TracDat Basics November 2010

1. TracDat BasicsNovember 2010 Office of Academic Affairs Robbie Teahen Associate Provost

2. One Approach to Outcomes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRBW8eJGTVs

3. Purpose of Assessment Simply: To advance the quality of student learning through careful elaboration of intended learning, meaningful measures of students’ learning achievements, and systematic collection of data that informs instructional and other improvements – at the level of courses, programs, colleges, and institutions. Assessment involves going beyond the evaluation of individual student performance (Teahen, 2008).

4. The Learning Design Cycle Determine learning Needs Analyze learner needs Curriculum Development Assess performance Specify learning outcomes Plan learning activities

5. TracDat Supports • The entire learning design cycle, • With particular value in documenting the “assessment of performance,” • The data from which will inform determination of learning needs, analyzing learner needs, and specifying learning activities. Assessment has occurred once data is used to make program, course, and student learning improvements.

6. Session Outcomes At today’s session, you will: • Log into the system and change your password if required • Contrast TracDat User roles • Distinguish between “assessment units,” “reporting units,” and “learning outcomes” • Identify appropriate learning outcomes • Enter an assessment plan for a program or course outcome • Enter assessment results • Produce a curriculum map (if time) • Create both standard and ad hoc reports • Engage in assessment planning and implementation • Relate documents • Create folders

7. Roles and Security • Role Options: • User • Reports-Only • Program-level administrator • The primary difference is that the program-level administrator is responsible for the Assessment Unit Tab. (See next slide) • Ferris Administrator (Kim Wilber) • Access and Security levels and permissions: • Form (see Academic Affairs assessment website) • Approvals by Department Head and Dean • Submit requests to Maureen Milzarski

8. Assessment Unit Information • Components included • Unit Name • Mission • Sites Offered • Accreditation Entity, Date of next accreditation visit • Certification and Licensing • Online status and plans (note percentages) • Advisory Board? • Next Academic Program Review Date Note: Only individuals with Admin at program level have this tab.

9. Outcome Checklist Learning Outcomes: • describe one of the major skills that is an intended outcome for a course or program • represent a skill that a competent individual would use outside the context of the course • begin with an action verb describing what the learner will be able to do upon completion of this course/program • are measurable and observable • require use of skill, knowledge, or attitude/value – at a level of application or above on Bloom’s taxonomy • present a clear, concise, and precise statement describing the action • specify a single performance/outcome, not a combination • describe learner performance, not the instructor's activities, learning plans, or instructional strategies

10. Assessment Plan Information • Show/Tell/Do (using Sandbox) • Outcome name • Short Form – like “Writing” • Outcome statement • What is it that the student will know, be able to do, or value? • Assessment Method • Assure that most are direct measures of learning • Criterion for Success • What defines success for you or the program? • Related Goals • Additional assessment methods • Important outcomes should have multiple measures – especially at the program level

11. Criterion for Success • Set an achievable but stretch target • Focus on the most important outcomes first. • Sample statement of criterion: “A minimum of 85% of learners will demonstrate their ability to produce an architectural drawing that meets all specifications.” Note: Past year performance may have been 80%, and your goal is to get to 95% by year 3.

12. Sample Program-Level Outcome and Measure(s) • Outcome: Technology Use • Outcome Statement: Learners will demonstrate their use of common functions associated with software relevant to the discipline (e.g. MS Office, SPSS, CAD, etc.) • Measure(s): • Capstone project assignments will incorporate the utilization of common software applications associated with the field. Rubrics will be provided for each that address learner performance in use of technology. • Exams in the second-year major course will incorporate timed tests utilizing identified software to produce documents appropriate to meet external performance requirements. Standards of the profession, provided in a rubric, will be utilized to assess learners’ performance. • Throughout the program, individual course requirements will incorporate and report on technology-use performance by students, as appropriate

13. Don’t Forget! SAVE CHANGES (button at bottom)

14. “Means of Assessment” • Relating to a particular outcome, specify: • Method Category • Method (Description) • Criterion • What will success look like for this program or course? • Schedule • When will assessment method(s) be implemented? Frequency? • Multiple Measures • Especially at the program level, multiple measures should be used.

15. Sample Program Results and Action Plan Learners will demonstrate their use of common functions associated with software relevant to the discipline (e.g. MS Office, SPSS, CAD, etc.) Measure(s): • Capstone project assignments will incorporate the utilization of common software applications associated with the field. Rubrics will be provided for each that address learner performance in technology use. Results: • Review of 32 capstone projects for students in the X program during the spring of 2009 revealed that 95% of the learners were able to perform all specified functions within MS Word and Powerpoint, but just 62% could demonstrate their abilities to perform specified functions within Access. Further, AutoCAD design capabilities were rated to be at an average level of 3 on a scale of 1 to 5, with 10% of the soon-to-graduate students not meeting minimum standards for the profession. • Review of 18 capstone projects in spring 2010 . . . . Action Plan: • Faculty within the major will meet in August 2008 to examine the curriculum to determine where and how Access and CAD are introduced and reinforced and develop supplemental modules to assist students to achieve intended outcomes. Faculty meetings will address this performance concern and curricular changes will be implemented by fall 2009. Results from the Spring 2010 will be reviewed after graduation and a determination will be made about whether additional curricular reform is required. • During the fall of 2010, faculty will incorporate more practice assignments in each software-related course, utilize ITAP students to support instructors in labs where enrollment exceeds 24 students, and faculty will produce help guides for students’ use in courses.

