adaptive testing context. WebCATSim can help educational leaders, test administrators, developers, and stakeholders better understand the impact their tests may have before they are operational, thus improving performance and reducing costly outlier events in the assessment space. Presenters will lead those with laptops in a hands-on application of the tool, demonstrating how to select appropriate criteria for their assessment needs, utilize WebCATSim’s robust visual output, and interpret metrics for optimal test performance. No knowledge of programming or complex statistical software is needed for users.
Ryan A. Wilke; Florida State University - Florida Center for Interactive Media; and Cody Diefenthaler, Florida State University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Use of Technologies in Assessment (UT)
Assessment Made Simple by Microsoft Products
In the era of low enrollment and increasing budget constraints, institutions must utilize resources at hand to further assessment work. Learn how Indiana Wesleyan University has utilized Microsoft products to create a robust assessment system. This system further organized assessment processes, greatly increased accessibility to data related to assessment, had minimal budgetary implications, and has been well received by faculty and program leaders. Join this session to learn how you can leverage available tools to enhance assessment processes at your institution.
Aaron Metzcar and Dedra Daehn, Indiana Wesleyan University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Use of Technologies in Assessment (UT)
Intelligent Diagnostic Assessments of Statistics Knowledge
The presentation introduces the Advanced Placement Computerized Adaptive Testing (AP-CAT) system and the Intelligent Diagnostic Assessment Platform (i-DAP), two AI-driven formative assessment platforms for high-school statistics education. The AP-CAT system serves mostly the Advanced Placement classes, while the i-DAP is intended for other introductory courses in statistics. Both systems are built on state-of-the-art statistical and technological developments enabling them to provide efficient testing and cognitive diagnostic feedback. These innovative assessment platform systems have considerable potential to advance the learning outcomes related to student engagement, knowledge of statistics, and both students’ and teachers' awareness of students’ skill mastery.
Ying Cheng, Matthew Carter, Cheng Liu, and Teresa Ober, University of Notre Dame
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Use of Technologies in Assessment (UT)
Introducing a New Portfolio Platform in Higher Education
This presentation will describe and illustrate a modern low-cost/high-appeal online portfolio system for students. This platform (Bulb Digital Portfolios) was adopted by a professional degree program for its annual student portfolios. It integrates with Canvas, has a more modern look and feel than several other products, and students have given it positive reviews. You will not easily find another portfolio product like this!
Elizabeth A. Sheaffer, Samford University McWhorter School of Pharmacy
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Use of Technologies in Assessment (UT)
Navigating the New Normal in Assessment with Data Visualization
This session describes how a professional program utilized assessment technology and data visualization tools to overcome common challenges such as faculty engagement, transparency, and data availability. Two key metrics are used to illustrate the process of collecting data and transforming them into meaningful visualizations, followed by a discussion of how those end products have been instrumental in promoting a culture of assessment in the program. Steps and actions needed to enact similar transformations in other programs are presented at the conclusion.
Benjamin Shultz and Rosalyn Vellurattil, University of Illinois Chicago
Presentation Type: 20-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Use of Technologies in Assessment (UT)
Opportunities and Challenges of Technology Integration: A Case Study of One Teacher Education Program
Technology has completely redefined our expectations of the learning experience, especially related to how the teaching and learning experience must fundamentally be forward-thinking for our future educators. However, the infusion of technology remains a formidable challenge in teacher education programs. In this presentation, presenters will share the journey their education preparation program has traveled in the last decade. This journey consists of a multitude of models, approaches, and professional learning to engender a coherent framework for technology integration. Affordances and constraints of each model will be shared, in addition to their current reality and future directions.
Gaoming Zhang and John Somers, University of Indianapolis
Presentation Type: Poster Session
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Use of Technologies in Assessment (UT)
Oregon Health & Science University's (OHSU) Journey to Building an Assessment Database and Application: Lessons Learned and Recommendations
Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) launched a new institutional assessment process in 2017. At the same time, it began the search for a way to collect institutional program assessment data in a way that was easy for programs to enter themselves, while also providing useful data for the institution to extract. This presentation describes the process by which OHSU developed its own homegrown technical solution that was tailored to its specific institutional assessment requirements. Presenters will also showcase what the app looks like for end users, and will describe the benefits and challenges to creating a homemade assessment application.
Mark A. Rivera and John Ansorge, Oregon Health & Science University
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Use of Technologies in Assessment (UT)
The Value of Simplicity: Using Familiar Technology for Broad Engagement in Program Assessment
What technologies are actually needed to support the assessment of student learning outcomes? This presentation shows how readily available technology can be used to support effective, accessible assessment processes. We begin with an interactive discussion of the barriers to faculty engagement in assessment, then present three case studies of basic technology use: creating simple dashboards on spreadsheets, creating assessment archives in a learning management system, and collecting General Education data using a standard office suite. The final segment will be devoted to small group discussions where participants consider how they might apply what they have learned to their own institutions.
Janet Bean, Katie Cerrone, and Jenny Hebert, University of Akron
Presentation Type: 60-Minute Concurrent Session
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Use of Technologies in Assessment (UT)
