Curriculum and Assessment Bernard Rowan, Assistant Provost (773) 995-2439/ trowanii@csu.edu April 2014 Volume 2013-2014, Issue 3

CSU Team at HLC!

UAC Members to Assessment Academy

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A team of nearly 20 CSU faculty, staff, and administrators joined thousands of higher education professionals at the Annual Conference of the Higher Learning Commission, April 10-14, 2014, at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. Participants enjoyed workshops on topics ranging from assessment and institutional

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effectiveness to federal compliance, financial affairs and graduate education.

University Accreditation Steering Committee co-chairs, Drs. Tonya Hall (Counseling) and Azunge Kwembe (Library and Information Services), along with other attendees, met Dr. Anthea Sweeney, HLC’s liaison to Chicago State University, during the

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annual meeting.

The CSU team enjoyed interesting keynote presentations on electronic portfolios and student learning, federal policy in higher education, and the possibilities of AACU (American Association of Colleges and Universities) value rubrics as part of the four-day conference.

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On February 26-28, 2014, representatives of the University Assessment Committee joined colleagues from 25 other institutions at the Higher Learning Commission’s Spring Assessment Academy in St. Charles, Illinois.

Dr. Patrice Boyles (Career/Technical Education), representing the College of Education,

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Dr. Elizabeth Arnott-Hill (Psychology), University Program Assessment Coordinator, and Dr. Mark Sudeith (Music), General Education Assessment Coordinator, joined Dr. Bernard Rowan, Assistant Provost/Curriculum Assessment, for the three-day meeting.

The CSU decided to develop a draft institutional assessment

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plan as part of the workshop. The draft will be shared with coordinators in Fall term.

In addition, they learned about many of the latest trends in academic assessment. These included strategies to be intentional with the improvement of institutional assessment culture.

Dates Of Special Interest

FY15 PME Annual Plans Due June 1, 2014 FY14 PME Annual Plan Report Due July 15, 2014

Contents

HLC Annual Meeting 1

UAC/Assessment Academy 1

General Education Assessment 2 Academic Assessment

Update 2

General Education Assessment

Academic Assessment Update

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Thanks to our hard-working coordinators, program assessment has had a successful year. During the fall assessment conferences, we spent time discussing curriculum mapping strategies, and finalized curriculum maps were submitted in December. In anticipation of the new course catalog, undergraduate programs also submitted lists of writing across the curriculum courses.

Based on feedback we have received from coordinators, the spring assessment conferences featured a LiveText refresher by Steve

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Damarjian. Mr. Damarjian is one of the university’s LiveText experts and provided a tutorial for our use. Mr. Damarjian can be reached for questions at x2097 or sdamarji@csu.edu.

The annual assessment report is due on June 1, 2014. This year the format will be modified slightly. All assessment coordinators should submit the summary trend data report form (Form 201C), and, if your program’s assessment plan has changed, an updated assessment plan (Form 201B).

Additionally, for this reporting cycle, all

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undergraduate programs should describe their plans for assessing the senior thesis/capstone experience scheduled for implementation beginning Spring 2015.

As faculty have worked to update or develop their curricula, this university initiative creates the opportunity to assess the senior capstone as a summative experience. All programs can document and publish their efforts to accomplish high expectations in conveying learning outcomes as a result.

 

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Being the general education assessment coordinator is a lot like the work of all general education assessment coordinators. I collect data, analyze it, and report.

Getting data from faculty can be a challenge. Creating reports can be time-consuming.

It is the middle task, the

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textbook with assessment included in the content.

General education assessment coordinators involve faculty teaching the courses in assessment, as well as share results with colleagues in their disciplines. Ultimately, we all are motivated by the satisfaction that comes from seeing students learn.

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analysis, which I find most enjoyable. The diversity of reports inspires me.

For example, one program is especially good with aligning content and learning outcomes and using LiveText.

Another has created multiple-choice pre- and post-tests. Yet another has developed a custom

Assessment opens a

horizon for continuous

improvement that depends

upon active faculty and

student engagement in the

shared enterprise of

learning.