16. Documents • Create folders and Attach documents. . . • Examples of expected folders: • Syllabi • Academic Program Review • Specialized Accreditation • Rubrics • Standards • Assignments • Comprehensive Analyses (as backup to summary results)

17. Relating Outcomes • Link to standards or criteria • Such as accreditation standards • Program outcomes • General education outcomes • Industry standards, such as Microsoft Certification • Goals – such as program, college, or university (Goals need to be added by Academic Affairs personnel . . . So send electronically for us to cut/paste in – send to Maureen Milzarski.)

18. Reporting • A reporting unit is a group of two or more assessment units for which individuals may want to produce reports. Examples include: • College of Business • School of Nursing • Department of Humanities • General Education: Global Consciousness • English and Writing-Intensive Courses • Reporting Units must be established at Academic Affairs. Work with your Liaison to establish Reporting Units. We need to know what assessment units should be linked.

19. Report Types • Standard (refer to list) • Note that there are MANY to choose from in the Sandbox. • There are “course” reports and “program” reports • Let Maureen Milzarski know of any additional reports you want added to your program or courses. • Ad Hoc (Custom Reports) • Be sure to save, so future “runs” are easy.

20. Current Status of Timeline • All Unit information should be entered • All program outcomes, assessment plans, and criteria for success should be entered • Results for most program outcomes should be entered • Course assessment plans for most courses should be entered • http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/administration/academicaffairs/assessment/plan0809.htm

21. 2008-09 Assessment Plan • Goal 1  Programs can effectively enhance student learning when they have clear expectations of what students will learn in the program and appropriate ways of determining how well students have met those expectations. As a measure of this, all programs will meet HLC standard expectations for outcomes and assessment by May 2009. • All programs will have placed clear, measurable outcomes into TracDat by December 2008. • All programs will have appropriate assessment methods for each outcome in TracDat by May 2009. • All programs will have criteria for success for each assessment method in TracDat by May 2009.

22. 2008-09 Assessment Plan (continued) • Goal 2  Appropriate information of student learning at the program level can give programs the information they need to further enhance the learning of students in the program. As a measure of this, all programs will effectively use assessment data to enhance student learning by May 2010. • All programs will have results entered into TracDat for at least one of the assessment methods by May 2009. • Programs will consistently enter results based on assessment schedule into TracDat for outcomes by May 2010 • All programs will have action steps in TracDat for each instance where assessment results do not meet criteria for success. • Program review reports will clearly include recommended action based on assessment data by September 2009.

23. 2008-09 Assessment Plan (continued) • Goal 3  Faculty can best enhance the learning of their students when they know how well students are meeting the learning expectations of courses. As a measure of this, at least 90% of courses will meet assessment expectations for HLC by December 2009. • 90% of Ferris courses will be in TracDat with clear, measurable outcomes by December 2009. • 80% of Ferris courses will have effective assessment methods with criteria for success by December 2009. • The courses in 75% of the programs will be integrated into a curriculum map to program outcomes by December 2009. • All faculty will be engaged in active assessment at the course level to enhance student learning.

24. User Will See:

25. Admin will see . . .

26. Curriculum Mapping • Courses must be entered before you can produce the curriculum map. • Purposes include: • identify gaps, • Identify unnecessary redundancies, • Identify appropriate progression across the curriculum (i.e., Introduction precedes reinforcement and assessment) • Identify actionable improvements when evaluating program-level outcomes

27. Role of Liaison. . . • Primary communicator of needs to Academic Affairs (AA) office • Responsibility for maintaining currency of Assessment Unit page • Provide assistance to users within College • Participate in occasional meetings of AA office regarding process improvements • Assist in unit-level reporting as required or appropriate • See list on website

28. Regarding the Learning Paradigm: "The result of this paradigm shift is a college where faculty are the designers of powerful learning environments, where curriculum design is based on an analysis of what a student needs to know to function in a complex world rather than on what the teacher knows how to teach, where the college is judged, not on the quality of the entering class, but on the quality of aggregate learning growth possessed by its graduates, where compartmentalized departments are replaced by cross-disciplinary cooperatives, and where every employee has a role to play and a contribution to make in maintaining a learner-centered environment (p. 5).” -Bill Flynn, Palomar College, 1998