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Staff/Faculty Callenges
Frequently Asked Questions

How do I involve the entire campus?

• Involving the entire campus takes time and the strategies to employ vary with each institutional culture. For the sake of simplicity, it begins with a unit that becomes fully engaged in assessment and then demonstrates the value of assessment. It continues with the implementation of supporting resources and rewards for the assessment process. As data-driven decisions become more valued by the institution, assessment becomes more valued and its practice spreads to more and more units.

• The answer often lies in what the supervisor plans to do with the results of the assessment process. If you create, through your actions, an environment where assessment is valued, where decisions based on assessment results hold weight, where appropriate rewards and recognition are provided, where staff has the creativity and support to assess their programs in meaningful and manageable ways, your staff will soon realize how valuable assessment is. Then their motivation will come from within.

• It is important to understand why one would engage in assessment. The reasons to engage in assessment include an understanding of how assessment is used. Assessment can
  • reinforce or emphasize the mission of your unit,
  • modify, shape, and improve programs and/or performance (formative),
  • critique a program's quality or value compared to the program's previously defined principles (summative),
  • inform planning,
  • inform decision making,
  • evaluate programs not personnel,
  • assist in the request for additional funds from the university and external community, and
  • assist in meeting accreditation requirements, models of best practices, and national benchmarks.
• If you create, through your actions, an environment where assessment is valued, where decisions based on assessment results hold weight, where appropriate rewards and recognition are provided, where staff has the creativity and support to assess their programs in meaningful and manageable ways, your staff will soon realize how valuable assessment is. Then, their motivation will come from within.
  

• As you can imagine, communication is the key here. Ask your division leadership to identify the most meaningful and manageable way in which to coordinate and share assessment information. This could be done through the formation of an Assessment Committee, and Assessment Listserv managed by an assessment coordinator, a division wide assessment website where plans, results, and decisions are posted, or through a Division-wide assessment plan.