The following information was derived from an article published by American Association of University Professors entitled, “Establishing a Culture of Assessment: Fifteen elements of assessment success – how many does your campus have?” by Wendy F. Weiner. Each bullet point below is in response to an element listed in this article. Areas in need of improvement are listed below in the “Areas for Improvement” section, with the description from the article included verbatim.
Assessment of Co-curricular Activities
Discussions of assessment all too often focus entirely on courses and academic programs, even though learning can and does take place outside the classroom. On many campuses, significant sums of money support co-curricular activities that may provide learning opportunities. For example, if a college offers a global awareness series through a student activities program, the series should be included in the assessment plan. As part of the plan, it should also have its own set of desired outcomes and be systematically assessed for student learning.
Institutional Effectiveness
There are many areas to assess in addition to student learning outcomes. Considering all areas, and how well the college is meeting its mission and goals, is essentially assessing institutional effectiveness. This makes assessment everyone’s business.
Assessing campus climate is an important part of evaluating an institution’s effectiveness. Students’ perceptions and attitudes about their campuses and college communities have been shown to affect student learning. “Taking the temperature” of a campus will reveal how students view its commitment to their success. Areas to assess include opportunities for student-faculty interaction, academic support services, personal support, academic challenge, enrichment, and library services. In addition, the president’s office, administrative services, the board of trustees, workforce development, the foundation, public relations, and all components of student services should not be overlooked. Every area ultimately has an impact on students and their success.
Planning and Budgeting
Often, faculty are turned off by the budgeting process. It does not have to be so. All faculty can contribute to their department’s plan and provide data for informed budgeting. The operational plan should highlight areas that need to be improved and have specific objectives to guide the department in working toward improvement. Assessment results can demonstrate areas of need within a department, and faculty can evaluate how much money might be necessary to rectify a problem. Also, if faculty engagement in assessment has yielded positive results, faculty can think about rewards that could be put in their department’s budget to continue the good work.
Although some faculty may resist supporting budgeting and planning efforts as additional work that the department head is paid to do, others who are regularly involved in improving teaching and learning will gladly provide input that will move them closer to the level of success they seek. Likewise, for an administration committed to a culture of assessment, the planning and budgeting process can help it accomplish this goal. When an administration explains the budgeting process to the entire college community and invites interested parties to participate, it signals that it is going to close the loop in planning, assessment, and budgeting. Of course, administrators must follow through and make sure that more money flows into classrooms as a result.
Work Cited
Weiner, W.F. (2009). Establishing a culture of assessment. Fifteen elements of assessment success – how many does your campus have? American Association of University Professors. Retrieved from http://www.aaup.org/article/establishing-culture-assessment#.Vqfm6fn_5_g