Academic Division Assessment

Purpose: Academic division assessment can be described as “high level” because it summarizes and highlights course and program assessment from the division and tends not to be granular.

In addition, each of the academic divisions (Business and Technology; Liberal Studies; Math, Science and Health Careers) includes progress on goals related to DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), broad initiatives regarding retention, transfer, or resolving other barriers to completion that the division has identified in divisional assessment reports, which are due every two years.

Academic division assessment highlights each program’s notable achievements in assessment, such as pedagogical innovation, special accreditations, or collaborations between departments or divisions. This may also include noteworthy practices in course and program-level student learning outcome assessment and continuous improvement.

Academic division assessment also highlights divisional achievements in student success, apart from learning outcomes assessment, such as increased retention, assessment data-driven curricular change, or other innovations.

Academic division assessment reporting provides another opportunity for divisions to document the budget implications of strategies or innovations related to closing gaps or maintaining successes.

Academic division assessment is an important component of the Middle States accreditation process, as a form of meta-assessment, or assessment of our assessment processes.

Spotlight on links to improving student experience:
Like assessment of academic programs, academic division assessment helps to ensure and reinforce continuous improvement. Periodically reflecting on the successes and challenges in meeting divisional goals can help focus resources and attention, and regularly documenting successful interventions within each academic division can encourage the uptake of best practices both within the division and throughout the College.

Project Assessment

Purpose: Project assessment can fit into all categories of assessment at the College, but at heart, project assessment is the same process as all forms of assessment: data collection, data analysis, and data driving.

For all projects, it’s a good idea to 1) articulate objectives and 2) look for evidence you can use:

Articulate objectives:

• What problem is this change attempting to solve? Or, what advancement are you intending to make with this change?
• Improved performance on one or more CLOs
• Improved participation
• Improved equity outcomes

Look for evidence you can use:

• Student reflections and feedback
• Before and After
• A/B testing – compare sections with change made to sections without
• Analyze aggregate scores

Some projects are related to course and/or program learning outcomes:
This includes high-impact practices and projects that are primarily assessed through qualitative feedback.

• In-class projects or capstone projects that feature group work, problem-solving, and other high-impact practices that promote critical thinking may be measures for assessing CLOs or PLOs.  
• Qualitative feedback from an outside observer in the form of employee evaluations, practicum observations, or clinical evaluations
• Feedback on field trips and service learning
• In these cases
  • Articulate objectives
  • Look for evidence:
    • Supervisor/coordinator evaluation forms
    • Placement site coordinator interviews 
    • Focus groups
    • Debriefing conversations 
    • Observations at placement sites 
    • Reflections (keep them short!)
    • Rubrics can help quantify qualitative data
    • Passports/Bingo

Project assessment can be an element of administrative and educational support services (AES) assessment as well.

Both within the academic arena and in other areas of the College, a “project” can refer to a discrete activity or plan with a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end as well as specific needs analysis and expected outcomes.

• increasing students’ sense of well-being or belonging
• improving faculty skills with data interpretation
• setting up a dedicated peer tutoring project related to an underserved population of the College.

Project assessment often involves assessing the overall effectiveness of or satisfaction with an event, training, or initiative by getting feedback from the target audience

• Careful planning is essential for project assessment of this kind, and should include
• Clearly defined objectives or goals, including what effectiveness and/or satisfaction looks like
• A plan for using the data that you collect: what will you do with the results?
• A method of collecting evidence
  • It may be appealing to adopt surveys, but there is a problem with low return rates
    • Adding a personal touch (invitations, in-person work, incentives) can increase the return rate
    • Keep the surveys short, and don’t “over-survey”, to avoid survey fatigue
    • Use the data you gathered and share how you used it
    • Be sure to familiarize yourself with the College Survey Policy
  • Other methods of gathering effectiveness/satisfaction data can be less time consuming and may yield better results
    • QR Codes
    • Metimeter, Zoom polls, Kahoots
    • Microsoft Forms
    • “Bingo” cards or passports
    • Slido, Poll Everywhere, Sway

Examples of projects might include

• Creating a dedicated student lounge space for language acquisition practice
• Doing a pilot project aimed at discovering the most effective methods of scaffolding assignments in gateway courses
• Implementing a new software system to track participation in and satisfaction with professional development initiatives