Continuous Improvement Cycle

1. Continuous Improvement Cycle College of Micronesia – FSM Self Study Standard II October 2008 Presented by IRPO

2. Continuous Improvement Focuses on Meeting the College’s Mission Mission Statement • Historically diverse, uniquely Micronesian and globally connected, the College of Micronesia-FSM is a continuously improving and student centered institute of higher education. The college is committed to assisting in the development of the Federated States of Micronesia by providing academic, career and technical educational opportunities for student learning. Values • Learner-centeredness, professional behavior, innovation, honesty and ethical behavior, commitment and hard work, teamwork and accountability

3. Continuous Improvement Focuses on Learning • What students should know and be able to do (student and program learning outcomes) • How well the students are actually learning what is expected of them (actually assessing how well students are learning against the outcomes)

4. Continuous Improvement Focuses on Learning Two basic questions can assist in helping focus on learning. • Does this action improve and expand learning? • How do we know this action improves and expands learning? These two questions are not limited to academic programs, but also equally apply to administrative and support services decision making.

5. Learning-Centered Principles for Community Colleges • The learning college creates substantive change in individual learners. • The learning college posters partnerships… • In the beginning of student’s academic career • In the classroom • And continue partnerships after students leave institution • The learning college engages learners in the learning process as full partners, assuming primary responsibility for their own choices • The learning college creates and offers as many options for learning as possible. • The learning college assists learning to form and participate in collaborative learning activities. • The learning college defines the roles of learning facilitators by the needs of the learners. • The learning college and its learning facilitators succeed only when improved and expanded leaning can be documented for its learners.

7. Seven Principles of Good Practice in Teaching/Learning 1. Encourages Contact Between Students and Faculty 2. Develops Reciprocity and Cooperation Among Students 3. Encourages Active Learning 4. Gives Prompt Feedback 5. Emphasizes Time on Task 6. Communicates High Expectations 7. Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning • Chickering and Gamson, 1987 adapted from Ehrman and Chickering 1998

8. Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just by sitting in class listening to teachers, memorizing prepackaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves. --Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson, "Seven Principles for Good Practice," AAHE Bulletin 39: 3-7, March 1987

9. Teaching Strategies for Learning Centered • Active Learning is, in short, anything that students do in a classroom other than merely passively listening to an instructor's lecture. • Cooperative learning is defined by a set of processes which help people interact together in order to accomplish a specific goal or develop an end product which is usually content specific. • Collaborative learning (CL) is a personal philosophy, not just a classroom technique. In all situations where people come together in groups, it suggests a way of dealing with people which respects and highlights individual group members' abilities and contributions. There is a sharing of authority and acceptance of responsibility among group members for the groups actions.

10. Bloom’s Taxonomy • Knowledge To know specific facts, terms, concepts, principles, or theories • Comprehension To understand, interpret, compare and contrast, explain • Application To apply knowledge to new situations, to solve problems • Analysis To identify the organizational structure of something; to identify parts, relationships, and organizing principles • Synthesis To create something, to integrate ideas into a solution, to propose an action plan, to formulate a new classification scheme • Evaluation To judge the quality of something based on its adequacy, value, logic, or use

11. Active & Cooperative Learning

12. Deep versus Surface Learning

13. College of Micronesia – FSM Dimensions of Learning 1. Workplace readiness and general skills 2. Content Knowledge/Discipline-Specific Knowledge and Skills 3. “Soft Skills” (Noncognitive Skills) 4. Student engagement with learning When FSM leaders look at graduates what are they looking for?

14. SCANS • THE FOUNDATION – competence requires: • Basic Skills – reading, writing, arithmetic and mathematics, speaking, and listening; • Thinking Skills – thinking creatively, making decisions, solving problems, seeing things in the mind’s eye, knowing how to learn, and reasoning’ • Personal Qualities – individual responsibility, self-esteem, sociability, self-management, and integrity. • COMPETENCIES - effective workers can productively use: • Resources – allocating time, money, materials, space, and staff; • Interpersonal Skills – Working on teams, teacher others, serving customers, leading negotiating, and working well with people from culturally diverse backgrounds: • Information – acquiring and evaluating data, organizing and maintaining files, interpreting and communicating, and using computers to process information: • Systems – understanding social, organization, and technological systems, monitoring and correcting performance, and design or improving systems; • Technology – selecting equipment and tools, applying technology to specific tasks and maintaining and troubleshooting technologies. • Also see handout on Employability 2000+

15. Assessing for Learning • Definition of Assessment • The college has adopted the definition of assessment from Thomas A. Angelo: (AAHE Bulletin, November 1995, P.7) • Assessment is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning. It involves making our expectations explicit and public; setting appropriate criteria and high standards for learning quality; systematically gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence to determine how well performance matches those expectations and standards; and using the resulting information to document, explain, and improve performance. When it is embedded effectively within larger institutional systems, assessment can help us focus our collective attention, examine our assumptions, and create a shared academic culture dedicated to assuring and improving the quality of higher education.

