This workshop will address many of the commonly cited barriers encountered when taking part in outcomes-based assessment as well as strategies for overcoming these barriers.

Using case studies, active audience participation will be a large component of this workshop as participants share barriers faced and strategies used at their own institutions. Incorporating collaboration with peers, faculty members, and community members into the assessment process will also be topics of discussion.

In this workshop we will explore how using active learning strategies and student self assessment together can enhance your students' learning and engagement.

This will be a hands-on session in which faculty will have the opportunity to refine their already existing effective learning experiences and assessments. We will examine domains and developmental levels of self assessment, and create prompts for self assessment to elicit high quality reflection on learning.

Curriculum mapping is the art and science of aligning a curriculum with the intended student learning outcomes at appropriate cognitive levels. Ideally, it should be the first step (after determining what students should know, think, and be able to do upon completion of a program) in designing a curriculum. However, it often comes at the end of the assessment cycle. Participants in this interactive presentation will be guided through several examples of curriculum mapping and will see how this facilitates closing the loop.

This basic level workshop is intended for faculty members and assessment professionals.

This workshop is for educators-new and experienced-who are interested in developing effective learning outcomes and giving feedback that assists students to optimize their learning. Because any curriculum changes over time, this is an ongoing activity for faculty and student affairs personnel. In this workshop, participants have the opportunity, with support from the facilitator and peers, to revise existing learning outcomes or create new ones at the level of a course or a program.

We will explore principles of effective feedback and practice giving feedback on student examples. Our goal is to assist our learners to build on their performances and take next steps in their learning.

Student Affairs and Academic Support programs often engage students through hands on experience and reflection. Rubrics are an underutilized method of systematically measuring intended outcomes associated with these activities.

This session will explore the basics of developing rubrics, how to apply them in the field, and how to analyze the data in order to use it for decisions. Participants will leave with real life examples of how rubrics might be used to measure a variety of common student affairs and academic support program outcomes.

Accreditors want outcomes assessment throughout the institution, including administrative and support (A&S) areas. This workshop introduces basic assessment concepts in general terms and shows how they apply to A&S units.

Exercises help participants ask "how does this apply to me?" and develop concrete ideas for their own assessment processes.

Some of the most common General Education outcomes are the hardest to measure. Yet, these core outcomes that go beyond disciplinary knowledge are often some of the most important outcomes for our students as they predict success in college (Pascarella and Terenzini, 1991) and in the world beyond academia (Barnett and Ceci, 2002; Mentkowski, 2000; Sternberg, 1997; 2000). Many psychologists have spent their careers researching these complex constructs and this work can provide direction for assessment.

Taken from the perspective of research and theory in psychology, this workshop will help participants to understand how to approach measurement of those General Education core outcomes that are complex and sometimes seem impossible to measure. In-depth examples of the approach will be provided for the student learning outcomes of problem-solving, global perspective and aesthetic awareness but the approach will be applicable to measuring any complex outcome.

In this workshop, participants will:

• learn how psychologists approach measurement of psychological constructs
• demonstrate that they can use the approach on three common General Education outcomes: Problem Solving, Global Perspective and Aesthetic Appreciation
• apply what they are learning in the workshop to developing strategies for measuring some of their other, difficult to measure outcomes

Writing skills and the interconnected thinking skills are essential learning outcomes for the undergraduate curriculum. In fact, employers consider these skills two of the most valued of the college graduate. Participants will learn how to assess writing and thinking with the Cognitive Level and Quality of Writing Assessment rubric. Based on commonly used writing handbooks and Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (cognitive domain), the rubric has been expanded to address more critical thinking components and has evolved into an online system.

Participants will learn how several institutions are using various forms of the rubric and system to assess and improve student writing and thinking and will learn how to adapt them to their own needs.

Designed for use in individual classes, as well as for program or institutional assessment, this rubric and system are appropriate for faculty and those with institutional assessment responsibilities.

Dr. Levine is the author of multiple books, articles, and reviews, most recently When Hope and Fear Collide: A Portrait of Today's College Student (with Jeanette S. Cureton).

