Ever wonder what really goes on in that fourth floor corner of Carrington? Take a gander at one of the Office of Assessment’s most recent planning and brainstorming meetings by reading through the staff notes below:

Upcoming Goals

• Work with Marketing and Inside Missouri State to communicate the last NSSE reminder, the Faculty Survey and the FSSE-G all on April 13th.

• Following a successful meeting with the Diversity Visioning group (a committee part of a larger task force developed to design a new vision for the university – ed.) We decided to make greater efforts in bringing survey data — like the NSSE and BCSSE — to those interested across campus. A primary office goal is to accommodate Missouri State faculty and staff with compelling, accessible data and be consistent in following up to address specific questions.

• Beginning in January, The office collaborated with the experts, such as Missouri State’s Blackboard, Computer Services and “Blackbelt,” Sue McCrory, to administer the Exit Exam through Blackboard. Work is still ongoing to make this new of data collection and dispersion much more efficient, which, in turn, will benefit departments seeking information about what their students are saying as they graduate.

More on the University Exit Exam

As part of the University Exit Exam and due to this change in administration, Exam administrators are asking students to choose between several prompts and write an open-ended response about ethical leadership, cultural competence, and community engagement. Our goal this week is to pull those responses which have been coded and de-identified and send those responses to departments. So, a department would see the work of students who are graduating in May 2015 and December 2015. This evidence of student learning could be used in department, program, and accreditation assessment plans.

Each college will also receive a set of student work. We will be contacting each department and dean to supply the student work and working with Associate Provost Chris Craig to share relevant information with heads of departments. During the April Assessment Council meeting, the council will review student work collected as an institution. There will also be a review session this May, which is open to anyone interested in participating in the review of student work related to public affairs.

Assessment Now and Tomorrow

• We are working with the Student Experience Visioning Panel to find 10 first-year students to meet with that group and offer valuable feedback that will influence the future of the university.

• We have successfully collaborated with the Graduate College on a survey, and are now working with Student Development & Public Affairs on an internal department survey as well as seeking consult for a staff senate survey.

• Our big job right now is preparing for the Quality Initiative Project’s third annual workshop. Being that it is the third year, the name must change to reflect the current nature of the scoring and analysis event.