16. Principles & Assumptions of Assessment • The assessment process is messy and inexact, but must be done as precisely as possible • Outcomes measures should be as direct as possible, although indirect methods, such as industry perceptions, must be included and should somehow use existing artifacts. • Industry-specific professional testing measures of competence may be applied. • Assessment must impact improvement of curriculum, policy, and planning • Decisions arising out of assessment results are not meant to be punitive; rather, they are to be used for program and service improvements. • Assessment is most effective when it reflects an understanding of learning as multidimensional, integrated, and revealed in performance over time. • Assessment works best when the programs it seeks to improve have clear, explicitly stated purposes. • Assessment is a goal-oriented process.

17. Assessment Techniques • Two Basic Ways to Assess Student Learning: • Direct – The assessment is based on an analysis of student behaviors or products in which they demonstrate how well they have mastered learning outcomes. • Indirect – The assessment is based on an analysis of reported perceptions about student mastery of learning outcomes. The perceptions may be self-reports by students, or they may be made by others, such as alumni, fieldwork supervisors, employers, or faculty. • There are always pros and cons for any assessment technique – no assessment technique is perfect – assessment techniques should be selected based on Principles of Good Assessment Techniques

18. Properties of Good Assessment Techniques • Valid—directly reflects the learning outcome being assessed • Reliable—including inter-rater reliability when subjective judgments are made • Actionable—results point reviewers toward challenges that can be approached • Efficient and cost-effective in time and money • Engaging to students and other respondents —so they’ll demonstrate the extent of their learning • Interesting to faculty and other stakeholders —they care about results and are willing to act on them • Triangulation —multiple lines of evidence point to the same conclusion

19. Strategies for Direct Assessment of Student Learning • Published Tests • Locally-Developed Tests • Embedded Assignments and Course Activities • Portfolios • Collective Portfolios

20. Strategies for Indirect Assessment of Student Learning • Surveys • Interviews • Focus Groups • Rubrics • Employer’s views

21. Program Assessment and Program Review Purpose of Program Review (ACCJC) • Construct an effective, integrated system of program review, planning, and resource allocation • Enable the institution to continually assess its effectiveness • Use results of this assessment to advance effectiveness and educational quality

22. Program Assessment and Program Review Differences between Program Assessment and Program Review • Program-level assessment means we look at learning on the program level (not just individual student or course level) and ask what all the learning experiences of a program add up to, at what standard of performance (results). • Program review looks for program-level assessment of student learning but goes beyond it, examining other components of the program (mission, faculty, facilities, demand, etc.)

23. LONG RANGE PLAN Purpose, Vision, Mission Long Term Goals and Objectives Multi-Year Financial Plan ADJUST / DEVELOP ANNUAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN Establish/adjust institutional priorities to guide college’s resource allocation Establish/adjust annual college performance budget & performance plan based on evaluation Establish/adjust annual campus, division, program, & project improvement plans based on evaluation Update strategic plan yearly Community Stakeholders Engagement 1 3 – 5 YEARS COM-FSM STRATEGIC & TECHNICAL PLANS (Technology Plan, Facilities Plan, Communications Plan, etc) 5 EVALUATION AND REPORTING (Annually & Quarterly) Quarterly performance reports to BOR & FSM/OIA/JEMCO Program evaluation (ongoing cycle) Evaluation of annual improvement plans impact & results Individual Performance Evaluation ANNUAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN(s) Annual college performance budget & performance plan Annual campus, division, program, & project improvement plans (1 – 3 SMART objectives with timelines, needed resources, obstacles, etc.) INSTITUTIONAL ASSESSMENT (course and program evaluation based on student learning outcomes, institutional effectiveness indicators, general and specific surveys, etc.) 2 4 ACTIONS STEPS (IMPLEMENTATION) Quarterly work plans Implementation activities Real time compiling of evidence 3 Continuous Improvement Cycle Linking Planning, Evaluation & Resource Allocation

24. Program Assessment & Program Review ACCJC & COM-FSM • See the section of the IAP Handbook on Program Assessment & Program Review

