OIA Blog

Hi Everyone,

We now have a document, the Program Goals and Outcomes Book W2013,  that contains the updated program goals and outcomes for every SCAD degree who has gone through the Academic Program Design Process.   Over 70% of the degree programs are represented in the winter 2013 version of this book.  Over 85% of the degree programs will be represented in the spring 2013 version of the program goals and outcomes book, and hopefully 100% of the programs will be represented in the summer 2013 version of the book.

Updating program goals and outcomes is the first step in developing a program assessment process.  Once we capture what departments expect their students to be able to do upon graduation through the development of a program goal statement and set of student learning outcomes, we can then determine the best way to measure whether the department’s curriculum and student work represents these expectations.

OIA’s goal is to ensure that all degree program’s have an updated program assessment process in time for the 2013-14 academic year.  This will allow us to collect and assess a full academic year’s worth of program data with the updated materials prior to the deadline of the SACSCOC interim report.  If you have any questions about this process, please contact your department’s assessment coordinator.

Please be sure to check our site in the next coming weeks for tutorials on scoring guides. A scoring guide is a simplistic, visually organized way to measure performance on a set of tasks. Scoring guides can be designed to measure performance based on a Likert-scale, checklist, letter-grade, or other point-value system.  Scoring guides can be created for both course and program assessments. Please click on the link below for a mock example of a program scoring guide.

At SCAD, program scoring guides measure capstone-level achievements for each degree program.  Program scoring guides (or capstone assessment tools) are developed by program faculty in collaboration with OIA to ensure they align with updates to program goals and outcomes.

OIA is also  happy to assist individual faculty members develop course scoring guides.   A course scoring guide may simplify and standardize the process of grading more time-consuming projects, such as research papers and design collections.  Course scoring guides benefit students as well.   Having assignment expectations outlined on a scoring guide directs students to the essential features they should focus on when producing an assignment.

Please contact your respective assessment coordinator for additional information on scoring guides.

ScoringGuide_Example

Well, today is the day – the last day of fall quarter!  Although I’m hesitant to say things slow down for faculty over winter break, in comparison to fall quarter there is more time (and potentially brain space) for faculty to reflect on the quarter and pay more attention to program needs instead of class needs.

For OIA, winter break is an opportune time for us to discuss assessment upkeep.  For programs planning proposals for curriculum council in Winter 2011, OIA can schedule some time over winter break to update program/course goals and outcomes.  For those planning to collect assessment data in winter and spring quarters, the winter break is a perfect time for assessment to schedule the collection and evaluation of data and to create or update assessment rubrics.  For those going through program review this year, the assessment office is happy to use time over winter break to revise program review self-study reports.

Even if you do not have a specific need at this time, the assessment office is happy to meet with you to reflect on the program as it stands and discuss how potential plans for the future of the program may affect student learning.  So please drop us a line – you can find all of our contact information on the contact/bios section of this blog.

Join Maureen Garvin (dean of the school of foundation studies) and Nancy Emmeluth (professor of liberal arts) as they discuss how the general education, foundation studies and major program components affect one another. This discussion is being held to encourage ideas that can help students apply knowledge acquired in one class to another.

This information may prove beneficial to program assessment.  Having a better understanding of the types of skills students should be grasping at the foundation level of their college career, should help program’s determine what sort of skills they should be advancing and/or tailoring for a given major.

The discussion, “Seeing the Big Picture: Creating Linkage between Courses,” will be held Friday November 11th from 10 am to noon in Anderson Hall room 102.

For more information on the event, contact snorgard@scad.edu.