Minutes
Meeting of the Assessment Committee
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Academic Affairs Conference Room (2122), Founder’s Hall 3:30 p.m.
Present: Bishop, Blauwkamp, Butler, Crocker, Cutler, Elliott, Fronczak, Hodge, Hoehner, Jackowiak, Powell, Wilke
Absent: Moore, Skinner, Unruh, Wheeler
The meeting was called to order by Glen Powell, committee chair.
- Powell distributed Building a Scholarship of Assessment by Trudy W. Banta and Associates. He encouraged committee members to use the book as a resource as it explores the scholarship aspect of assessment and how it fits into higher education.
- Subcommittee meetings were canceled for today, with next month’s meeting being a working session for the subcommittees.
- Powell expressed appreciation for those committee members who attended Wednesday’s CTE event. He was pleased with the overall attendance, with the range of assessment represented, and with the focus on using data for change, which is what NCA will be looking for on the next accreditation in 2014.
- Powell distributed charts detailing 2005 assessment report submission data. Reports were due 10/1/05, and as of 11/2/05, Powell and Butler had received:
- 45% of reports from the College of Fine Arts and Humanities
- 100% of reports from the College of Education
- 87% of reports from the College of Natural and Social Sciences
- 100% of reports from the College of Business and Technology
- 80% of reports from the Interdisciplinary Programs
Cumulatively they have received 81% of all reports by the beginning of November, compared to 82% by the end of the semester last year. Powell is encouraged by the numbers but acknowledges there is still work to do in building a campus culture of assessment that accepts that reporting must be done every year.
- Powell reemphasized the point that in order to meet the new NCA criteria effective this past year, we will have to move beyond data gathering to data interpretation, which could involve changes in programs and departments, so Powell has begun visiting with the college deans and with Dr. Murray to make them aware of this.
- Butler reported on the status of continuing education program assessment. She has been working with the continuing education committee, as well as Vavricka and McGahan to develop data collection between the distance education committee and the programs that offer distance education. She distributed a packet of information they have been taking to the appropriate departments and reported that the process is going very well and should be completed by the end of the month with assessment plans written (or revised) and submitted from each department.
- Finally, Powell encouraged committee members to think about attending the Higher Learning Commission Conference in Chicago, March 31-April 4. The conference topics include institutional assessment, general education, and using data to facilitate change, and Powell would like to see more members of the UNK community attending and specifically encouraged the assessment committee, as they are the chosen leaders of assessment on campus. Powell does have money in the budget to help members attend, and he suggested that this is a good opportunity to see what other institutions are doing, often discovering that other institutions go through the same problems we do.
Crocker asked how we compare to other institutions similar to UNK, and Powell said that a year ago, he would have said we were 7-10 years behind. Now he feels that in the realm of department assessment, we are comparable, though still behind in the areas of general education and in effectively using assessment data to make changes in programs. He feels that we are not behind in the assessment piece but in the application piece. Suggestion was made that the deans of each college be encouraged to attend the conference, as well, in order to increase their awareness of assessment issues.
- The meeting ended at 4:30.
Respectfully submitted,
Kim Elliott, Scribe
Glen Powell, Chair