Assessment and the University of the Future

This is a good article about the future of higher education that explains why assessment is important. http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/04/13/hlc

Reaccreditation

What is reaccreditation and why should I care about it?
Reaccreditation is like a giant peer review of the entire university that makes sure the university is actually doing what it is supposed to do, educating students. It's sort of like quality control in manufacturing. You should care because it is our chance to show other universities and the government how awesome we are, and in a broader sense that we should continue to exist.

Student meeting with the reaccreditation team: Monday, April 27th, 3PM, Pyle 309

Wikipedia article on what accreditation is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_accreditation

The University's self-study: "For Wisconsin and the World: A Great Public University"
http://www.greatu.wisc.edu/

Article on the future of accreditation: "More Meaningful Accreditation"
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/22/accredit

Do we learn anything outside the classroom?

Do you personally learn stuff outside of the classroom?
What do you learn outside of class? Is it the same stuff you learn in class?
When do you learn (internships, work study, daily life, student groups)?
How would you measure how much you learn?
How would you compare what you learn to what someone else learns?

Please brainstorm and share your ideas about/answers to the questions above!

The cutting edge of assessment is figuring out how to measure how and what students learn outside of the classroom, in the co-curricular, and then using that information to show government officials, alumni, prospective students, and other schools how awesome (or not) this school is compared to others.

This question comes from the University Assessment Council meeting yesterday. We discussed reaccreditation for much of the meeting, but we also broke into small groups to discuss the future of assessment at the UW.

University Assessment Council

The Assessment Council met last Tuesday, we discussed the mission of the committee, not much to report.

Last semester I remember discussing use of clickers in classrooms, here is an interesting article on the issue. http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/02/24/bruff

University Assessment Committee

The University Assessment Committee met this morning.

We discussed the purpose of the committee and a possible re-visioning of the committee. The big concern of the committee is the bleak budget future. There is fear that assessment will go by the wayside or will be used as a weapon against programs.

What this means for students: There is going to be some sort of trade-off among ACCESS-COST-QUALITY because of the poor economy/budget. Decisions about what we value should be made using data and be meaningful, not arbitrary.

University Assessment Council

The University Assessment Council (UAC) had it's October meeting (sorry this post is late).

Important stuff:

• Keep in mind that we are in the middle/end of University reaccreditation.
• UAC is going to be re-visioning the committee to serve the University better.
  
• I suggested re-doing the website to make it better reflect what the comittee does and to serve as a clearinghouse for data (maybe).
• UAC can visit this committee if we would like.
  

-Emily

Here is the agenda with my comments:

AGENDA

1. Welcome and introductions

2. Updates: Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE) and Higher Education Act and Public Disclosure - Jocelyn Milner

· wants UW to endorse statement on assessment in higher education

o critique of standardized testing

o thinks it’s pretty non-controversial to sign on to this – don’t want every institution in the nation to be judged on the same test

o UW has already signed on to the VSA – voluntary system of assessment, need to make sure these don’t contradict each other “college portrait”

§ Three tests possible CLA, MAPP, CAP(comes from ACT, proposal to move to this at UW)

· have chosen not to do testing right now, thinks we do enough already

· higher edu act 2008 –

o went beyond financial aid

o need to report on faculty student ratios

o lots of information that is going to be needed

o mandated public disclosure of exit plans of students and info on alumni

3. UW-Madison Re-accreditation Site Visit Update – Nancy Mathews

· site visitor wants to meet with committee in April 27-29^th, concerned with details

· be prepared to talk specifically about outcomes, specific programs, changes that have been made, activity not just intentions

o going to want to talk to students this spring

· making information more accessible – putting it on the web, information on changes made

4. Criterion 3 feedback – Nancy Mathews

* Observations and responses from UAC

http://www.greatu.wisc.edu/themes/criteria.html

Please bring a copy of Criterion 3 to the meeting (see link above).

·

5. Planning for the Future and Re-Visioning the UAC

To begin our discussion about the future role/scope of the Council, below are a few questions to help start the conversation.

a. Are there specific student learning and assessment efforts in your unit that link to Criterion 3 (build on Nancy’s comments)?

b. Are there other program efforts being pursued in your unit that are beyond/outside of the Student Learning focus?

c. If you could create a wish list for the next 1-3 years, what issues or priorities would your unit want to engage in related to assessment, program improvement, student learning, etc.? How can the UAC and other resources be of support?

6. Visits to schools/colleges/units

At our last meeting, we discussed scheduling discussions within your school/college/or unit regarding the upcoming Re-accreditation site visit, program assessment in general, university-wide strategies and plans, etc.

If this might be useful for your unit, with whom might this conversation include?

We will want to schedule these discussions soon.

Adjourn