COUNCIL FOR ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING
October 16, 2008
Present: Jerry Pepper, Wayne Jesswein, Geoff Bell, Olaf Kuhlke, Stan Burns, Julie Westlund,
Arden Weaver, Jackie Millslagle
Excused: Bruce Munson
1. The group reviewed and modified drafts of guiding principles for the web page. It will
be announced to the campus yet this week.
2. The group discussed the grant funding proposal form/instructions. It was decided not to
state any amounts for potential funding in this first year; rather, a statement will be added
to the instructions advising a call to Jackie before submitting a proposal. The exact
amount of funding for this year is still unknown.
3. The group reviewed and modified drafts of the pre-Roundtable document that must be
submitted by October 24. The updated version is included at the end of these minutes.
4. There was consensus to fund attendance at an AACSB Assessment Conference. Noted
$500 from LSBE toward the trip. The proposal noted conference sessions on gaining
faculty buy-in, creating a culture of assessment, and using simulations in assessment.
5. Announcements
a. Approximately 30 will attend the webinar series beginning November 25.
b. Julie explained that ASSL will put together an assessment team to study and
disseminate assessment techniques in this unit.
6. Update on Webinar attendance
Jackie Millslagle, recording
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA DULUTH
HLC ACADEMY FOR ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING – PER-ROUNDTABLE PLAN
UMD institutional needs related to assessing and improving student learning
UMD needs a structure, timeline and communication strategy for the development of a campuswide assessment plan that will, over time, impact the culture of teaching and learning on the
campus. Assistance with appropriate communication that will promote this culture and counter
potential resistance will be an immediate need.
The Assessment Director has been conducting individual meetings with department heads to take
an inventory of what assessments are taking place. Two consistent observations emerged from
these meetings. First, there is a lack of general knowledge of assessment, as basic as common
definitions of terms. Second, with the exception of those programs that have national
accreditation, very few programs have well-written, measurable learning objectives. There is a
critical and immediate need for some professional development opportunities that will help
faculty with the task of writing objectives/outcomes. Continued training will be needed on
techniques for mapping curriculum and writing rubrics.
The Educational Policy Committee of the Campus Assembly is considering a set of institutional
learning outcomes that will encompass the proposed mission of a new general education
curriculum also currently under discussion. The campus plan must include assessment of these
outcomes, whether defined as institutional, general education, or both. The assessments that
have been conducted on the current liberal education curriculum have all been indirect methods
(surveys and focus groups). UMD expects to join the Voluntary System of Accountability,
requiring our evaluation of the Collegiate Learning Assessment, the Ccollege Assessment of
Academic Proficiency, and the Measure of Academic Proficiency and Progress tests to determine
which test will best measure UMD outcomes. We need to know what factors are most critical in
the evaluation of these standardized exams.
In conjunction with the campus plan, we need to identify an appropriate timeline for asking
departments for the various components of program assessment plans. We need advice to make
decisions as to whether we get each piece from every department by a certain date, and then on
to the next, or a way in which we could have a rolling timeline that would allow programs who
have a start to move forward at a faster pace, while more intense assistance is delivered to
programs that need it.
UMD has made a commitment to the use of an electronic portfolio . A development project to
build an assessment module into the system is currently underway. We need to incorporate this
tool into the campus plan from the beginning and will need assistance in identifying where in the
assessment plans the electronic portfolio can most effectively be used.
Good Practices
ePortfolio. Numerous academic programs on our campus have developed collection guides in
the ePortfolio system. These guides identify a series of student learning artifacts that must be
loaded as the student progresses through required courses in the curriculum. Across these 12
programs, there are varying levels of integration of the portfolio in the program’s assessment
plan. In some cases, the assignment is simply graded by the instructor and the student then loads
it to the portfolio. In other cases, multiple evaluators review the artifacts and summative reports
are used to provide feedback to the program. The specifications for the assessment module will
provide a means by which scoring using rubrics can be done inside ePortfolio and the summative
reports will be generated for feedback purposes.
Web-based data collection. The Department of Education has had a server-based system (built
with Microsoft Access) in place for about six years. It has been used to maintain historical data
on admission decisions, field placements, licensing test scores, license recommendations, and
other elements used for indirect assessment for National Council for Accreditation of Teacher
Education accreditation. The system is being re-developed on a web-based server that will
accommodate online entry of evaluations for self-assessment, and assessment of field
experiences by both university supervisors and off-site cooperating teachers. The reporting
function will be flexible in order to report on specific questions from evaluation instruments that
align with accreditation standards. The coded modules from this system will be adapted for
other programs as their assessment plans are developed.
Starting the work. In Fall 2008, responsibility for assessment was more clearly articulated in
the position description of a newly hired associate vice chancellor. The new associate vice
chancellor has been conducting individual meetings with academic departments heads to get an
inventory of what assessment activities are in place. At the same time, UMD established a
Council for the Assessment of Student Learning with representatives from each collegiate unit,
faculty, and academic support/student life. A web page was initiated to document the progress
made and to share resources with the campus. The URL for the web page was used to begin a
“soft” announcement of the assessment initiative.
Instruments used for assessment
1. UMD administers the National Survey if Student Engagement.
2. Beginning Fall 2008, the Cooperative Institutional Research Program Freshman survey is
being administered.
3. Retention and graduate rate efforts in recent years has focused on use of expanded ACT
data.
Team Leader: Jackie Millslagle