University of Nebraska Kearney

Minutes of the Meeting of the Assessment Committee
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Academic Affairs Conference Room (2147), Founder’s Hall 3:30 p.m.

Present: Karin Covalt, Ron Crocker, Kim Elliott, Kay Hodge, Bethany Hyatt, Mary Kommers, George Lawson, Tami Moore, Sarah von Schrader and Gloria Vavricka

Absent: Jeanne Butler, Greg Anderson, Paul Bishop and Scott Unruh

The meeting was called to order by Coordinator of Assessment von Schrader at the above time and place.

Old Business:

1. The WI/CD Committee will be transferring WI assessment duties to the Office of Assessment. Assessment plans are in place and data will be collected for the first time next year. The time-line for the transfer of duties will be decided at the next meeting of the WI/CD Committee.
   
   
2. The Data Analysis Committee has been working on some of the same issues as the Assessment Committee. At their next meeting, they will be sure their charge has been met, and if this has been done, the Committee will go on hiatus for the next year and a final decision on the usefulness of continuing the committee will be made thereafter.

New Business:

3. Since the last meeting of the Assessment Committee, Director Butler has initiated several updates to the assessment website. Kim Elliott presented the new page for the NCA Focused Visit. The page contains nine buttons, which will take users directly to the related information. The nine buttons include the seven areas of focus listed in the 2004 NCA report, as well as a link to UNK Self-Study documents and departmental assessment documents: They include
   
   
   1. NCA Self Study.
   2. Faculty Commitment to Assessment
   3. Stable Infrastructure to Support Assessment
   4. Assessment of Distance Learning
   5. Assessment of General Studies
   6. Assessment of Writing Intensive
   7. Assessment of Cultural Diversity
   8. Academic Department Assessment
   9. Recognition for Exemplary Assessment Practices
      
      
4. New assessment report guidelines were shared and discussed with Committee members.
   The two bolded sections (V. Interpretation of the data collected and & VI. Actions to be taken based on the data) should be particularly emphasized in the 2007 reports. The new guidelines provide clarification of the previous guidelines for assessment reports, with only very minor substantive changes. Committee members were asked to review and advise the Office of Assessment if they felt something was missing or needed additional clarification.
   
   
5. von Schrader distributed the new Assessment Culture Survey and asked members to review it. It was suggested that “NA” should be included on most or all questions. Because this is geared primarily to faculty, it would make sense to use a filter to take various groups to specific survey questions. This Climate Survey will be sent to faculty in early April 2007.

There being no further business to come before the Committee, meeting adjourned at 4:20 p.m. The next meeting of the Committee will be Thursday, April 12, at 3:30 p.m. in FNDH Room 2147.