Much of his research and writing in recent years has focused on increasing access to higher education and improving equity in the schools. Dr. Levine's numerous opinion editorials appear in such publications as The New York Times; The Los Angeles Times; The Wall Street Journal; The Washington Post; and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Students may acquire deep knowledge or discover a life-defining interest in a course or lab, only to lose it in a flurry of memorization during exam week for courses they experience as unconnected. Our broader goal is for students to gradually integrate and transfer what they learn across the curriculum and co-curriculum in order to develop creativity and imagination, contribute original ideas, and exercise expertise as professionals.

Is this a bridge too far? Determining institution-wide student learning outcomes is often a first step, yet a faculty-driven, coherent curriculum is necessary for students to start connecting their new knowledge, developing skills, and responsibilities as a learner. Thus, teaching in the disciplines and departments implies creatively connecting broad learning goals and outcomes to what faculty already teach, assess, and judge as quality student work.

The speaker discusses how students who participate in curriculum-embedded, assessment-as-learning can improve their academic achievement. She illustrates how academics who use assessment as a bridge to collaborative inquiry on the curriculum can discover where a department might optimize students' integrative and applied learning.

This closing plenary is designed to give you a light-hearted glimpse into those things you see and hear quite often as you implement outcomes-based assessment on your campus. While your ethics and demeanor cause you to react to those common statements and actions in a professional manner, this session will posit a few alternative options for you to consider.

While this plenary is intended to be entertaining, we hope you do leave with a few strategies of your own that will keep you smiling as you continue to work toward moving your organization forward with implementing effective, efficient, and enduring means of outcomes-based assessment.

This session will suggest lessons learned from a five-year long holistic assessment of student writing and three years of literature course assessment at the University of Cincinnati Clermont College and examine the changes we are making to a successful assessment process and to instruction and curriculum.

This program is designed to give suggestions to those in an academic discipline interested in designing or restructuring an assessment program for their department. In this interactive session you will be asked to consider expected student outcomes, assessment tools, data collection/analysis, and methods of program improvement that best fit your program. Key elements of successful implementation will be addressed using Winthrop University’s Biology Undergraduate Assessment Program as a model. This program was fully developed during the 2007-2008 academic year; samples of assessment tools, data analysis, and methods used for program improvement will be shared.

This presentation describes the use of various initiatives aimed at improving student performance in literacy skills (reading and writing) at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, the outcome measures used to evaluate success, resulting program and curricular changes, and ongoing assessment being used to evaluate and shape programs, courses, and curriculum.

The initiatives are driven by the reform of the general education program, selection as part of the Foundations of Excellence in the First College Year Project, and by reform of developmental reading and writing programs at the University.

For three years, Keene State College has been implementing a model that links curriculum development with faculty instructional and student learning development and with assessment. Faculty delivering each area of the Integrative Studies Program are supported in designing assignments and learning experiences that will assure students have the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills they need to meet program outcomes.

Faculty attend bi-semester cohort meetings, workshops and institutes to gain knowledge about and skill in helping students develop the identified program skills. Currently we assess writing, critical thinking, quantitative literacy and information literacy. Students submit their work to a blackboard site and ten percent of the artifacts are randomly sampled. A team of reviewers evaluates the artifacts using rubrics developed by the faculty. Results are shared with faculty cohorts who discuss and address recommendations.

This model is resulting in a transformation of teaching and learning in our Integrative Studies Program.

Developing community partnerships focused on addressing social concerns is more prevalent within many institutions of higher learning (Bringle and Hatcher, 1996; Lepczyk, 2005), as is embedding undergraduate research in learning experiences across the curricula (Hathaway and Gregerman, 2002; Joslin et al., 2005; Kinkead, 2003). Assessing outcomes of undergraduate research experiences, both formative and summative, is a challenging yet necessary part of creating meaningful experiential learning for undergraduates across the disciplines (Maki, 2004; Huba and Freed, 2000; Angelo and Cross, 1993).

The panel will examine assessment tools used in an interdisciplinary community-based research course, Environmental Psychology, linking psychological and biological disciplines.

