2009 Assessment Conference Evaluation Results

What presentation topics or themes would interest you for next year's conference? (46 Responses)

More information about using the assessment data to close the loop... especially in a budget crisis. Using technology in assessment Areas outside of typical academic topics that potentially impact academic success and retention that are outside of the usual academic faculty domain (such as working student issues, family crisis, mental illness, suicide, addictions, etc.). A more in depth presentation of Serge's predictive model he spoke of. A discussion of using national assessment tools vs campus developed tools. Pulling together - capitalizing on one another's strengths. Integrating assessment across institutions... The Panel was the best opening this conference has had. Bring it back with a new topic(s). general assessment topics An in-depth review of online assessment management systems for both student level work and program/institutional level analysis. Having speakers discuss what they actually do in their class for assessment. Real practices. Effectivenesss of active learning exercies, effectiveness of on-line vs. hybrid courses Some lecture on how to do the assestment itself. Course and program assessment, including data if available. what is being done with the data collected from assessments where and what are the improvements being made "Beyond Satisfaction [Surveys]": efficient/effective ways of gathering/accessing data on student learning and student success--and "real-world" ways these data have been used to improve AND protect good programs. (I'm thinking of this year's Chemistry example.) "Program Assessment in Hard Times." --When the conversations are more about what can be dropped than what can be added for enhancement's sake. More sessions on institution-wide assessment. Loved the emphasis on technology- would like more on this topic as well. student retention, curriculum alignment K12-higher ed It was mentioned at a couple of the different break out sessions concern over the use of poorly designed surveys. I would be interested in the art of designing a valid survey and the pitfalls to watch out for when designing. Methods of course assessment Closing the loop of assessment Developing curriculum maps that map course to course content. Bloom's taxonomy and how to integrate it across courses throughout the curriculum Separating Assessment from performance evaluation Building a culture of assessment Assessing dispositions of students and correlating them with college success. I would like some ideas on effective pre and post-testing methods for assessment at the classroom level My focus is retention, so anything related would be great. more details on assessment and evaluation of student service and academic programs I enjoyed the panel discussion. Job well done by the organizers of the committee. Due to a prior commitment, I could not attend the breakout sessions. How to centralize assessment and assessment tools at your institution. This could make it more meaningful and standardized. I liked the panel format in the morning. More of the same...large groups and small groups. Topics may be determined by budget. Publishing assessment/evaluation findings Program Review and/or NorthWest Accrditation Examples of assessment activities institutions are engaged in to gather data. Translating effective program results to increased funding for departments Not sure. Liked the ones this year. How to do a qualitative study Preparing Assessment Reports so folks can understand them How to determine what you want to measure/assess Resources for developing on-line assessment tools General Education assessment Assessment for the sciences How to assess business programs. Ways to engage "reluctant" faculty to do assessment. I would be interested in hearing about how other institutions approach the assessment of general education learning outcomes. I am always interested in technology and direct assessment of writing. No idea Assessment projects in undergraduate mathematics, core math, calculus series. Specific presentations related to Student Affairs More presentations on in-class techniques and strategies revolving around active learning and critical thinking skills. More on classroom assessment techniques, by subject area if possible. 1. Actual static or firm goals to be used as criteria to see what we are suposed to be assessing, are we assessing it, and how did the assesments perform. Topic 1. Adminsitrative Assessments what are they and how did we do (Institution level) Topic 2. School Assesments what are they and how did we do ( School of Business, School of English, Computer Science, Psychology etc.) Topic 3. Instructor Assessments - How are the instructors and their performance rated, assessed, and compared. Topic 4 Student Assesment - what Criteria should we use to assess student performance Topic 5 Goal setting for the next conference and How did we do this conference Use of data to REALLY promote change in departments w significant % of tenured faculty. Hands-ON / Live demo / case studies using assessment data How to effectively manage doing more with less--in terms of resources, time--and managing stress

Please tell us about the most valuable aspect of the 2009 conference for you. (49 Responses)

