Minutes of the Meeting of the Assessment Committee
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Academic Affairs Conference Room (2147), Founder’s Hall 3:30 p.m.
Present: Jeanne Butler, Greg Anderson, Paul Bishop, Karin Covalt, Ron Crocker, Kim Elliott, Jesse Hansen, Mary Kommers, George Lawson, Tami Moore, Sarah von Schrader and Scott Unruh
Absent: Gloria Vavricka
The meeting was called to order by Director of Assessment, Jeanne Butler, at the above time and place.
Director Butler introduced the new Graduate Assistant in the Office of Assessment, Jesse Hansen. She will be working with Sarah on assessment data analysis, setting up assessment reports in WEAVEonline, and chairing the Student Assessment committee.
Old Business:
- Assessment coordinator, von Schrader, handed out a Matrix of various assessment management packages that she researched and were considered for UNK use in advancing assessment practices. Based on the research of 6 software providers, the Assessment Office (AO) recommended WEAVEonline to the Senior Vice Chancellor who then gave his approval to purchase the software. WEAVEonline will be up and running by November 1, 2007. WEAVEonline consultants will provide support in getting the software up and running and to provide training to the AO. All the Oct. 1 departmental and program assessment reports will be put into WEAVE by the office of assessment. When departments start using the software for their 2008 reports, they will find their 2007 assessment data already input. Departments will only need to update their data, results and recommendations each year. Implementing this assessment management package will show NCA that UNK has moved to the next level of sophistication in making assessment an integral part of the university.
- von Schrader shared a copy of the May 4, 2007 Report on Assessment Climate Survey with Committee members. The survey was sent to all full-time faculty, and 123 responded. The Office of Assessment was pleased with the feedback. The responses indicated that many more faculty are involved in departmental assessment and that discussions on assessment are done on a regular basis in most departments.
New Business:
- Director Butler discussed the terms of committee members and indicated that Kay Hodge would be leaving the committee after many years of service to assessment at UNK. Other members indicated that they would be completing their 3 year terms after the 2007-2008 academic year.
- The handout regarding the North Central Association focused visit that Butler shared with participants of the Faculty Senate/UNK Administration Retreat was distributed to committee members. Senior VC Murray recently became an NCA evaluator and has learned that a focused visit to a campus is rarely done. It is the last step before an institution loses its accreditation. The seven major areas of concern noted by NCA were discussed. Butler indicated that UNK has made great strides in the last 3 years, and if we continue what we are doing, we should be on track to meet NCA requirements. All assessment reports will be on-line prior to NCA arriving on campus. Reports are to be in by October 1, 2007. If reports do not follow assessment guidelines, they will be returned to departments for revisions. Director Butler has been visiting the college meetings of department chairs to discuss the NCA visit and requirements and will visit department meetings to provide information when requested. The Office of Assessment will contact department chairs to get lists of faculty doing assessment research, attending assessment conferences, etc.
The major area of concern for the NCA visit is CD assessment. This has not been looked at by the WI/CD committee, since their main focus was WI. The office of assessment is in the process of collecting indirect measure data and will be looking at departmental reports of CD courses to provide assessment of this program. The CD survey will be administered the Sept. 17th-30th and results will be used as the indirect measure of CD attitudes and also will provide some items that are direct measures of CD knowledge. All undergraduate students at UNK will receive a request to complete the online survey. Results will be available by the next Assessment Committee meeting on October 11th.
Other:
NONE
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, October 11, at 3:30 p.m. in FNDH Room 2147.