We’ve Got Our Assessment Results –
Now What?!
AAC&U 2014 Institute on
Integrative Learning and the Departments
Theme 3, Concurrent Session IV
Jo Beld, St. Olaf College
Session agenda
• Why using assessment data is important
• Why using assessment data is hard
• Using what you’ve already got
• Designing for use in the future
• Building a culture of assessment use
Why use is important
Assessment use is:
• Required by accreditors (all of them!)
• Engaging for faculty
• Engaging for other stakeholders
• A means of stewardship
• A means of improvement
Why use is hard
• Institutions are not “rational actors”
• Your colleagues are busy
• Your colleagues are smart
• Data feels distant
• Data can be ambiguous and short-lived
• Use requires collaboration
Why use is hard
• Which obstacle to
using assessment is
especially salient
for your institution?
Are there other
obstacles we
haven’t
mentioned?
Using what you’ve already got
• Take stock
• Triangulate
Using what you’ve already got
Internationalization at St. Olaf
Using what you’ve already got
Inventory of:
• Intended learning outcomes referencing
internationalization/global understanding
(institutional, GE, program-level)
• Institutional-level assessment data (NSSE,
HEDS-Alumni, local Learning Goals survey)
• GE assessment data (analysis of student work
in selected GE-accredited courses)
• Program-level assessment data (Study
Abroad Learning Assessment, results from
selected majors and concentrations)
Using what you’ve already got
Think about the project you are working on
at this Institute.
• What data do you already have that might
be relevant? If you don’t know, where
would you go to find out?
• What questions do you want to answer?
• Who can pull that data together for you so
you can look for patterns?
Using what you’ve already got
• Task a group and/or tweak a routine
• Tell a story
Using what you’ve already got
Inst Research
& Evaluation
Board
Academic
Affairs
Provost and
Dean’s
Council
Early fall
review of
assessment
findings from
previous
spring
Assessment
Subcomm
Curriculum
Committee
Using what you’ve already got
Think
about the
project you
are
working on
at this
Institute.
Group(s)?
Routine?
Story?
Designing for use in the future
Backward design in assessment
• Anticipate uses
• Ask for use
• Affirm successes
• Allow time
Designing for use: Anticipate
Designing for use: Anticipate
Intended uses by GE
instructors (pp. 6-7):
Promoting reflection
Enhancing alignment
Revising content/pedagogy
Improving other courses
Supporting
tenure/promotion
Designing for use: Anticipate
Intended uses by
departments,
offices, and
committees
 Determining whether
curriculum needs
revising
 Guiding faculty
development
 Informing department
GE course offerings
 Enhancing advising
 Informing Dean’s
Council decisions
 Supporting grant
applications
Designing for use: Ask
Assessment Action
Reports
Dean of the
College
Curriculum
Committee
Institutional
Research &
Evaluation
 What uses have you
made in the past?
 What potential uses
guided your current
assessment project?
 What use will you
make of your current
results?
 What help or support
do you need for this
use?
Designing for use: Affirm
Use = Sustain as well as change
Designing for use: Allow time
Multi-year assessment schedule
• One program type per year
• One outcome per program
• One year to reflect and act instead of gather
Building a culture of use
Cite
assessment
findings
yourself
Ask
others to
cite
findings
Make assessment part of a
larger project people are
invested in
Link
resource
allocation to
assessment
engagement
and use
Building a culture of use
• Which of these strategies
would you like to try?
• Are there other
strategies that have
worked for you?
• Are there new ones
you’d like to suggest?
• Take stock
• Triangulate
• Task a group or
tweak a routine
• Tell a story
************
•
•
•
•
Anticipate uses
Ask for use
Affirm continuities
Allow time
We’ve Got Our Assessment Results –
Now What?!
Share your “a-ha” moments!