self-reflection

Engaging in Self-Reflection: Using Assessment to Inform Retention Academic Advising Practices In Fall 2012, the College of Education (COE) Office of Student Academic Services (OSAS) began admitting freshmen students. Previously, students were admitted in their junior year under stringent admission criteria, including a fairly high GPA standard. Hence, COE students were academically strong from admission through graduation and retention issues were not a major concern. However, with the admission of freshman students, OSAS noticed an increase in students who struggled to maintain minimum GPA requirements. As a result, OSAS focused on expanding their retention efforts and developed a series of retention strategies aimed at assisting students placed on academic warning, probation, suspension, and dismissal. OSAS engaged students in self-reflection to identify reasons why they experienced academic difficulty. Retention interventions were designed with this goal in mind and include the following: notification letters every semester, resource handouts, mandatory retention advising appointments, a retention contract, and a student retention assessment survey. The results of the retention assessment survey were analyzed to guide and improve OSAS advising practices and support efforts for academically at-risk students. In addition, OSAS annually reviews their retention assessment procedures and goals to strengthen the overall assessment process, including increasing the survey completion response rate. This poster exhibit will present the process and timeline of the OSAS retention efforts from inception, present methods, preliminary results, and future goals.

Engaging in Self-Reflection: Using Assessment to Inform Retention Academic Advising Practices

Engaging in Self-Reflection: Using Assessment to Inform Retention Academic Advising Practices In Fall 2012, the College of Education …

The Communication Department’s mission is to meet the challenges and opportunities of communication in the emerging technological, multicultural, and global context of the twenty-first century. We offer one of two undergraduate programs in the School of Communications (College of Social Sciences), serving approximately 200 active Communication Department undergraduates, with an average of 80 graduates per year. Our program offers three area tracks with senior capstones. In each of these capstones, students create an e-portfolio that is used for program assessment. This poster reports the process and results of the Communication Department’s 2013 BA assessment. A panel of faculty and Advisory Board members assessed all the e-portfolios in the Communication in Communities track (n=40). A rubric with measurable items associated with our seven SLOs was employed. We present a summary report demonstrating the percentage of graduates at each level of the rubric (unacceptable, marginal, proficient, or exemplary) and report the total percentage meeting our benchmark for each SLO. We describe how the results of our annual assessment were shared with Communication faculty, and we outline the changes we have begun to implement that we anticipate will have the greatest impact on curricular improvement

Communication BA Curriculum Assessment Using e-Portfolios

The Communication Department’s mission is to meet the challenges and opportunities of communication in the emerging technological, multicultural, …

Students who utilize PAC's services learn their roles and responsibilities in the advising relationship; create a comprehensive plan that accounts for their academic and career endeavors; understand the steps along the pathway to professional school; learn about the available resources for applications, academic advising, campus engagement, and career development; perform a self-assessment that helps them identify their goals and determine their fit to an intended field of student. Utilization of PAC resources has continued to rise each year. Students have been very satisfied by the advising performance of PAC's undergraduate peer advisors.

Pre-Health / Pre-Law Advising Center

Students who utilize PAC’s services learn their roles and responsibilities in the advising relationship; create a comprehensive plan …

The Department of Psychology has adopted the learning goals and outcomes proposed by the American Psychological Association Task Force. We selected five major goals and outcomes to be assessed with surveys distributed to our undergraduates at the time they declare their major in psychology and again when graduating with their B.A. degree. The surveys serve as a means to determine whether the Student Learning Outcomes in our Psychology courses were achieved. The five major goals that are assessed include: 1) knowledge about psychological concepts and theory; 2) knowledge of basic research methods; 3) use of critical and creative thinking skills in solving problems; 4) understanding of how psychological concepts are used in everyday life; and 5) developing communication skills including writing, interpersonal and oral communication. Student rate the extent to which these goals were achieved at the time of graduation and their ratings are statistically compare to their earlier scores made at the time of major declaration. Analysis made of the rating scores obtained in the Fall 2008 to Spring 2009 academic year indicated significant improvement in attaining goals 1 and 2 (p

Principles That Guide Assessment

The Department of Psychology has adopted the learning goals and outcomes proposed by the American Psychological Association Task …

In the Spring of 2008, all students in Foundations in Writing (FW) courses were asked to select and submit the piece of writing that best exemplified the following Student Learning Outcome: “Students will be able to compose a text that seeks to achieve a specific purpose and responds adeptly to an identifiable audience.” Students were also asked to compose a 30-minute in-class reflection on their essay’s purpose and audience as a means of assessing students’ meta-cognitive understandings of their essay’s rhetorical situation. Employing a stratified-random sampling design, 208 (or 50%) of the essays submitted by first-year students were selected for scoring across the five FW course types: English 100 Mentored, English 100 Non-Mentored, English 101 Lab, English 100A, and English Language Institute 100. Given the wide variety of essay prompts, scorers assumed the intended audience to be a critically-informed reader. Essays were scored independently by two raters along a 4-point scale according to the following primary analytic traits: 1) content, 2) organization, 3) language and style, and 4) mechanics. In a separate session, in-class reflective essays were scored holistically on a 4-point scale. Overall, students scored at the “prepared” or “well prepared” levels at the following rates: content (72%), organization (57%), language and style (74%), mechanics (68%), and reflective pieces (48%). Students in mentored sections out-performed their non-mentored counterparts in all categories, scoring significantly higher on content, organization, and reflective pieces. Results point to potential areas for programmatic improvement and also indicate that the Writing Mentors Program is improving the quality of writing for first-year students.

How Well are First-Year Students Composing? Assessing the Foundations in Written Communication Program

In the Spring of 2008, all students in Foundations in Writing (FW) courses were asked to select and …

Practicum assessment utilizes an approach that helps ensure the masters of public health (MPH) students learn to take action and apply their knowledge and skills while participating in practicum projects in community organizations. The main tools of assessment include: supervision by a field preceptor, observation of the student in the field, completion of objectives and deliverables designated on the department-wide evaluation form, and a three-part critical thinking reflective paper written by the student. The practicum experience has resulted in students making significant service-learning contributions to community agencies, while these community agencies are preparing MPH students to enter the public health workforce.

Practicum Assessment from the Department of Public Health Sciences

Practicum assessment utilizes an approach that helps ensure the masters of public health (MPH) students learn to take …

Over the past several years the Department of Speech has collected data from Speech majors prior to their Fall or Spring graduation. Graduating majors complete an assessment instrument consisting of 50 multiple choice items culled from exams from all courses required to be taken by Speech majors. Questions are approximately evenly distributed across the 6 required courses. Scores are compared to those obtained from a sample of SP 151 students, i.e., largely, but not entirely, first year students who have had little to no experience in Speech courses other than SP 151. Graduating majors also complete a self-report survey assessing their perceptions of the department, the faculty, and their level of learning and achievement in the major.

Assessment of Retention of Content from Required Courses Using Comparison Groups

Over the past several years the Department of Speech has collected data from Speech majors prior to their …