Carteret Community College has developed and implemented an across-the-board assessment process. All instructional programs and administrative/service units identify and assess, and use the results of, relevant outcomes.

This session will describe the process of moving the college from an outputs-based to an outcomesbased assessment model. The discussion will center on two primary activities:

1. Effectively developing and implementing a cross-campus process
2. Ensuring that faculty and staff move from a belief that "I'm being told to do this" to one of "I understand the value of this."

The use of assessment data is the focal point of many improvement efforts. Unfortunately, faculty involvement in these efforts is often limited. One explanation for this low involvement is faculty members' beliefs about the usefulness of different measures (e.g., course evaluations, NSSE, local assessments).

This session will share the results of a case study at a large research institution that explored faculty members' beliefs about the usefulness of various measures and the relationship of these beliefs to efforts to improve teaching. Implications for selecting measures and for increasing faculty involvement in improvement efforts will be discussed.

Creating a culture of assessment - aligning the elements of culture - language, norms, values, beliefs, ideologies, and individual roles/status is a long and difficult process. Presenters wil share data and strategies employed in the development and implementation of the University of Charleston's nationally recognized outcomes-based curriculum which integrates learning outcomes and assessment across the curriculum.

Participants will have an opportunity to discuss the structures and policies that support assessment and presenters will share the strategies used to modify institutional structures and policies to align with learning and assessment. This session is designed for faculty and adminstrators at baccalaureate and community colleges.

Creating and sustaining a culture of assessment presents a challenge at any university. Gaining faculty involvement in the process is usually one of the biggest hurdles. This presentation will include an overview of the strategies we are using at Clayton State University to make the learning outcomes assessment process less daunting.

Participants will engage in sample activities and discussions about how to ease faculty into the process and help them realize that most of the data they need to collect is already embedded in everyday classroom practice.

Are you interested is assessing the impact of your institution's study abroad programs on your students? This session will introduce two ways of doing so:

1. A satisfaction/program assessment survery
2. A learning-outcomes-based approach

You will learn about the results of a longitudinal study of exchange programs for UNCG business majors (1993-2007). As a result of this study, additional methods to measure program impact have been implemented. You will be able to administer this survey or an adapted version on your home campus and incorporate the qualitative results of this survey in your advising practice.

Successful assessment engagement ascertains learning outcomes, utilizes appropriate measurements, establishes and evaluates criteria for success, and initiates compelling changes to truly enhance student learning. Once programmatic assessment is in place, how do you know that the macro-assessment process is truly working? How does an institution implement objective and reliable evaluation techniques to facilitate assessment maturation?

This presentation will share the evolution of one university's strategic attempt to unpack the efficacy of its program assessment policies and procedures. The issues inherent in tackling institutional improvement will be addressed by sharing our experience with creating, deploying, and evaluating our internal assessment mechanisms.

A variety of methods may be implemented to assess student learning. Assessment strategies, with an emphasis on communication skilss, will be addressed.

Specific examples of outcomes, assessment methods, criteria for success, and changes in teaching and curriculum for an allied health discipline will be presented.

This session examines an effort to define learning outcomes related to research and to assess those outcomes. Students in HON 202 (Inquiry, Discovery, and Literature) and in EC 201Q (Principles of Microeconomics) formulated a research question, searched for authoritative sources (humanities) and data (economics), and drew conclusions based on both their research and on models/processes/interpretations learned in class.

The goal was to teach students about research as a time-consuming, difficult process that involves identifying authoritative sources and analyzing/synthesizing conflicting findings, among other things. The assessment process involved both student self-report and direct assessment of student artifacts using rubrics.

Preliminary findings and plans for changes to improve student achievement will also be presented.

Through an interactive workshop on designing an assessment plan for their international office, participants will leave with the beginnings of their offices' assessment plan.

Participants will have the opportunity to exchange feedback and suggestions with their colleagues on the objectives, outcomes, and assessment methods that are most appropriate for the context of international offices.

