IU SOUTH BEND ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

Spring 2008

SPRING WORKSHOP

On Friday March 28th, the assessment committee sponsored a workshop by Dr. Douglas Davenport. The two half day sessions covered topics on assessment in the classroom, and on identifying measures of institutional effectiveness. Dr. Davenport's considerable knowledge of and experience with assessment informed his knowledgeable and practical presentations. Dr. Davenport, currently the Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Truman University, implemented and oversaw the impressive assessment program there. He was able to answer questions on a wide range of topics from out faculty and administration.

The materials he used for his presentations are available from the assessment office.

ASSESSMENT GRANTS

Assessment Grant applications are now being accepted.  These grants, for up to $3000, are available for a wide variety of projects related to assessing student learning.   Do you need to determine if concepts required by national standards are being covered in you curriculum?   Would additional advising training for faculty help students stay and complete degrees?   Do your introductory classes prepare students for upper divisional courses in their majors?  Do you want to do a trial of a standardized test for your discipline?  Would you like to learn more about how assessment results can be used to improve your curriculum or aid in attracting students?

These are the types of questions that could be answered by an assessment project.

Applications and guidelines are available online. Please contact us with any questions.

REPORTS FROM THE ASSESSMENT INSTITUTE

Six members of the IU South Bend faculty attended the Assessment Institute in Indianapolis in November. They all came back excited be what they learned, and the people they interacted with. Barbara Peat was particularly impressed with the sessions on assessing student services and advising, and how that impacts student learning.

Consider putting the Assessment Institute on your calendar for next year. It is always an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest in assessment scholarship and practice. The Assessment Committee is able to sponsor attendance for several people each year, so they can bring this important information back to our campus.

ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE PLAN

In order to reflect the changes in assessment philosophy and practice that have evolved in the last decade, the Committee completely revised the plan which directs its activities.   This new document outlines the current structure and activities, and provides a foundation for the Committee’s work in the years to come. 

ASSESSMENT GRANT OPPORTUNITY

The Assessment Committee will continue to accept assessment grant proposals as long as funds are available. More details on the purpose of assessment grants and examples of grant projects are available on this site. All IU South Bend faculty, including associates are eligible. Guidelines and applications for submitting proposals electronically are online. Please contact Rhonda Culbertson, rculbert@iusb.edu, with any questions.

GRANT AWARDS

The Assessment Committee would like to congratulate Randy Isaacson on receiving an assessment grant to analyze data from the U100 course.

The Committee would also like to congratulate Lee Smith on an expansion of a previous project on enhancing Stakeholder Assessment and Follow-up in the School of Education.

A total of $6000 was awarded this summer.

2007 ANNUAL REPORT to the Academic Senate

THIRD YEAR REVIEWS 2007/08

IU South Bend ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE MISSION

The mission of the Indiana University South Bend Assessment Committee is to promote, support and monitor academic program assessment activities at the university.

NEW RESOURCES

Several new books have been added to the Assessment Library.

ACADEMIC MASTER PLAN

The Academic Master Plan shows all degrees offered by IU South Bend and the calendar for evaluation.

Special Note:  The IU South Bend Assessment Committee has benefited greatly from the scholarship and work of many individuals and other academic institutions.   In order to pass on what we have learned, we encourage other programs to make use of anything from this site that will improve their own work on the assessment of student learning.   We ask only that materials that are used verbatim give credit to this site.