Assessment of General Education Social Sciences Knowledge and Skills Area

1. SUNY General Education Assessment Conference November 13, 2003 Assessment of General Education Social Sciences Knowledge and Skills Area Presenters Frances Dearing, Assessment Coordinator fdearing@monroecc.edu Wanda Willard, Assistant Professor, Psychology wwillard@monroecc.edu Susan J. Belair, Chair, Anthropology/History/Political Science/Sociology sbelair@monroecc.edu

2. PRESENTATION OVERVIEW • MCC’s Assessment Liaison System • Assessment Liaison Experience General Education Social Sciences • Faculty / Department Chair Perspective • Conclusion • Group Discussions • Creative ideas to build faculty ownership of assessment

3. History of Assessment Monroe Community College 1990 Assessment SUNY President Assessment Committee Committee Liaison Committee Liaison Committee Liaison Committee Liaison Department Assessment Coordinators Department Assessment Coordinators Department Assessment Coordinators Department Assessment Coordinators

4. Monroe Community College Assessment Organization 2000 – Current Vice President Academic Services Dean Curriculum & Program Development Assessment Coordinator Office of Outcomes and Assessment Discipline Assessment Liaisons General Education Program Assessment Liaisons Career Programs Faculty Assessment Committees Faculty Assessment Committees

5. Discipline Assessment Liaisons • General Education • Ten Knowledge and Skills Areas • Two Competency Areas • One Liaison per Area • Three Year Rotation Cycle

6. Program Assessment Liaisons • Career Programs • Seventy Career Programs • One liaison per three to five related programs • Seven year rotation cycle

7. ASSESSMENT LIAISON RECRUITING CRITERIA • Recommendations from Vice President of Academic Services, Deans and Department Chairs • Achievement of tenure and college contributions • Evidence of team building interpersonal skills and tenacity • Demonstrated/or potential leadership and accountability • Possesses a sense of humor • Knowledgeable of faculty and administrative politics

8. ASSESSMENT LIAISON INCENTIVES • Release time (3.0 hours) for two semesters • Support and guidance from Assessment Office • Advice and feedback from Institutional Research • Availability of internal and external assessment training • Recognition from College for promotions and/or personnel file

9. Assessment Liaison Experience General EducationSocial Sciences

10. General Education Social Sciences Assessment • 2 campuses • 3 extension centers • 6 departments • 33 courses • 59 faculty members • 127 course sections • 4,836 enrolled students

11. Departments Represented and Diversity of Courses Assessed ANT 102: Cultural Anthropology ANT 201: Native American Peoples and Culture ECO 101: Introduction to Economics GEG 102: Human Geography POS 110: Introduction to Political Science PSY 101: Introductory Psychology SOC 101: Introductory Sociology SOC 200: Social Problems • Anthropology • Economics • Geography • Political Science • Psychology • Sociology

12. Benefits of Assessment Liaison System • Administrative support • Assessment Coordinator, Office of Assessment, release time, training, support of division deans and senior administration • Effective and ongoing dialogue among faculty • course and curriculum development

13. Benefits (cont.) • Establishing course learning outcomes • to better match SUNY General Education Social Sciences learning outcomes • Streamlining curriculum • evaluating courses that meet/do not meet the requirements of SUNY General Education Social Sciences

14. Benefits (cont.) • Better understanding of the difference between teaching objectives and student learning outcomes • teaching objectives = what instructors should teach in a given course • student learning outcomes = what students actually learn in a course • Greater appreciation of faculty commitment to teaching and learning

15. Challenges of Assessment Liaison System • Developing common learning outcomes among diverse courses and disciplines • Determining assessment measures to be used, given diverse courses and educational philosophies • course-embedded • grade-dependent

16. Challenges (cont.) • Designing assessment measures to better correspond with needed statistical information • frequency distributions per learning objective • Including adjunct faculty in assessment process • different campuses and extension sites • evening and Saturday courses

17. Challenges (cont.) • Managing and overseeing complete assessment process for social sciences • number of courses, faculty, departments, and sites involved • insuring that courses not offered during current assessment cycle are assessed in subsequent semester • timely reporting of results

18. Keys to Assessment Success • Faculty involvement and ownership • six faculty members, each representing a separate discipline • opportunities for input from all faculty

19. Keys to Success (cont.) • Clarification of purpose of assessment • to improve student learning outcomes • it is learning outcomes, not individual students or faculty, being evaluated

20. Keys to Success (cont.) • Organization skills • committee members with effective organization skills • Communication skills • ongoing and frequent communication at all levels

21. Keys to Success (cont.) • Knowledge about assessment principles and best practices • reliability/validity • writing behavioral objectives • terminology • “course-embedded” • objectives versus outcomes • diversity in assessment techniques

22. Keys to Success (cont.) • Recognition that assessment is a continuous process • assessment results should lead to meaningful change in courses and/or curriculum

23. General EducationFaculty Perspective • Philosophy of Assessment • Original Process • Department / Discipline • multiple courses in one department/discipline • multiple general education areas in one department/discipline

24. Cheerleader • DAL Selection • faculty involvement • faculty motivation • faculty ownership • release time • Discipline Representative Selection • no release time

25. Responsibilities • DAL / Discipline Representatives • department configuration • discipline configuration • workload issues: • tool development, administration and collection • results and reporting of results • implementation of changes • maintain faculty ownership over the process

26. Discipline RepresentativesFall 2002 • Objective development • Tool development • Tool administration • full-time/part-time/adjunct faculty • multiple campuses • off-site locations • Data collection • Results analysis • Reporting

27. Discipline RepresentativesSpring 2003 • External reporting of results • Internal reporting of results • changes to: • tool and/or • curriculum • re-administration of assessment tool • reanalysis of results

28. Assessment Liaison System • Evolutionary System • Administrative Support • Faculty Collaboration • Faculty Incentives • Faculty Ownership

29. Helpful Words… Outcomes assessment is not “one more thing” we have to do. It’s the only thing. It’s the only way of knowing if students are learning what we think we are teaching…. Without outcomes assessment, we must take it on faith that students are learning what we are teaching. Diane Halpern Keynote Address: Best Practices in Assessment in Psychology Education Atlanta, GA September, 2002

30. Creative Ideas to BuildFaculty Ownership • What assessment strategies have been successful at your institution?

31. Closing Comments and Questions

32. Contact Information • Frances Dearingfdearing@monroecc.edu • Wanda Willard wwillard@monroecc.edu • Susan J. Belair sbelair@monroecc.edu • www.monroecc.edu