University of Nebraska Kearney

Concerns:

1. The study of foreign language being such a lower mean was an expressed concern.
2. The lack of UNK's students having experiences outside of school with multicultural or diversity (i.e. studying abroad, international experiences) was an expressed concern.
3. There seems to be clusters of questions that are related to similar topics, which may link to the objectives of the GS Program.
4. Maybe the "perspective/categorical surveys" should be linked to more specific follow-ups of the NSSE "clusters."
5. It was mentioned that from year to year we will need to make sure that the NSSE kept the same numbers for each question and to link the questions with the objectives.
6. It was determined that the "clusters were linked to the following GS general objectives:
   • Objective 1 (ability to locate and gather. . .):
     • 1a, 1c, 1d, 1i, 2d, 7h, 11b, 11j, 11m, 11n
      
   • Objective 2 (capacity for critical thinking. . .):
     • 1c, 1d, 1i, 1t, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e, 3a, 6a, 7d, 7g, 7h, 11b, 11e, 11f, 11j, 11m, 11n
      
   • Objective 3 (effective communication skills. . .):
     • 1a, 1b, 1c, 1t, 1p, 2b, 2c, 2d, 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e, 7a, 7d, 7e, 7f, 7h, 8b, 11b, 11c, 11d, 11h, 11m
      
   • Objective 4 (an understanding of the. . .):
     • 1e, 1u, 6a, 7e, 7f, 10f, 11b, 11k, 11l, 11m
      
   • Objective 5 (environment/climate...):
     • 1n, 1o, 1k, 1q, 1s, 7b, 7c, 8b, 9a, 9d, 10a, 10b, 10e, 10f, 11i, 11o, 11p
      
    

Comment:

We should go through the NSSE tables (organized by clusters) and determine which questions we'd like to know more about on the categorical/perspective surveys at the June 6th retreat.
 

College Base (handouts of the test were given at the meeting along with c-base pilot comments) 

• Pros:
  1. Gives a normed score
  2. Can be used diagnostically for students
   
• Cons:
  1. Some stuff on it is content driven and may not be taught within each course
   
• Notes
  • Individual subtests take about an hour for students to complete
  • Approximately $2200-$2500 cost estimate based on 200 students (100 fresh/100 seniors)
   

Collegiate Learning Assessment (handouts of the test were given at the meeting) 

• Notes
  • Developed to measure critical thinking through writing
  • Approximately $6300 cost estimate based on 200 students (100 fresh/100 juniors).
  • It was mentioned that it may make more sense to look at UNK's current writing data from different departments.
   

CAAP by ACT (handouts of the test were given at the meeting) 

• Notes
  • The use of this test would eliminate a pre and post test as the majority of incoming freshmen would have already taken the ACT for admittance to UNK.
  • The students can take just the modules that best fit what we want to determine
  • The writing portion can be scored locally
  • The test scores on the CAAP can be matched to the individual ACT scores of students as a direct measure of growth in test performance
   

ETS Pilot of a new test for Technology

• Notes
  • This test is concerned with assessing technology for college students.
  • It is unclear of the specifics of the test at this point.
   

ETS Academic Profile

• Notes; Glen found this after the meeting
  • The Academic Profile consists of a battery of tests that can be used to measure General Education
   

Comments on Standardized Tests:

• So far for the assessment plan, it will say that we will examine what options are available to us and then look at what we are doing locally for the 05-06 school year.
• Determine if a norm test will provide information that is not otherwise available and then decide if one is needed.
• If a test is needed work out the logistics by sharing with faculty and gaining their acceptance of it and deciding how best to administer it.
• It was decided to drop getting the students' GRE data from the GS assessment plan.