FAQs
1) How can I join an implementation team?
1) How can I join an implementation team?
Express your interest in joining a team here
2) How can I share local work I am doing to further a grand challenge on my campus?
2) How can I share local work I am doing to further a grand challenge on my campus?
We are excited to learn about local efforts to further the Grand Challenges in Assessment! Please share your experiences here.
3) How can I share an idea that could lead to improvements to a Grand Challenge through crowdsourcing?
3) How can I share an idea that could lead to improvements to a Grand Challenge through crowdsourcing?
Share your ideas here.
4) How can I begin addressing the grand challenges on my campus?
4) How can I begin addressing the grand challenges on my campus?
Each strategic plan includes local tactics that a campus can follow to make progress towards addressing these challenges. We encourage you to review the full plans that are available on each implementation page to find tactics to use on your campus. You can also find some "off-the-shelf" ideas to try on your campus in response to some of the FAQs listed below.
5) How can I encourage faculty to make rapid improvements in response to assessment findings?
5) How can I encourage faculty to make rapid improvements in response to assessment findings?
Consider learning more about adaptive learning platforms by reading this recently published SWOT analysis of adaptive learning. Also, encourage faculty to attend learning improvement strands at conferences or host a learning improvement reading group on your campus. Once you get faculty interested, create venues to share promising results. Identify resources to support successful faculty so they can serve as peer mentors for other faculty.
6) How can I begin to increase equity in assessment on my campus?
6) How can I begin to increase equity in assessment on my campus?
A great first step to improving the equity of assessments on your campus is to form a cross-divisional team with representation from diversity, equity, and inclusion professionals and assessment professionals. Once formed, this team can conduct an audit of existing assessment practices and student learning outcomes to determine the extent to which they integrate diverse experiences and advance equity.
7) How can I begin to advance innovative approaches to institutional excellence on my campus?
7) How can I begin to advance innovative approaches to institutional excellence on my campus?
A great first step to advancing innovative approaches to institutional excellence on your campus is to create tighter linkages between budget decisions and assessment findings. To accomplish this, it may be necessary to create an office of institutional effectiveness with professionals who can ensure high-quality assessment data is collected, analyzed and shared in ways that support informed budgetary decisions. Some ideas about ways to improve the quality of assessment data and ways to effectively share findings with campus leaders are described in response to the questions below. For a nice introduction to integrated planning, your can read this overview.
8) How can I begin to advance innovative approaches to making assessment data actionable?
8) How can I begin to advance innovative approaches to making assessment data actionable?
A great first step to making assessment data actionable on your campus is to add measures of implementation fidelity to assessment plans. These measures provide information about the extent to which the original plan for the program being assessed was followed and can help make sense of assessment findings. Another idea to consider is to expand the types of people reviewing assessment findings to include all groups of stakeholders and to encourage conversations about assessment findings by governing bodies. You can read about ways to improve the quality of assessment data here.
9) How can I begin to advance innovative approaches to making assessment data visible?
9) How can I begin to advance innovative approaches to making assessment data visible?
A final necessary step on the path to integrated planning is making sure that decision-makers see and understand assessment data. A great first step to making assessment data visible on your campus is to encourage the use of data visualizations and data dashboards that can allow decision-makers to rapidly grasp key assessment findings. A second approach can be to contextualize data by using data stories that explain how the data was collected, what it means, and what are the limitations. You can learn more about both of these approaches here.
10) Can I do anything to improve the reporting of assessment data from Canvas (now Instructure)
10) Can I do anything to improve the reporting of assessment data from Canvas (now Instructure)
Yes! Follow this link to express your desire for Canvas to aggregate rubric scores to reveal overall areas of strength and weakness in a class and this link to encourage Canvas to allow increased editing capabilities. Canvas prioritizes projects that receive lots of support, so expressing your interest can help get these changes made!