Always gives me a broader perspective to hear about topics from others. A lot that is valuable is not really in the presentations but in the interactions. I thought that the Assessment Coordinator from UNLV's comments during the panel discussion about what's really required to assess the impact of new programs were very insightful. In the current climate at UNR, there are ongoing pressures to throw resources at retention and recruitment, and it would be helpful if we approached possible solutions as "pilots," with some controlled experiments or other ways of gauging the effectiveness, rather than just trying everything that might work at the same time. I thought that the opening panel and speaker was wonderful. My only suggestion is that it might have been good to have a little data on the powerpoint as each panelist discussed their own projects. Networking, hearing what other institutions are facing and how they are dealing with it. The plenary session was good, excellent range of topics and allowed enough time for Q and A. Becoming familiar with details of what the assessment office does, what information is available, how to access it, and who to contact. The follow up to the morning session with Serge was most helpful. Gaining a better understanding of the data that is available through his office. Hearing different viewpoints on common themes. panels, time for question and answer type discussion The after lunch forum was interesting. Not sure what will come out of the process, but very useful discussions and great mix of faculty at our table made it seem worthwhile. hearing about assessment projects on Nevada campuses; meeting people from other departments and schools The post-luncheon activity offered a great deal of interesting and valuable insight. As possibly bad as the situation is with the budget crisis, I saw that we are all in the same boat across the state and that we can see uses for assessment through the crisis. The panel speaking at the begining. panels I learned different aspects of assestment that I was not aware of. Also practical issues of assestment. in general, the focus on assessment. communicating with a diverse group of like-minded individuals Opening panel The opening panel and the post-lunch forum The technology sessions were great. There was a nice mix of interactive sessions and traditional sessions, which is good for me, personally. Sometimes I just want to sit and absorb- I feel the most relaxed when there is a good balance between the two types. Not too boring; not too much pressure. mingle with colleagues from other institutions Networking with colleagues. Shared assessment practices for program evaluation. The panel discussion at the beginning and the interaction during Bridgett Boulton's session. Learning (1) how to develop common rubrics from Jane Detweiller (2) comparing turnitin to Safeassign and using software to do assessment Interaction with other faculty and cross fetrilization of ideas. I liked the interactive nature of the lunch meeting and thought that sharing our thoughts on those questions was effective and information. I also liked the morning plenary session. I actually got more ideas there than at the individualized meetings Networking, Serge's breakout. I just attended the opening panel and I thought it was really great -- the range and diversity of assessment The 2009 NNA conference shows the high level of awarness on the importance of assessment among faculty. The variety of presentation topics I loved the table talk (at/after lunch) I also liekd the breakout sessions. I thought the way the program was put together was excellent. The flow was much better, seems like you all trimmed the fat and ran a more lean effort the location was perfect I really enjoyed the panel and the session on creating rubrics. Loved the keynote speak - Rosenburg The sharing of ideas at the round table discussion on the assessment of retention efforts was very helpful. Networking with other faculty and support staff. Round tables. Since I am new in the field of Academia it was a good opportunity for me to network. I enjoyed the ideas presented by the initial panel, as to what they were doing for retention. I liked the after lunch large grioup session about assessment and look forward to seeing the overall summation. In one of the small groups I found the discussion of "assessment vs. student evaluations" very interesting. It was valuable for me to learn about the challenges faced at other institutions when it comes to faculty participation in systematic assessment efforts. The opportunity to have my team present on our assessment project. I was able to meet with several people who are using technology to aid them in assessment. In particular, I was able to see how UNR tracks program assessment. Thank you for the information! Morning panel discussion. Perspectives from 4 different sources were enlightening. The keynote was interesting, light-hearted and entertaining. I believe the interacting with colleagues and the exchanging of ideas remains the most valuable aspect of these conferences for me. Many of the workshops were workshops I had attended in the past, so it is not necessarily the material that brings me to these conferences, but the sharing of ideas. Unfortunately I was not able to attend many sessions due to teaching responsibilities, but there weren't as many sessions that interested me as last year's conference. The offerings seemed much more general. The networking and associating with others. The conference did suppy interesting and helpful subjects. It was probably the unveiling of different ideas that will guide me over the next year. the opening presentation was excellent. Networking The chance to network with colleagues

What did you learn at the Conference that you would like to incorporate in your program, your classroom or or your other role(s) in the future? (41 Responses)