25. Institutional Surveys

26. Academic &Student Services Program Indicators

27. Administrative and Support Services Assessment • Steps for Administrative Assessment Process • Establish a linkage to the institution’s mission • Established department, office or unit administrative mission statement • Develop administrative objectives • Identify means of assessment and criteria for assessment • Conduct Assessment Activities • Close the loop–collective reflection and action

28. Worksheets • Mission and Outcomes Development Worksheet # 1 • Assessment Plan Worksheet # 2 • Assessment Report Worksheet #3 • Worksheets are designed to link activities to college’s mission • One, two, three or four objectives is sufficient if those objectives representative your priorities

29. Missions and Outcomes/Objectives Worksheet #1 Unit/Program Goals:

30. Assessment Plan Worksheet #2 Timeline Comments:

31. Assessment Report Worksheet #3 First Means of Assessment for Evaluation Question Identified Above (from your approved assessment plan): Second Means of Assessment for Evaluation Question Identified Above (from your approved assessment plan):

32. Process and usages • Planning • Establish in cooperation with staff one or system SMART goals & objectives (Make sure these are your priority goals and objectives) based on review of programs assessment and program review in the annual improvement plans • Ensure that all program plans reflect the college's dimensions of learning • Allow one or two SMART goals and objectives (if needed) based on review of programs assessment and program review at campus, program office level in the annual improvement plan • For academic programs ensure that programs have identified specific strategies that will improve student learning against selected outcomes. • In cooperation with appropriate staff establish and update department/campus level/institutional sub plans (Academic master plan, campus plans, Facilities Master Plan, etc.) • Monitor Implementation and Progress • Require development and submission of action plans that specify the objective (s) (SMART), person responsible, timeline and budget for the different goals and outcomes • Require timely (monthly) reports on accomplishments against objectives • Ensure data and evidence is being collected, reported and analyzed as part of the implementation process • Document planning and implementation efforts in minutes, reports, etc. • Communicate all relevant information, plans and reports to the appropriate staff, the college community and college stakeholders and how the college is meeting its mission

33. Process and usages • Evaluation • Negotiate annual improvement and assessment plans with direct supports based on program assessment/program review and department/unit/campus & institutional priorities • Develop and implement strategies to assess courses and programs that are given at more than one campus • Develop and implement strategies to triangulate data • Forward assessment plans to Assessment Committee for review and approval (meet college standards) • Monitor • implementation of improvement plans • collection, reporting and analysis of data and evidence • Review program assessment and program review reports before sending to assessment committee • Ensure that a majority of improvement recommends can be implemented within existing resource structure • Review program assessment and program review reports with key staff to establish department/unit/campus priorities • Base new improvement goals & objectives on assessment results and department/unit/campus priorities • Update planning documents based on program assessment and program review • Input department/unit/campus priorities into discussion and development of Institutional Priorities • Document all steps in minutes, reports, etc. • Use the WASC rubrics and other institutional or regional level information as an evaluation tool at least on a semiannual basis • Communicate all relevant assessment information, findings, plans and reports to the appropriate staff, the college community and the college stakeholders

34. Process and usages • Resource Allocation • Ensure that budget development at the department/unit/campus level reflect program assessment and program review • In line item budgets • In performance budgets • Remember: • Our biggest resource are our human resources. How we allocate our time reflects our priorities • Develop Institutional Priorities based on review of program assessment and program review priorities as established at department/unit/campus (current plans call for development of institutional priorities at the annual President’s Retreat to all full college participation in review of program assessment and review and how that assessment impact development of institutional priorities. • Note: Program assessment and program review will identity numerous needs for financial and human resources (It is likely beyond the institutions ability to meet all the resources needs). The institutional priorities are the mechanism that determines the priorities for resource allocation across the college system. • Develop college budget and allocation of improvement resources based on institutional priorities • Ensure committee and working group minutes reflect review and use of institutional priorities in resource allocation. • Communicate all relevant information, findings, plans and reports to the appropriate staff, the college community and the college stakeholders

35. Process and usages • General • Restructure meetings to focus on accomplishments against objectives and upcoming activities that focus on objectives (information sharing and planning). • Ensure that monthly, quarterly and annual reports focus on accomplishments against objectives. • Always be aware of how what you are doing links to the college’s mission and priorities. • Completion of decision grids would help the planning process and clarify roles and responsibilities. • Consider adoption of a formal decision making process for the college. • Communicate, communicate, communicate

36. Assessment Tips for the Top - Beno • Be Informed • Communicate • Provide reassurance • Provide support • Be efficient, inclusive – and respectful of what’s already going on • Provide rewards • Provide funding • Aim for broad involvement • Institutionalize • Codify

37. Thanks.