QTA Committee Accomplishments 2021/22

“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 contribution to that end through the following accomplishments:

Continue to pilot assessment tools designed for foundation core goals and monitor the assessment implementation, results, and recommendations for continuous improvement.

• A written communication pilot involving 13 faculty across the three schools tested the training process and the rubric for campus-wide assessment in 2022-23. The pilot helped define a training framework that Dr. Joshua Hill and the QTA co-chairs used in May 2022 to train 69 faculty for the campus-wide assessment in 2022-23.
• In Fall 2021, QTA reviewed the collaboration pilot results from Spring 2021. The committee felt that additional work on the collaboration rubric and/or the process for training faculty needed an additional pilot. A small group of faculty discussed the rubric and possible training and outreach that faculty would require for a successful assessment. QTA will work on a training framework for collaboration and a second pilot in Spring 2023.
• The committee reviewed the Technological Literacy rubric and its previous pilot (2020-21). QTA determined that no changes were needed to the rubric or the assessment process. The co-chairs created a training video to distribute to faculty selected for the campus-wide assessment in 2022-23.
• Students completed the Qualitative Thinking pre- and post-test for the third year. The Qualitative Thinking data set includes 1,424 student-completed pre-tests and 1,867 post-tests. Initial results indicate growth in qualitative thinking skills. In-depth analysis of results at the college and school level are available in the 2021-22 Core Report.
• QTA distributed campus- and school-wide results of the critical thinking assessment completed in 2020-21 through the 2020-21 Core Report. Additionally, an infographic distributed across campus provided an easy tool for responding to faculty’s request for sharing results. Core Education outcomes results, including Critical Thinking, are used by faculty to analyze their students’ progress in the foundation skills and are discussed in detail in program reviews.

Review and revise the academic assessment report template and core report format to promote and streamline quality assessment documentation and the usefulness of the reports.

• The committee completed an update to the Course-Level Assessment template in the Fall 2021. The updates emphasize documenting actions initiated from previous assessments; improving documentation of benchmarks, assessment mechanisms, and results; and specifying actions to be taken due to the assessment with appropriate timelines.
• Over Summer 2021, the co-chairs finalized the new Core report format and used it for the 2020-21 Core Report.

Collaborate with administrative units and academic leaders as they continue to advance the assessment practices and documentation in their work area.

• QTA provided professional development sessions on course, program, and core assessment to the Deans’ Council in July 2021 and to department heads, program directors, and lead faculty in January 2022. Additionally, QTA co-chairs provided in-depth comments on course-level assessments and annual school reports to Deans to advance assessment work on campus.

Offer assessment-related professional development for internal stakeholders.

• QTA co-chairs provided assessment sessions to new faculty and specific school divisions throughout the academic year and the College during the May professional development days. Departments & divisions that QTA met with included Enrollment Management, Radiography, and Business.

Support the work of the Self-Study Steering Committee and Work Groups as they prepare for a peer evaluators team visit to complete the re-accreditation process from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE).

• The 2020-21 QTA co-chairs, Mary Jo Saxe and Tracey Amey, served as the MSCHE re-accreditation self-study co-chairs through the 2021-22 academic year, including providing oversight for the February/March 2022 peer evaluators team virtual visit. They provided extensive support to the Steering Committee, drafting the self-study report and gathering evidence for the self-study. Additionally, they served as the campus resource for all assessment-related questions and materials for the self-study.
• QTA members participated in the evaluation team site virtual site visit. The initial report from the visiting team complimented the College’s assessment efforts.