Presented to the Academic Senate October 15, 2004
Table of Contents
Introduction
The mission of the Indiana University South Bend Assessment Committee
is to promote, support and monitor academic program assessment activities
at the university.
Website
A new website, using the IU South Bend templates, is now on-line. The address
is http://www.IU South Bend.edu/~sbassess/. Updated several times a month, it serves
as a clearinghouse for Committee documents, news, forms and information.
It is also a showcase for examples of excellent assessment programs at
IU South Bend. The Assessment Committee continues to use the VCAA newsletter as
an additional outlet for assessment information.
Grants from the Assessment Committee allow for assessment innovation
in academic programs. A number of creative projects are now underway,
or recently completed. For a list of assessment grants awarded, and final
reports from completed assessment grants please consult the Assessment
website at: http://www.IU South Bend.edu/~sbassess. During 2003/04 awards were
given to:
- The School of Education for assessment retreats;
- Counseling and Human Services for developing an employer survey;
- Liberal Arts and Sciences for development of an electronic course evaluation
system;
- The School of Nursing for purchase of assessment software.
The total amount of grant money awarded was $10,321.
The Assessment Committee has increased the maximum amount per grant to
$3000 for the 2004/05 year. They felt this was appropriate in light of
the increasing sophistication and cost of the assessment projects being
undertaken by academic programs. The first round of applications
for 2004/05 will be accepted until November 1, 2004. Applications and
guidelines are available on the website.
A summary of the 2004/04 Third Year Reviews, as well as a number of examples
are available on the Assessment Committee website: http://www.IU South Bend.edu/~sbassess/
Annual Reports
The narrative format for the annual reports
was revised again in response to user comments and Committee evaluation.
The new questions closely reflect the Third Year Review format.
Getting an adequate return on the annual reports continues to be a problem.
Despite numerous reminders, only about half of the annual reports have
been returned at three months after the deadline.
Assessment Plans
In preparation for upcoming accreditation activities, the Assessment
Committee has asked academic programs to update their assessment plans
as part of the Third Year Review process. The Assessment
Culture Matrix, from the Higher Learning Commission, an outline
and examples are available as resources for
programs as they revise and update their assessment plans. They are available
by contacting the assessment office, (x5598,) or on the website.
Conferences and Meetings
During 2004/05, members of the Assessment Committee attended both the
Assessment Institute in Indianapolis, and the Higher Learning Commission
Conference in Chicago. At these conferences, they collected valuable information
on assessment techniques, resources and the impact of assessment on accreditation.
In 2004/05, the Assessment Committee will have a limited number of conference
registration sponsorships available for the Assessment Institute available
to interested IU South Bend faculty.
Several new resources were added to the assessment library. For a complete
listing of print resources available at the assessment office, please
consult the website.
Assessment Support
The Assessment Committee repeatedly hears from academic departments that
they would like to undertake an expanded assessment program, but that
the funds and faculty time are just not available for the on-going expenses
involved. The Assessment Committee would strongly urge the IU South Bend campus
to find ways of building assessment funds into permanent program budgets.
Dependable campus support of cutting-edge, excellent assessment programs
is paramount in light of accreditation, accountability and promotional
efforts.
For the 2004/05 academic year Linda Fisher will continue as the Chair
of the Assessment Committee. The Committee welcomes new members: Cheri
Brown, Randall Davies, Mike Darnel and Monle Lee. They will join Pat Henry,
Alec Hosterman and Barbara Peat. The Assessment Committee would like to
express appreciation to Karen Ackoff, Karen Clark, Paul Newcomb and Paul
Kochanowski for their service as they rotate off of the Committee.
Future
This year, the Assessment Committee plans to prepare for the upcoming
HLC accreditation visit by assisting all programs in updating their assessment
plans. The Committee encourages departments to apply for an assessment
grant, and to use examples from their colleagues as they undertake this
task. The Assessment Committee also plans to update its own mission and
strategic plan to reflect the current role of the Assessment Committee
at IU South Bend.
The Assessment Committee is eager to assist the General Education Implementation
Task Force as they consider ways to incorporate assessment into the General
Education curriculum.
The Assessment Committee plans to maintain its accountability to the
Academic Senate and to the Administration by continuing to regularly report
on the results of assessment activities and data collection. The website
will have a more prominent role as a clearinghouse for examples of assessment
reports from programs.
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