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Assessing Current I nstitutional Practices: The ALFI Toolkit

Assessing Current I nstitutional Practices: The ALFI Toolkit . PLA with a Purpose Symposium Columbus, Ohio April 29, 2014. Serving Adult Learners. Adult-Learning Focused Institutions (ALFI) Project Origins

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Assessing Current I nstitutional Practices: The ALFI Toolkit

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  1. Assessing Current Institutional Practices: The ALFI Toolkit PLA with a Purpose Symposium Columbus, Ohio April 29, 2014

  2. Serving Adult Learners Adult-Learning Focused Institutions (ALFI) Project Origins CAEL’s 1999 Benchmarking Study of six high-performing, adult-serving colleges and universities • Best Practices in Adult Learning, a CAEL book • Study findings distilled into Principles of Effectiveness for Serving Adult Learners

  3. CAEL’s ALFI Project CAEL’s Principles of Effectiveness for Serving Adult Learners • Outreach • Life & Career Planning • Financing • Assessment of Learning Outcomes • Teaching-Learning Process • Student Support Systems • Technology • Strategic Partnerships • Transitions

  4. All of the Principles The Principles of Effectiveness are: • Integrated – they work together • Indivisible – they form a whole • Imperative – not just “a good idea”

  5. The ALFI Assessment Toolkit The ALFI Assessment Tools (2 surveys) • Institutional Self-Assessment Survey (CAEL & NCHEMS) is for adult degree program administrators and faculty. • Adult Learner Inventory (CAEL & Noel-Levitz) is an adult student survey based on ALFI.

  6. ISAS Institutional Self-Assessment Survey (ISAS) • The ISAS is a survey that iscompleted by administrators, faculty, and staff and offers an opportunity for dialogue across departments about adult learners. • It provides the framework to reflectively examine how resources, structures, and practices impact the success of adult learners.

  7. ISAS Survey Categories • Institutional Background • Mission, Leadership, and Organizational Structure • Tuition and Financial Aid • Teaching and Learning • Faculty Recruitment and Development • Student Services • Key Constituencies

  8. Completing the ISAS • Approximately 50 items • One survey is submitted; completed by an institutional team

  9. ISAS Items The ISAS: The Institutional Self-Assessment Survey • Sample Item: • To what extent does your institution partner with other organizations (community-based organizations, employers, other post-secondary providers) to deliver student support services: • Not at all • Not very much • Somewhat • A great deal • Almost always (provide examples on supplementary page)

  10. The ALI • Survey to capture the experience of adult students in undergraduate programs • Developed through a partnership between CAEL and Noel-Levitz • ALI focuses on eight of the nine CAEL ALFI Principles (Strategic Partnerships principle is not covered because students are unlikely to know about this area) • Version for four-year institutions and a version for two-year community colleges; same items with text adjustments • Structure of the instrument follows the Noel-Levitz model with students indicating both the level of importance and the level of satisfaction for each item • Items rated on a 1-7 scale (1 is low; 7 is high)

  11. ALI Items • 47 items rated for importance and satisfaction • 10 optional items defined by the institution, rated for importance and satisfaction • 2 summary items – overall satisfaction and likelihood student will recommend to other adult students • 18 standard demographic items (gender, age, employment, class load, etc.) • 2 optional demographic items (one major/program and one other

  12. ALI Scores • Importance scores • How important is it for your program to meet this expectation? • Satisfaction scores • How satisfied are you that your program is meeting this expectation? • Performance gap scores • The discrepancy between the expectation (importance score) and the reality (satisfaction score).

  13. The ALFI Report Provides: • Comparative data: • External: Your team’s and your students’ ratings vs. students and teams at other institutions that have used the ALFI Assessment Tools • Internal: The institution’s perspective vs. adult learner perspective for each scale

  14. ALFI Is Not: An evaluation of performance based on an external evaluator’s “grades”

  15. Using the Tools How Institutions Have Used the Tools • Identifying and marketing strengths • Setting priorities for strategic planning • Preparation for accreditation review • Internal program review • Development of strategic plans • Aligning resources to best meet the needs of adult learners

  16. Using the Tools How Institutions Have Used the Tools (cont’d.) • Baseline data for future assessments • Including data in annual report • Creating recruitment messages • Facilitating discussion & debate • Helping with market niche reporting Focusing attention on adult learner needs and issues

  17. To Learn More about Using ALFI • http://www.cael.org/Whom-We-Serve/Colleges-and-Universities/Adult-Student-Services/ALFI-Assessment-Tools • www.cael.org • http://www.cael.org/pdfs/21_ToolsforTwoYearColleges

  18. Questions?

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