CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, CHICO AURA PROJECT (ALL UNIVERSITY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ASSESSMENT) Presented By: Sarah Blackstone, Gail Corbitt, Chuck Worth CSU Chico

HISTORY OF AURA Joint AAHE/WASC Assessment conference in Glendale, Fall 2004 Team was chosen by director of Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning  Widely representative of the campus  Purpose of the conference was to plan a project in assessment  We roughed out a plan to bring the campus up to speed in program assessment and to make assessment a part of our 5-year program review process  More importantly, the individual members gelled into a team  Currently a team of 10—6 from the original team

Break-Out What are the critical success factors for assessment or assurance of learning? Break into small groups and generate a list Build the group list from the nominal groups

First Steps on Campus Team returned to campus and the President created AURA.  Our charge was to assist the campus in the assessment of student learning outcomes. Conducted a review of current program assessment  97% of departments reported having student learning outcome statements, and 86% reported they were actually assessing these outcomes  AURA collected the existing student learning outcomes for each program and found that much of the self- reporting was in error. AURA began development of a set of definitions, a web site, and a series of assignments for departments to complete.

Talking about assessment--Vocabulary The importance of a common vocabulary  Program mission  Goals? Objectives? Outcomes?  Student learning outcomes  Course alignment matrices  Direct vs indirect assessment methods  Embedded assessment techniques  “Communication is essential. Get everything up on the web.” – Jerry Pritchard

Talking about assessment--Philosophy Philosophy…why we assess…  What do we value?  “Tell students what you value. Don’t keep it a secret.” –Amy Driscoll  Use best practices (AAHE handout)  Doing the right thing right! Intentional curriculum Reflective departments Culture of evidence

Timelines and First Task The importance of a timeline…(handout) They want it when?!? “Most of us don’t have to assess every objective in every objective in every student every year! Assessment should be meaningful, manageable, and sustainable.” –Mary Allen No more than six (6) statements of student learning outcomes (SLOs) for each of your baccalaureate degree programs.

THE WEB SITE—FIRST TRY Who’s in charge? Where will it live? What will it look like? What must it contain? Who will maintain it?

THEY’VE TURNED IT IN—NOW WHAT? Prompt feedback is very important to continued success Feedback is not policing, did not want to fall into the submit, resubmit, and submit some more syndrome. Faced with the Mission, Goals, and SLO’s for over 60 programs we needed a reasonable way to help departments establish meaningful, manageable, sustainable assessment  Each member of AURA took responsibility for the reports from their own college  In very large colleges, a second AURA member helped review the reports  The college representatives then met with department members to discuss their reports and made suggestions for improvement

Program Assessment Process Student Learning Outcomes (measurable) Program Mission and Goals Curriculum Assessment of Student Learning Recommendations for Program Improvement

The Outcomes/Course Alignment Matrix Stage 1 – Ensuring a Cohesive Curriculum In which courses are which outcomes introduced, practiced, mastered? Stage 2 – Developing an Assessment Plan What student artifacts can be used to measure progress? CourseSLO 1SLO 2SLO 3SLO 4 151II 177PI 201PI 277PP 340M - oral presentation M 477P - term paper

Securing funding for assessment Fund it and they will come! Sources that AURA has tapped… CELT WASC VPPRA (Academic Program Review) Hide

Developing a Call for Grant Proposals and Evaluating Proposals Important to develop a proposal form that ensures focused work on assessment Needed to allow enough flexibility for departments to request the kind of help they really needed Needed a form that was brief, to the point, and allowed the committee to quickly review and fund proposals All members of AURA read and scored the proposals All departments receiving funding completed a report of their activities to AURA in February 06

Internal Workshops/Coaching At each stage of the process—from listing goals and SLO’s to establishing a assessment plan, college representatives have been reviewing reports from departments and providing feedback AURA has held several internal workshops to review work already completed and provide help with assignments recently given

Next Steps: Course-Embedded Measures Use existing course assignments to measure learning outcome performance Develop scoring rubrics Engage a variety of evaluators, as deemed appropriate  Course instructors  External evaluators Other faculty External stakeholders Other students

Developed Web-based system: STEPS Started Fall 2002 Now in use since Fall 2004 Allows for different reviewers, rubrics, work samples (like refereed publication review – double blind) Builds enterprise repository for visitation teams, re-assessment (example GE and Business), etc. (choose CSU Chico and view training materials – can’t sign in)

Developing a Rubric

Analyze Results: F04 Writing example

Fall 2004 Scores (%) by Selected Majors

Ongoing Website Development

NEW CHALLENGES GE Assessment  Working with existing committees—WASC, GEAC, Faculty Senate  Establishing a plan of action  Setting up steering committees  Establishing SLO’s  Engaging the faculty  Collecting work samples  Evaluating work samples  Reporting to the campus

NEW CHALLENGES…continued New Academic Program Review  Assessment is key component of 5 Year Reviews (accountability is the other)  Assessment as continuous and cumulative  Follows WASC CFRs pertinent to assessment with a focus on— Program mission, goals, outcomes…alignment Processes established for assessing SLOs Importance of documenting the process  FYR is now consequential…which makes assessment consequential.

MOVING FORWARD Establishing a culture of evidence on the campus Establishing a yearly reporting cycle  Delivered to and reviewed by the Dean of the College  Used as a major component of a completely redesigned 5-year review process Doing ourselves out of a job  Moving responsibility for assessment to the colleges  Moving support for assessment into the Center for Teaching and Learning