Strategic Planning & Assessment

Assessment Office Mission Statement

The mission of the Assessment Office is to improve student learning through academic program assessment. Assessment is faculty-driven and faculty-supervised. It involves establishing student learning outcomes, measuring/observing and documenting the extent to which outcomes are achieved, and finding ways to improve programs.

The Assessment Office

  • Supports the use of program and institutional assessment to improve the quality of student learning
  • Collaborates with faculty, staff, students, and administrators to establish meaningful, manageable, and sustainable assessment
  • Disseminates assessment-related information
  • Assists programs with designing effective educational programs

Specific office activities include the following:

  • Workshops for faculty
  • Consultations with faculty
  • Events for students, faculty, administrators
  • General Education assessment in collaboration with faculty members
  • Research educational contexts to determine what contributes to student learning
  • Dissemination of good assessment practices, examples, guides

Assessment Office Outcomes

  1. The Assessment Office has in place an infrastructure to sustain a culture of assessment.
  2. Faculty members are aware of the scholarship of teaching and learning.
  3. Academic degree programs complete the assessment cycle, which includes faculty members using assessment results to improve student learning.
  4. Department leaders and administrators use student learning assessment results to guide planning.
  5. The campus community (faculty members, administrators, staff, students) perceives program-level assessment as supporting student learning.

Relationship of Office Activities to Outcomes

OFFICE ACTIVITIES

OUTCOMES
1. Infrastructure in place 2. Faculty are aware of the scholarship of teaching and learning 3. Programs complete the assessment cycle 4. Dept. leaders & administrators use results to guide planning 5. Community perceives program-level assessment as supporting student learning
Workshops for faculty

X

 

X

 

 
Consultations with faculty

X

 

X

 

 
Events for students, faculty, administrators

X

X

X

X

X
General Education assessment

 

 

X

 

 
Research educational contexts

X

X

X

X

X
Dissemination of good assessment practices, etc.

 

X

X

X

X

"X" = activity contributes to achieving the outcome

Office Logic Model

RESOURCES NEEDED

ACTIVITIES

OUTPUTS/DELIVERABLES
[annual]

OUTCOMES

IMPACT
  1. Full-time director
  2. 2 full-time faculty specialists
  3. 30 hours per week student help
  4. 5 hours per week clerical support
  5. Physical space: meeting room; workshop room; office space for 4
  6. 40 hours per year graphics designer
  7. 240 hours per year dynamic webpage development assistance
  8. Leadership from the Mānoa Assessment Committee (Faculty Senate), Department Chairs, Deans, Directors, Vice Chancellors, and Chancellor
  9. Incentives for faculty participation
  10. Incentives for student participation
  1. Workshops for faculty
  2. Consultations with faculty
  3. Events for students, faculty, administrators
  4. General Education assessment in collaboration with faculty members
  5. Research educational contexts to determine what contributes to student learning
  6. Dissemination of good assessment practices, examples, guides
  1. 120 people attend workshops.
  2. 40 units receive consultation services.
  3. Audience at events represents both UHM and non-UHM units.
  4. Written reports on UHM assessment status
  5. Useful website
  6. Rubrics to evaluate student products
  7. Program-level curriculum development and teaching guides aimed at helping students learn more effectively
  8. Data entry, basic data analysis, etc., for at least 3 units.
  9. An article/technical report on assessment in higher education
  1. The Assessment Office has in place an infrastructure to sustain a culture of assessment.
  2. Faculty members engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning.
  3. Academic degree programs complete the assessment cycle, which includes faculty members using assessment results to improve student learning.
  4. Department leaders and administrators use student learning assessment results to guide planning.
  5. The campus community perceives program-level assessment as supporting student learning.
  1. Faculty members regularly attend to program effectiveness by assessing student learning and having rich conversations about learning with people in and outside of their program.
  2. Faculty, staff, and administrators use student learning assessment results for informed decision-making.
  3. Students are prepared for their professional lives and advanced degrees and can articulate what they know, do, and value as a result of their Mānoa degree.
  4. UH CCs understand what students learn at Mānoa and can help students determine whether Mānoa is a good fit for potential transfer students.
  5. External stakeholders (parents, policy-makers, legislators, agencies, Hawai‘i community) perceive the Mānoa degree as valuable.
  6. Employers and graduate schools are satisfied with the quality of Mānoa graduates.

 

Timeline to Assess Outcomes

OUTCOME YEAR
1. The Assessment Office has in place an infrastructure to sustain a culture of assessment 2010
2. Faculty members are aware of the scholarship of teaching and learning 2015
3. Academic degree programs complete the assessment cycle, which includes faculty members using assessment results to improve student learning 2011
4. Department leaders and administrators use student learning assessment results to guide planning 2015
5. The campus community (faculty members, administrators, staff, students) perceives program-level assessment as supporting student learning 2011

 

2010-2011 Assessment Plan

Outcomes being assessed in 2010-2011:

  1. The Assessment Office (AO) has in place an infrastructure to sustain a culture of assessment.
  2. Academic degree programs complete the assessment cycle, which includes faculty members using assessment results to improve student learning.
  3. The campus community (faculty members, administrators, staff, students) perceives program-level assessment as supporting student learning.

Assessment Question(s) and/or Goal(s) of Assessment Activity

GOAL: Determine the extent to which the outcomes have been achieved.

Intended Uses for the Assessment Results & Primary Users of the Assessment Results

USES: a) To guide program development, e.g., reallocate internal resources; request external resources; create an improvement plan in cooperation with MAC.
b) To provide data for OVCAA and MAC to evaluate AO performance.

PRIMARY USERS: AO, OVCAA, MAC

Criteria for Success

Because this will be the first assessment, the results will be used as baseline data.

Distribution and Discussion of Results

AO will discuss the results at staff meetings. It will post results on the AO website; present in writing and orally to MAC and OVCAA and discuss.

Outcome Assessed Method(s) to Gather Evidence Method to Evaluate Timeline Lead Team members
1. Infrastructure to sustain a culture of assessment in place Environmental scan to determine if required infrastructure elements exist Checklist with YES, PARTIAL, NO Collect and evaluate data in July 2010 AO Faculty Specialists
2. Programs complete the assessment cycle Annual assessment reports Checklist and content analysis Collect data in October 2010 and analyze in November & December 2010 AO Faculty Specialists
3. The campus community perceives program-level assessment as supporting student learning. Survey Quantitative and qualitative analysis Spring 2011 (tentative) AO Faculty Specialists

Program Size and Sampling Technique

PROGRAM SIZE: There are currently 227 degree programs, over 1,000 instructional faculty members, and 20,000+ students.

SAMPLING: None for outcomes 1 and 2. Stratified sample of campus community for outcome 3; sample size to be determined.

AO Annual Assessment Reports

AO Assessments

last updated 02/02/2011