Being more active in gathering data ahead of time for budget challenges. We know that in today's climate, we are not going to be able to solely be able to use assessment data for program improvement, but also for program defense. Although it may not be the best kind of data, we need to be gathering it. Taking 5 minutes out of each class to focus on student success. How to access information that can inform programs and strategies and support students better. How I can use instituinal analysis data to blend with several national assessment tools we will be using. Pros and Cons of open source software Not sure! none I'll need to further investigate, but I got a very good idea of what open source software has to offer for managing assessment. More in-depth looks with completed university examples would be great for next year. Not sure Improving writing - partial grading schemes, Using WebCampus for assessment I am not sure yet. I am thinking about all I learned. add "roof read and edit" to my writing assignment rubrics Always think about assessment at the inception of any new program--never later. I was really pleased with the session on open-source technology. I felt like it was the most valuable session in the two conferences that I've attended at UNR. It would be great to have a more in-depth look at what Chad has done with this project next year. Use of at risk students from Insitutional Analysis. Use more available technology to quantify the assessment results. (1) Developing common rubrics (2) Using software to do assessment Better understanding of student backgrounds and how it might affect their academic success.. I will try a survey done at the beginning of next semester regarding student expectations for the course. The TMCC Chemistry instructor talked about her experience with that; and I was intrigued by the possibilities here Thinking about this... There was a comment on "socializing students of color" into upper and middle class and into UNR that was very controversial -- I see the on going need and value of open dialogue and discussion The work on assessment is an ongoing process and never stops. Good to hear an update on the assessment practices and how they can impact student retention. The presentation by Dr. Bever on qualitative evaluation was practical and will be immediately put to use in focus groups I'm leading in the next month. I took home a great bit of useful advice from TMCC's instutuional assessment and "how to create a culture of assessment." using multiple data collection approaches to improve offerings Rubrics for sure. Also I learned more about the way things work at UNR w/r/t special populations and how they are tracked/mentored. LASSI Presentation The discussion of retention made me become more aware of the work of many of my colleagues on campus. I'll definitely keep track of the direction of that conversation in the future. Nothing for the classroom, but it will help in my role as chair of the college curriculum committee. Looking at how student services can assist/enhance academic experience for students. ...the purpose of assessments and perhaps how this should be incorporated in my class "analysis" and to look at it in terms of success...retention is not a focus for me at I am teaching a one semester job focus class. Chrystal Swank's rubric workshop was very helpful, and I would like to help faculty incorporate their use as a relatively simple means for collecting assessment data. I liked hearing about how the Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Committee at TMCC approaches assessment at the course, department and program levels. The Angel LMS sounds like it includes an assortment of advance assessment tools that are lacking in Blackboard. It might be worthwhile for WNC to examine which software is the better fit. I learned that I could incorporate Turnitin into Blackboard and have. I hope to use some of Kathleen Colbet's learning gain techniques, but I got that idea initially from a talk she gave at last year's conference. More objective tools are available. Mostly online, but these objective tools will help compare past, present, and future performance to my established goals. They are easily available by programs such as ANGEL. Doing pre-and post assessment of students--not just in terms of content knowledge but also in terms of attitude and committment--

What were you expecting that you did not find at this year's conference? (42 Responses)

I was hoping that after lunch session was going to provide a realistic, pragmatic approach to using assessment sensibly in the current difficult budget crisis. I think the question "How can we use assessment to allocate resources most wisely?" is a naive question. There is neither time to do that effectively, nor is there a climate wherein we can make those decisions. Rather, everyone is scrambling to cover their own territory and "look busy and essential to the university's function." A more relevant question might be "How can an ongoing cycle of assessment activities remain relevant when outside issues related to the budget are driving large scale changes that are independent of any assessment data?" A expert speaker. Other years, the conference brought in an expert from other campuses as a keynote. Although it was good to also hear from those performing good assessments on our campuses, it's always good to get ideas from afar too. I thought there would at least be a couple of student services presentations that provided information about why students leave, exit interview information, etc. I was surprised at the almost total academic orientation, although in retrospect, to have student services impacted so severely in the first round of budget cuts, I suppose I should not have been surprised. Difficult to answer, I was only able to stay the morning. This was a good conference. There was a lot to chose from, but not as overwhelming as in past conferences. more substantive topics; presentations related to student services, special student populations (developmental, high achievers, athletes) outcomes of various assessments It was about what I expected--and I was not able to attend all sessions, so I am not in a position to answer this anyway. The level of interaction among participants Breakfast :( Lunch was great though! it was fine (1) Tying learning goals to assessment. (2) Assurance of learning workshops--how to close the loop. I did not have clear expectations. I found some useful sessions. The most important thing is to ensure a broad diversity of offerings and ideas that can be effectively implemented at the classroom level More strategies...lots of useful data, though I liked the format, the timeframe, and the location. The free lunch was great, thanks! What various departments: English, Math, Social Studies/Humanities, Science, History - are doing to gather their assessment data. The student services voice was absent, there are many folks collecting good data, find them. Online resources in develop assessment tools I usually come away with some specific assessment strategy that I can share with faculty when I get home. That didn't happen this year. More faculty. I have not been to this conference before I was not disappointed in any way. I was hoping to find information about how to assure that assessment activity is somehow counted as RESEARCH and not simply as service. Until central administration honors our efforts in this way, we will continue to have difficulty engaging faculty (who have other priorities, as they must: research and teaching come first) in improving our programs through systematic, intensive assessment. I found everything just fine. The lunch was also appreciated. Thank you! Presentations involving Student Affairs More of a wode-range of presenters and topics than a repeat of those from the past. More specific classroom level assessment talks Established goals and methods of assessment. A way to compare performance of individuals, teaching faculty, administrative faculty, programs, and institutions. OK Not enough technical aspects, No hands on or live demos Not many participation from academic departments My expectations were met--

