OFFICE OF THE PROVOST AND VICE-CHANCELLOR FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
Assessment Sub-Committee
Of the University Curriculum and Degree Committee
First Meeting, 2014-2015 Academic Year
1190 SSB Hub for Teaching and Learning
October 6, 2014
12:15-1:45 pm
AGENDA
In attendance: Pam, Mitch, Stein, Armen, Orin, Maggie, and Emily
1.
2.
CALL TO ORDER AND ADOPTION OF AGENDA
Call to order: 12:19 pm
Introductions and Lunch
3.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
3.1
Assessment software selection process
- 4-5 software vendors to choose from
- Stein, Mitch, Pam, and Chris Casey (online teaching coordinator on campus) to
attend webinars of these software. They will then select the “best” two, and present
them to the committee in November. This software should be implemented by Fall
2015.
3.2
Syllabus collection
- We are collecting syllabi from all across campus
- Created a system in Box and asked department admins to share their folders
- Two main goals: 1) compliance rate and 2) the inclusion of program goals (at the
very least) and course goals
- There has to be a separate syllabus for graduate courses (if cross-listed with an
undergraduate course) – HLC was very serious about that
4.
3.3
Other Announcements
OLD BUSINESS
4.1
HLC’s Evaluation of Our Assessment
[Reference document in MBox Folder: Agenda Items]
OFFICE OF THE PROVOST AND VICE-CHANCELLOR FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
- We were criticized for syllabus collection and weak assessment reporting
- Individuals in the Provost and the Hub could attend some assessment, higher
pedagogy conference or workshop
4.2
Status of Syllabus Template
- This hasn’t come to the UCDC Committee – it will be discussed at their next
meeting, but will probably not be acted on
- This template will be taken back to the units
- The template should be decided late October, early November
- This template will not be required by Fall 2015
- Every faculty member will submit a new syllabus according to that template
4.3
Status of Program Review Guidelines
- From program guidelines to campus wide guidelines
- Right now, it is at the Council of Associate Deans, but will eventually go to the
Council of Deans and then to UCDC
- This will include certificate programs along with partnerships with foreign
universities as part of the process
- Certificates would be on a different [assessment] cycle from majors and minors
5.
NEW BUSINESS AND WORK
5.1
Discuss current Program Assessment procedures and cycle
- Review and Approve Qualtrics survey
[Reference document in MBox Folder: Agenda Items]
o Moved to one-time year assessment cycle
o In the fall, a Qualtrics survey will be sent out, and the report in the
winter semester will encompass both fall and winter assessment
o The alternative is going back to returning to fall and winter assessment
reports and an annual report in May
o More e-mails in the fall to promote urgency – this is a required
submission (the Qualtrics survey in the fall)
o Determine how the data will inform assessment data; affirmation of their
responses; better feedback mechanism for the annual report
- Discuss best (and worst) practices in program assessment
reports
[Reference documents in MBox Folder: Agenda Items]
o Have program/department chairs read over syllabi
OFFICE OF THE PROVOST AND VICE-CHANCELLOR FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
o Sampling of syllabi instead of reading over all 105 syllabi – assessment
rubrics
o All of the programs need some sort of feedback, regardless if they do
“good” or “bad” (or at least until everyone “gets it.”)
5.2
Discuss ideas/tasks for improvement this year
- Hold Hub-sponsored assessment workshops?
- Designing/re-designing assessment
- ‘Closing the Loop’
o Lack of clarity of what assessment entails and what the data will be used for beyond
HLC; faculty just don’t know enough about assessment
o There’s not a lot of sense of how faculty can use assessment to make their courses
better
o Revision of assessment template – emphasize analysis portion, how to “close the
loop”
o Assessment workshops?
o Fall – Designing/redesigning workshops that could showcase best practices.
There should be an incentive in lieu of just regurgitating information we already
know
o Winter – Analyzing the data, making concrete plans; “closing the loop”
o Pam could attend department meetings (upon invitation) to discuss assessment
o Starting Fall 2015 – Inclusion of questions (or separate survey) of what programs
did the year before
5.3
Gen Ed Assessment: Overview of cycle (Stein and Emily
approved)
[Reference document in MBox Folder: Agenda Items]
o 3-year assessment cyle, 5-year assessment evaluation program
o Year 4 – evaluation recommendation stage
o Determining best practices, what’s going on in Gen Ed
o Making a recommendation to faculty senate of what Gen Ed would look like
(“closing the loop”)
o Year 5 – Implementation (if approved)
o Year 6 – Start of the new year assessment
o Starting in November, winter – what does Gen Ed look like?
o Software capabilities? Integration with Canvas?
o Create integrations within goals instead of having four different rubrics of goals
o The process will be evaluated at the end of the 5-year cycle
OFFICE OF THE PROVOST AND VICE-CHANCELLOR FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
6.
FUTURE WORK
6.1
Select assessment software (target: November)
6.2
Design Gen Ed Assessment rubrics and report templates
(target: winter term)
6.3
Possibly revise Annual Program Assessment report
template (target: February)
6.4
Design rubric & process to assess the assessment reports
(target: March)
6.5
Fix Assessment website (Imani & Pam) (target: February)
- Post exemplary assessment reports
- Post the [syllabi] template?
[Note: target dates indicate time of completion]
7.
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned: 1:51 pm