The Assessment of Student Learning Committee recommends the following changes in assessment activities in 2007-08:
Assessment week/work day activities will be continued next year. We found that meeting together was advantageous, giving all the opportunity to communicate their ideas and to focus on the job at hand. This also provided the committee the opportunity to give specific instruction and an outline of the steps needed to complete assessment goals and results.
We have found the attendance of assessment conferences to be of great benefit in the understanding of the assessment process. These conferences also allow the comparison of PCC with other colleges’ assessment programs. While observing presentations and engaging in conversations with representatives from other colleges we have found that PCC compares favorably. These professional development opportunities should be made available for the next year. The opportunity to attend two regional conferences in Aurora, Colorado and Albuquerque, New Mexico should be made available to as many committee members and other faculty members as budgets will allow.
One of the ideas that came from these conferences is to develop goals that will provide data over a longer period to show a trend in results. This will make it easier to make changes based on actual results from our plans.
The ASL Committee encourages faculty members who have not previously been involved in assessment to attend one of these conferences.
Members of the ASL Committee are currently working on an Action Project to integrate the results of Assessment into the strategic planning process. It is recommended that this Action Project be continued. The committee is also trying to link more professional development on Assessment into the College’s goal of improving retention and graduation rates.
With the intention of closing the loop the ASL committee would recommend the implementation of adding a measurement of the changes that were identified in one year to the assessment report for the following year. These measurements would show identified changes are being implemented and measured.
Due to the success of several of the short workshops on Assessment Topics the ASL Committee recommends the continuation and expansion of these activities. The goal for next year would be the offering of one work shop per month during the 2007-08 academic year.