QTA Committee Accomplishments 2018/19

“The effectiveness of an institution rests upon the contribution that each of the institution’s programs and services makes toward achieving the goals of the institution as a whole.” (Middle States Commission on Higher Education).

QTA continues its contributions to that end through the following accomplishments:

Monitor the implementation, review results, and provide recommendations for current core curriculum assessment practice.

• The 2017-2018 Core Report was the first report to contain assessment process of the new core education model. Critical and Ethical Thinking was the first foundation goal assessed utilizing common rubrics designed and piloted by faculty representatives from the six academic schools. The 2017-2018 Core Report included limited outcome data but more importantly described the process of assessment for the new core foundation goals. Feedback provided by the pilot group lead to minor revisions and a second faculty test group will use one rubric, the  Critical Thinking Applied Technology,  in 2018-2019.  
• The 2017-2018 Core Report provided no recommendations for the core goals of Citizenship and Cultural Sensitivity or Physical Mental Fitness since it was the final cycle of assessment for these core goals; however, outcome data from the assessment report was shared with appropriate stakeholders.

Research, review and recommend assessment processes for the foundation core goals specified in the proposed framework.

• QTA developed a New Core Assessment Timeline that was shared with academic leaders and lives on QTA’s portal page.
• Members recommended the communication foundation specifically incorporate oral communication as well as written.
• A technological literacy rubric was developed and piloted with positive feedback from the focus group. After minimal revisions, this rubric will be piloted to a larger group in 2020-2021.
• A faculty workgroup designed a common rubric to assess the Collaboration Core Foundation goal and the initial pilot using this rubric is scheduled for Spring 2020.
• The second pilot of the Critical Thinking Foundation Core goal utilized a single rubric and tested the online delivery mechanism using Qualtrics (electronic survey). The focus group suggested investigating and developing an online delivery tool that may be user-friendly for campus-wide application.

Study the revised MSCHE assessment processes to guide continued compliance with the Standards for Accreditation and Requirements of Affiliation.

• In fall 2018, QTA completed document roadmaps for Standards IV, V and VI. The roadmap will be used as a review of compliance for all standards in upcoming self-study.
• Co-chairs attended the 2018 MSCHE Annual Conference.

Collaborate with administrative units as they continue to develop their assessment practices.

• QTA members presented a follow-up workshop for assessment responsibilities of administrative units. The workshop titled, “Annual Assessment – One Year On”. Attendees learned what closing the loop means in assessment and how to use it to demonstrate continuous improvement in their work area.
• QTA co-chairs conducted individual training sessions with leadership from General Services, Facilities and Events, and Enrollment Management.
• QTA reviewed and offered feedback for the initial annual assessment report from administrative units and noted several outstanding examples.

Continue to offer assessment-related professional development for internal stakeholders.

• “Preparing Course Level Assessment for Program Review” and “New Core Curriculum – Timing, Mapping and Assessing” were the two courses offered for the 2018 Assessment Academy in the fall with the intended audience being academic leadership.
• Throughout the fall and spring semesters, QTA co-chairs offered small group assistance and open workshops along with Core Implementation leadership to provide education on incorporating new core curriculum into programs.
• QTA co-chairs, the Registrar and leadership from Core Implementation Committee presented to an All-Faculty meeting in January 2019 to highlight faculty’s role in new core curriculum implementation.

Promote the President’s Award for Outstanding Assessment of Student Learning to the campus community.

• QTA committee reviewed and revised the potential recipients and criteria to include administrative units to demonstrate the quality of assessment activity campus-wide. A new user-friendly application was designed and the title was changed to President’s Award for Outstanding Assessment.