Assessment Advisory Committee
Minutes from meeting March 25, 1999
SACS Review
Institutional Effectiveness
- what are our long range plans?
- information infrastructure
- attention to distance education and each unit
enhance classrooms for Information Technology-- all classrooms
- questions we'll need to address-- are faculty teaching in their area
of expertise? are they qualified? be able to verify.
- Dan Barron will speak to the Faculty Senate about SACS issues on
April 7
Assessment Data Warehouse
- IPA is developing an assessment data warehouse that will allow keyword searches
- it will have views of each of the 11 educational goals, along with results
and national norms
- questions not asked now can be added to existing surveys
Transcript Analysis
Phil Moore- if we can get each department to look at the General
Education goals and state what they emphasize or address in their courses,
the IPA office can match that information to transcripts.
General Education
Oral Communication
- the Dept of Speech and Theatre now assesses oral communications
Foreign Language Proficiency
- final exam in language tests proficiency
Computer Skills
- UNIV 101 has a nice lab for IT
- each department will report computer skills assessment
- IPA is adding computer skills questions to the alumni survey
Written Communication
- writing assessment is shaky, but incoming students wrote nearly as well
as expected of graduates
- how are we going to get our senior level writing samples?
Mathematical Skills
- problem-solving, eg. interpreting charts, performing math problems
- we should look at the SAT math of incoming students and whether they
enroll in math courses
Functioning within a social institution
- knowing why we have rules, being able to take another person's perspective
How do students obtain skills and how do we know?
- Since ACT no longer administers the COMP, perhaps we should look in
the public domain. An option is Regents College test.
- The College Base was administered to another SC research university
and then compared to non-research universities, which made them look better.
- General Education should be the same experience for all students
Closing Thoughts
- Don Stowe proposes that each department include a
way of assessing general education requirements in its strategic plan
.... tests, focus groups, interviews, portfolios (there can be multiple measures).
- It's our role (this committee) to create a culture of evidence.
- Don Stowe also proposes an assessment seminar for faculty.