Assessment seminars are conducted on a regular basis, or can occur upon request
by interested faculty or university administrators. In addition, individual training is
available having to do with the seminar descriptions below.
Periodic seminars are listed on the assessment web site. Interested faculty or
university administrators requesting specially tailored seminars, or individuals
wishing training or consultation, are asked to contact Sean McKitrick, Assistant
Provost for Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, at (607) 777-2150.
Assessment Seminars
Assessing Grants for Publication and Renewal. Grant sponsors often require principal
investigators to specify intended outcomes and to report them on a regular basis. In
fact, language included in the Federal Register indicates that those awarded grants
should endeavor to assess grant outcomes using experimental or quasi-experimental
designs, with quantitative or qualitative techniques. This seminar addresses the oftcited requirement that assessment be a major component of the grant
administration process, moving from a general introduction to the requirement, to
sharing examples of current grant assessment practices at Binghamton University, to
working as a group on specific methods of assessing grant outcomes. Among the
specific subjects to be covered are: Matching grant objectives with appropriate
assessment methods, conducting assessment that is clear, simple, and timeefficient, summarizing assessment findings, and communicating those findings to
grant sponsors.
Capstone or Senior Course Assessment. Assessing student learning outcomes at the
capstone or senior course level allows program faculty to observe how well students
are learning. This seminar reviews several methods of assessing student learning at
the senior student level, and suggests several ways that such information can be
used to enhance student learning for all students in a program.
Effective Communication of Assessment Results. After collecting and summarizing a
number of different assessments, how can departments and programs use such
information? This seminar will discuss some ways to summarize the results of
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different assessments effectively, in ways that both save time, and make it easier to
write annual assessment reports, self studies, program prioritization documents, and
accreditation documents.
Using Rubrics for Effective Assessment. Rubrics are often used to observe the quality
of student performance in reference to specific criteria. Their effective use in
assessment can produce an overall sense of how well students perform in a
program, as well as how well they perform in reference to very specific areas. This
seminar reviews how to develop rubrics, how to use them, and how to report them.
Note: Upon request, this seminar will also help achieve acceptable degrees of interrater reliability when specific samples of student work have already been identified.
Using Surveys in the Assessment of Student Learning. The use of student, alumni,
employer, and other kinds of surveys can be very useful in understanding
organizational climate, in viewing differences in freshman versus senior attitudes and
perceptions, or in accessing the views of employers and internship mentors in
respect to student performance. This seminar reviews some basic ways of
developing, pre-testing, implementing, analyzing, and using surveys for the
assessment of student learning.
Writing Effective Assessment Plans. Effective assessment begins with writing
assessment plans that have clearly written objectives, identify assessments that
relate to each objective, and which facilitate faculty conversations about the quality
of student learning and what to do about strengths and weaknesses that stem from
such conversations. This seminar will review how to develop, and implement effective
assessment plans in ways that make assessment efforts both efficient and effective.
Using Embedded Questions for Effective Program Outcomes. One well-established
method of direct assessment of student learning is the use of questions in final
examinations or other assignments that can then be aggregated, analyzed, and
summarized for the purposes of student learning assessment. This seminar will
review methods of identifying questions, assignments, or performances that can lead
to effective assessment of student learning.
Incorporating Employer and Internship Mentor Feedback. Many departments and
programs prepare students for employment in specific professions, and have
developed strong linkages with those who employ their students. This seminar
reviews some specific ways to gather feedback from employers and/or internship
mentors for the purpose of student learning assessment. It especially focuses on the
effective use of follow-up and student performance surveys, as well as focus and
Delphi groups.
Unlocking Meaning: Analyzing Written Comments for Assessment. What happens if
some or most of the assessments used are in written form? Qualitative assessments
such as these contain rich amounts of information, but are often a rich source of
assessment information, at program and department levels. This two-hour seminar
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reviews some efficient methods of summarizing information found in open-ended
surveys for the purpose of assessing student learning, or for program review.
Writing Useful Alumni Surveys. Alumni surveys are an excellent source of assessment
information, especially if the information on such surveys directly relates to intended
program outcomes or program accreditation standards. This two-hour seminar
reviews how to create effective alumni surveys, some ways to elicit both quantitative
and qualitative information, and for establishing effective relationships with alumni
for institutional purposes. The expectation of the seminar is that participants will
have effectively revised current alumni surveys, or have completed a first draft of an
alumni survey by the end of the two hour period.
Effectively Communicating Assessment Results. Assessment is not “assessment”
unless is it effectively communicated and used to manage student learning. After
collecting and summarizing a number of different assessments, how can
departments and programs use such information? This seminar will discuss some
ways to summarize the results of different assessments effectively, in ways that both
save time, and make it easier to write annual assessment reports, self studies,
program prioritization documents, and accreditation documents.
Making Meaning and Encouraging Conversation: Summarizing Lessons Learned
From Assessment and Finding Out What To Do About It. Without doubt, the best
place to be when it comes to assessment is a program-wide conversation that uses
assessment information to address student learning strengths and weaknesses. This
seminar reviews some ways to use assessment information to help faculty focus on
making recommendations for enhancing student learning.
Departmental Reviews and Assessment. Departments undergoing periodic
evaluations are required to demonstrate that student learning is periodically being
assessed, that assessment information is being discussed by program faculty, and
that such discussions impact student learning. This seminar reviews some ways of
using assessment information to enhance the department review process and fulfill
accreditation requirement that require assessment in the management of student
learning.
Using Assessment Results to Enhance Teaching. A department has assessed student
learning, program faculty have discussed and made recommendations…now what?
This seminar shares some pertinent examples of how assessment results can be
used to inform our teaching and to enhance student learning in the classes we teach.
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