What would you change to improve subsequent Northern Nevada Assessment Conferences (e.g. content/topics, format, logistics, facilities, time of year, location)? (46 Responses)

It was fine. I was less impressed with the lunchtime facilitated discussion than with other presentations. Perhaps it depended heavily on which table one was seated at, but my impression is that a large percentage of participants at the conference have much experience with assessment, but the people at my table were not heavily involved in or experienced with assessment and in particular, the types of challenges we all face were completely different, so I found there was little to be gained by the discussion. Nothing. I thought it was great... maybe a little more heat. Perhaps longer for the morning break to allow people enough time to break, chat and get to their next session since we were on different floors. The facilities could not have been nicer (maybe a little warmer :-). I would only ask for more diverse topics, a demonstration of the assessment office website to show how to access information (telling me what to click on just doesn't stick in my mind as well as showing me, simple as it may be in reality), and student presentations: aren't any grad students working with the assessment office on their dissertation topics? The lunch session was interesting, but with the focus on the classroom, I believe a good number in the room had a hard time participating since they were not teaching faculty. A broader topic might allow for greater discussion The facilities were top-flight. I would make the morning break shorter, and perhaps have fewer choices in a single time-slot to increase attendance in each. I miss be able to peruse posters during breaks... Not too much. Not sure! more of the above topics Nothing, I think it is a very well run conference. Some hands on practical work with real assestent problems would be useful One of the presentations on open source web applications was not terribly useful. It began at 10:30 am. The presenter had not completed the application of the open source applications and was not able to demonstrate what the workshop was intended to show. can't think of anything I think this conference was well planned. It's always difficult to balance the need for individual/small group "chatting/problem-solving" time with the necessity to keep to the presentation/workshop schedule. Maybe the new JCSU requires a little more "passing time" as some of the rooms are hard to find. I think that some people who would otherwise have attended the last session may have given up and gone home because they couldn't find the room. more teaching faculty attending I think there was a nice mix of sessions this year. To be the most useful to me personally, it would be great to have more sessions on university-wide assessment. However, I was able to find useful sessions. The facilities are nice and Feb is actually a good time of year to travel. I think things were really nicely organized this time. well done, can't think of anything Brainstorming assessment tools to create an assessment toolbox that is embedded and ongoing. 1. The ballroom (where lunch and the workshop took place) was freezing. 2. More clear signs indicating where meeting rooms were located. 3. Introductory panel was not as useful (held in theater). Time of year. I prefer the fall. Maybe a session on how to effectively assess gen ed Warmer ballroom. We need a keynote or a professional on assessment to give us things to think about throughout the day -- someone who uses it and makes it work -- David Fetterman from Stanford comes to mind Good conference. I love the Joe Crowley Center! I'd like to see it the week after finals when everyone who wants to attend would be able to. For me, it could have been a full day-long event. I enjoy the interactions with colleagues and learning new things. Listed in my suggestions for topics for next year I thought the format (more round tables) and topics (recruitment and retention) were timely and interesting and I enjoyed the interaction. I came away with a holistic view of where the various campuses were on assessment and how the budget might impact their efforts. However, I missed the many presentations on academic assessment strategies that were available in prior years. Time of year and location etc. are just fine. It's fine the way it is. More on ways to do embedded assessment; real examples of it. Don't change the location/facility. It was great. It was tooo cold in almost all the classrooms and dining area! Some of the topics covered I had heard about recently at professional development days at my place of employment. I would only ask for the day to last a bit longer, perhaps one more session. I would like to have more successes to report of my attempt to develop program review tools with open source software (a finished product to share with others would be great). Make it half day. I beleive the time of year is perfect for those of us who teach but have not yet been overwhelmed by papers to grade. I also enjoy the opportunity to revisit UNR every year for the conferences. It seems that the content/topics areas could be strengthened if more faculty from differing disciplines and varying points of view were willing to get invovled. Facilities, time of year, location all great. Would like more classroom/subject area talks, especially since the Excellence in Teaching Program is gone now. Have more specific goals going forward. Make sure all presenters have programs of same time length. I went to one class and it ended in 20 minutes. With the extra time, I crashed another lecture to utilize my time and your resources better. Make sure that presenters have preestablished agenda's of time, learning outcomes, and evaluations. Change the content, add more tecnical hands on/live demo / case studies I have no suggestions for improvement--