2021 Assessment Workshop Evaluation Feedback

2021 Assessment Workshop | Graduate Programs

May 19-21

A total of 28 faculty and 13 students attended the 2021 May Assessment Workshop. As of Monday, May 24, 2021, 13 attendees have responded to the program evaluation survey yielding the following results.

Question 1 (n=13)	Yes	No
Our goal with this workshop was to incentivize assessment and allow you time to get together with colleagues and students to work on an assessment project. Did we accomplish that?	13 (100%)	0

Question 2 (n=13)	Yes	No
Did you review your student learning outcomes?	13 (100%)	0

Question 3 (n=13)

Yes

Maybe

Are you going to make a change to your outcomes based on what you saw?

(62%)

(15%)

(23%)

Question 4: If yes, tell us about the change you plan to make.

We are going to revise and streamline them.

In concert with my colleagues I hope to continue the discussion regarding the learning outcomes and to continue to be intentional about applying my own course outcomes in furtherance / support of the program’s.

Gather graduate students’ perceptions and feedback and apply it to course designing.

Streamline the SLOs information we have to describe the master’s level degree and not the different strands. You can see our progress here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OYfKyia0bjHiLuDy_NCL0cwwdXvrAdzvH08fZWVRpRE/edit?usp=sharing

We will need to discuss with the program coordinators and department head for the changes we may need to make.

Our team discovered that we need to create program outcomes.

We plan to adapt our program to accommodate the upcoming change from a Masters’ program to two tracks of a doctoral program.

I selected yes because although we found we currently do not have learning outcomes for our program the goal is to get this moving at a program level and get the learning outcomes decided.

Our graduate student had a good idea to add a Professional Communication (professional writing and oral presentation) learning outcome since that will be an important outcome of the research project.

Question 5: Tell us about the change you made to your program based on the project you brought to this workshop.

Reviewing SLO’s

Suggested different ways to conduct graduate seminar course.

We will make changes to the website and SLOs, and improve the professional dispositions instrument.

Align the program learning outcomes with each course objectives and make them explicitly in the syllabus and also share with students in class

One specific change is to look at how we can address student course evaluations in the peer review course and teaching evaluation process.

Revision of the Professional Behavior Checklist to the Professional Identity Evaluation (PIE!)

Reviewed current course goals and placed in alignment with NASPA/ACPA competencies

We modified the faculty peer review forms to facilitate faculty growth in response to peer and student feedback.

Found that we need learning outcomes.

I am a student, so I did not make a change. However, we want to make the Graduate Seminar a requirement.

Movement to a new action research project course that will emphasize direct teaching application

Question 6: What evidence did you look at that prompted this change?

The websites

Current SpEd websites, SLOs, data from the current instrument.

Syllabus, assignments, and/or projects integrated in the courses, programs.

Our course reflection and teaching peer feedback processes.

Feedback from previous semesters of advising and allocation of PBC points; student perspectives

After reviewing existing documents, we discovered that we did not have program outcomes. Our next goal is to present our findings to the entire faculty and develop outcomes.

The current process seemed punitive and the faculty wanted a process that would allow for growth.

Looked through the documents that were used to start the program and they didn’t say anything about learning outcomes for the program.

The program requirements and syllabi.

Data pulled together for workshop across 6 years of recent research projects (79% although relevant, had non-direct teaching application

Question 7 (n=13)

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Strongly Agree

My team made progress toward improving assessment in my discipline.

(23%)

(77%)

I would recommend participation in this workshop to colleagues on campus.

(8%)

(31%)

(62%)

Question 8: What did you learn from your colleagues?

More than could fit into this box.

They suggested great ideas such as move the graduate seminar course required, or different ways to teach the course based on students’ needs.

Their perspective on assessment, marketing, and accreditation.

Potential challenges and obstacles to overcome; Procedures to go through

It was validating to see that different departments have similar struggles. It was good to hear the student feedback across departments.

Need to investigate whether our professional has formally designated Professional Competencies, as mentioned by other programs. This may help guide our revision process.

From the 8 teams who attended and presented, there appeared to be a range of assessment projects, from creating program outcomes to comprehensive exams to professional preparedness.

I learned the faculty perspective of program improvement and all of the faculty work that goes on behind the scenes to implement program changes.

I learned how to best approach a situation.

I learned more about the independent research study and the Graduate Seminar.

I know the question is colleagues; however, one of the most beneficial pieces was having a program graduate student as a part of this process. It was also good to hear what programs and colleagues were doing across campus and some of their challenges

Question 9: What can we help you with as you pursue next steps?

Resources available for website development and revision.

We will bring this up at the department meeting and discuss it with other colleagues.

Keep challenging us to make assessment more accessible.

Assessment Grant to continue the work we did not complete

After we present our drafts to our faculty as a whole it will be good to have the assessment team also give us feedback before we pilot the new process.

Understand Assessment Grant application process.

Continued participation in the workshop can continue the discussion of program improvement as well as apply for assessment grants to help fund this process of change.

I am not sure.

We have a very strong program; however, we are a low N program. We could really use support to pull in a national grant. There is one out there this summer that seems like a great fit.

Priority:

The purpose of this priority is to increase the number and improve

the quality of personnel who are fully credentialed to serve children,

including infants and toddlers, and youth with disabilities who have

high-intensity needs–especially in areas of chronic personnel

shortage.

Estimated available funds: $8,000,000

Max award: $250,000

Question 10: Do you plan to apply for an assessment grant?

Absolutely!

Yes

Yes, we do. We want to move forward with the ideas that we suggested during our meetings.

Yes, you can see the draft of the proposal on the google doc I shared. Thank you!

Yes.

Yes, we want to look at how to incentivize faculty and student participation in the course and teaching assessment process so that we have a holistic view and strong buy-in. I really appreciate that this office emphasizes the importance of assessment while also acknowledging the extra workload that is created for faculty and that the University validates this with grants.

Yes.

Need to consult with team

Yes

Maybe? Was not decided/talked about within our group.

No.

Yes, but, not immediately. Thank you for this workshop opportunity and for the reach-out by Julia throughout the process.