Michael T. Stephenson Ginger Carney George Cunningham Jon Kotinek Leroy Dorsey Alicia M. Dorsey

https://youtu.be/eq70Lziph9M

Aggies Commit SACSCOC QEP Builds on Institutional History Culture of Commitment Intentionality

Aggies Commit …to create a culture that makes intentional and thoughtful engagement in transformative learning experiences the norm for all A&M students.

Aggies Commit Focus on integrative and lifelong learning achieved through intentional engagement in high-impact learning experiences A flexible, college/branch campus-based implementation process Our QEP calls for – The students to make a commitment to purposefully engage in high impact learning experiences and thoughtfully reflect on their learning experiences in order to develop the habits and skills for integrative learning and lifelong learning the institution to create a campus culture with opportunities and support for student engagement and reflection

Aggies Commit Student learning goal: develop habits and skills for integrative and/or lifelong learning Integrative learning: connections to experience and discipline; transfer; integrated communication; self-assessment Lifelong learning: curiosity, initiative, independence, transfer, reflection

Aggies Commit Institutional goal: provide supportive environment for achievement of student learning goal $8M Reallocation Coordination Assessment

Aggies Commit Implementation plan Identify SLO(s), articulate the connection to integrative learning and/or lifelong learning Strengthen/develop high impact learning experience(s) Provide effective advising and mentoring Identify meaningful partnership with co-curricular units Elicit individual student commitment and reflection Assess achievement

Integrative & Lifelong Learning QEP Theme Develop Global Competence Undergrad SLO Study Abroad High Impact Practice Assessment GPI, Reflections

Aggies Commit How do you “pass the test”? How do you create culture change? How do you decentralize an institutional initiative? How do you take HIPs to scale?

Curricular and Co-Curricular Ginger Carney, Science George Cunningham, Education & Human Development Leroy Dorsey, Liberal Arts Jon Kotinek, Honors & Undergraduate Research Alicia Dorsey, Institution Effectiveness & Evaluation

Undergraduate Research in the College of Science -------------------------------------------------------------------- Ginger E. Carney, Ph.D. Associate Dean for Assessment and College Climate Department of Biology Texas A&M University

Aggies Commit to Learning for a Lifetime Each college tasked with strengthening existing and/or developing new sustainable high impact learning experiences College of Science = Undergraduate Research Goal: increase participation by 10% by 2015 Challenges: departmental culture, capacity, student awareness of opportunities Chemistry and Physics require for graduation; Math had little participation

Strategies Associate Dean for Undergraduate Research (culture, awareness) Meetings with college stakeholders (students and faculty) to determine needs and goals (culture, capacity) Partnership with Health Science Center faculty (capacity) Increased advertising: opportunities, Aggies Commit t-shirts, new college website (awareness)

Course-based Research Experiences (capacity) Guided, intensive and independent investigation in a specific area Biology: Organelle Discovery Lab; Fungal Functional Genomics (NIH funded); Capstone Program (blended experience); Tropical Ecology Costa Rica (international field experience) Mathematics: Mathematical Modeling; Math Research Seminar Physics: DEEP (embedded in intro Physics) Undergraduates work in teams with graduate student facilitator to design projects for Physics Open House

Independent Research Experiences (capacity) One-on-one or small group research with a faculty member or in a faculty laboratory. 291/491 independent research courses (0 credit option) Paid opportunities (0 credit for tracking) Faculty NSF-REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) supplements (~1 student per grant) Work-study NSF-LSAMP (Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation) NSF funded summer programs: Mathematics, Chemistry, Cyclotron Institute, Physics and Astronomy

Aggies Commit to Learning for a Lifetime What progress have we made? College Goal: increase participation by 10% by 2015 Actual increase of 14% through 2015

What progress have we made? Implementation of 291/491 assessment measures NSF URSSA (indirect) Experimental design prompts (direct; in progress) Required laboratory safety training Faculty/Graduate Student Undergraduate Research Mentoring Awards College of Science Undergraduate Research Advisory Committee Increased emphasis on Math 491 (increased participation by 5X) Math went from 5 to >25/semester

George Cunningham

Jon Kotinek

Leroy Dorsey

Assessment Strategies for Aggies Commit 8 Student Learning Outcomes 13 Colleges PLUS co-curricular experiences 15 HIPs

Centralizing Assessment for a Decentralized Initiative Fundamental Assumptions: College/Division autonomy to select HIPs and SLOs based on mission and priorities Centralizing assessment strategies to ease burden for colleges/divisions AND ease attempts to reach university-wide conclusions Focus on what’s doable and meaningful

Basic Assessment Strategies Student Artifacts Survey Data Targeted Assignment Grades Hybrid Approach Student Artifacts Reflections based on targeted prompts and scored using rubrics (most commonly AAC&U rubrics) – CT, study abroad, eportfolios, internships, service learning Survey Data CAT test for critical thinking – pre-post design Global Perspective Inventory for social, cultural, and global competence (most often mapped to study abroad) Targeted Assignment grades Limited in use and must be specific assignments directly related to the SLO Presentation grade based on the HIP for communicate effectively SLO Hybrid Approach Experimental design survey

Challenges and Opportunities Scaling up for both HIPs and assessment Securing quality artifacts and data that reflect student learning and engagement Linking sources of data for a more complete picture

Thoughts? Comments? Questions?