Though programs in secondary English education follow the accreditation standards related to student learning outcomes established by NCATE, no comparable national organization oversees the B.A. in English. Most of the performance evaluation we have completed at Kennesaw State has therefore centered on questions about the quality of teaching rather than student mastery of learning outcomes.

In response to a recent accreditation visit by SACS, we developed an assessment plan that uses online career portfolios to address the specific learning outcomes for our major. These portfolios are not only useful for assessing our major, but they are also valuable tools for students beginning their careers.

First year Engineering students at NC State undertake a rigorous curriculum designed to prepare them for matriculation into a degree program. The academic performance of these students, as measured by cumulative GPA, has declined since 2001. To determine potential causes, four different studies were conducted and relevant literature considered. Studies included an analysis of:

• the freshman engineering profile
• a retention forecast model
• a survey of Engineering student's academic experience
• a comparison of first year academic support in two colleges

Findings and conclusions will be presented and recommendations for dealing with the issues will be discussed.

Learning Communities (LC) at Wayne State University are grounded in assessment. This presentation will address how the Learning Community proposal process strengthens LCs and creates a culture of assessment on the campus. We will highlight one LC as an example of how we involve faculty and staff to create the assessment culture needed to meet academic and social goals.

This will be an interactive session with dialog and tasks to consider the current climate of assessment on participants' campuses and to provide participants with the beginnings of a plan of action to assess and improve learning through Learning Communities.

There is a new assessment tool called the Mission Perception Inventory (MPI) that provides evidence of institutional effectiveness in embedding the goals of mission in the learning environment.

This presentation comes from continuing research on student learning outcomes supported by a Teagle Foundation grant, and describes development of the MPI and results from its repeated use as consortium questions appended to the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) every year since 2004.

Analysis of over 30,000 respondent cases from administrations of the MPI by 83 unique institutions suggests that the link between mission goals and learning environment can be demonstrated.

Problem based learning is an interactive teaching methodology that gets students to apply concepts in real world situations. The assessment methods presented will allow instructors to evaluate mastery and real-world application of course content as well as group interaction and interpersonal skills. Methods of self and peer assessment are included.

This session describes a five year effort that began with an assessment of oral communication skills. Following, a single rubric was developed that provided detailed descriptions of oral communication efforts that met, exceeded, or did not meet expectations for an entire college. This rubric was adopted by the college and disseminated to students repeatedly in all courses.

The session includes practice training and norming for raters to improve inter-rater reliability. Participants will leave with the rubric, experience in preparing skills raters, and an understanding of the v alue of providing students with a consistent and repeated message regarding skill development.

Multiple choice tests can be developed to target learning outcomes, an important activity in large classes. Because most faculty do not have the background necessary to develop tests beyond recognition, this mini workshop will give participants the tools to help faculty write valid and reliable tests at levels appropriate to evaluate learning outcomes.

Because students study based on the type of test they expect, developing tests that reflect higher levels of thinking may lead to improved learning. Participants will learn ways to help faculty construct multiple choice tests to tap higher levels, as well as how to evaluate the quality of tests and how to use these results for classroom and program assesssment purposes.

This session will describe the activities of five distinct NSF funded institutions that joined to assess Quantitative (QR) and Scientific Reasoning (SR). Primary goals of the project were to develop new assessment models and explore the generalizability of the JMU developed QR and SR instruments.

Our results reveal very high alignment of the JMU instruments to all institutional goals and objectives. Further, the instruments displayed excellent reliability and institutional utility via expanding data driven validity explorations. Each institution developed tailored research questions that they answered in the third year of the project. These will be described.

Many colleges and universities are now using the CLA, MAPP, or CAAP for assessment and accountability. North Carolina A&T State University is participating in the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education along with 49 other institutions and will share lessons learned from the longitudinal study so far - and how it differs from widely recognized assessment tools.

Participants will become acquainted with the goals and research model of the project, institutional reporting of results, and how campuses can intentionally involve students, faculty, administrators, and staff in institutional assessment initiatives focused on institutional needs. They will also have an opportunity for critical reflection on the Wabash National Study vis-à-vis current assessment tools and practices.