We all have a piece of the

Student Learning Pie!

ARAPAHOECOMMUNITYCOLLEGE

ACC’s Core Assessment Team

Diane Hegeman, Vice President for Instruction

Rebecca Woulfe, Dean, Arts, Design, Social

and Behavioral Sciences

Donna Chrislip, Executive Director, Institutional

Effectiveness

Darcy Briggs, Registrar/Director of Enrollment Services

Cheyne Bamford, Psychology Faculty; Chair, Program

Assessment Committee

Jennifer Kroetch, Chair, Medical Laboratory Technology

Perri Cunningham, Director, Fitness Center

ACC’s Philosophy of Institutional Effectiveness – the pie crust

“The evaluation of overall institutional

effectiveness entails documentation of how well

the instructional side of the house is

accomplishing its educational purposes as well as

how all other units are accomplishing their

objectives toward fulfilling the overall mission of

the institution – Student Learning.”

What do You do Well?

What are You Curious About or Need to Know?

How Will You Measure?

How Might You Use the

Information?

Continuous:Benchmarking Curiosity Improvement

Affirm Discover

ACC’s Institutional Assessment Model - InstructionHypothesis: Instruction contributes to Student Learning.

Function Manipulation Measure

Program/ Discipline Assessment of Student Learning

Students’ Classroom Experience

Learning Outcomes

ACC’s Institutional Assessment Model – Administrative and Educational Support Units

Hypothesis: Process improvement facilitates unit and institutional effectiveness.

Function Manipulation

Measure

1. AESU Process Development

InstitutionalPriorities derived fromLearning Outcomes

Process Improvement

2. AESU Process Assessment

Process Improvement

Direct Effects:Financial Efficiencies;Reduced Legal Liability; Increased Productivity

Indirect Effects:Student Learning; Retention; Student Satisfaction; Graduation

ACC’s Institutional Assessment Model – how we put the pie togetherHypothesis: Quality ingredients will produce a delicious pie.

Function Manipulation

Measure

TargetedTaste

Assembling Ingredients

Yum – just the way we want it!

Institutional Effectiveness Guiding Principle – We All Have a Piece of the Pie!

Support

Facilitate

Stimulate

Ingredients for the Crust

(what shaped our philosophy?) HLC - assessment of learning outcomes at the institutional effectiveness level

Vital Focus Project

Strategic Planning Process

NASPA and HLC Assessment Workshop

HLC Assessment Academy

HLC – New Criteria – efficiency and effectiveness of component parts

ACC’s Program Assessment Committee, Core Assessment Team and Leadership Team combined the ingredients to form the crust (assessment foundation).

ACC’s Learning Outcomes—the pie filling

Communication. Construct, deliver, and engage in effective, knowledgeable communication for a variety of audiences and purposes.

Information Management. Identify, retrieve and synthesize information in order to think critically, reason creatively and make informed judgments.

Personal Development: Identify and continually develop one’s aptitudes and abilities in pursuit of goals.

Learning Outcomes – more pie filling

Responsibility and Accountability. Employ personal and

social accountability, recognize ethical issues, practice

ethical behavior, and balance personal freedom with the

interest of the community.

Quantitative Reasoning. Retrieve, interpret and evaluate

information and numerical concepts to determine trends,

make predictions, and develop informed opinions.

Cultural Awareness. Identify, distinguish, or express a

diversity of aesthetic, cultural, and historical perspectives.

Stirring the Filling and Placing the Crust – putting the philosophy into action

Core Assessment Team assembled fall 2011

ACC joined HLC Assessment Academy in fall 2011

Assessment Academy Action Plan designed fall 2011

Began implementation of Action Plan fall 2011

Implementation – the chefs spread the filling (key players)

ACC’s Leadership Team

Institutional Effectiveness Committee

Institutional Effectiveness ModelInstructional Assessment AESU Assessment

Implementation – the chefs spread the filling

Department Chairs

Leadership Team Supervisor

AESU Lead Facilitator

AESU

Reporting Units

Careful Coaching of AESUs – topping off the pie/venting

Assessment Coaches assigned to various AESU Reporting Units

Assessment Process tied to Learning Outcome(s)

Assessment Coaches and AESU Leaders secured Assessment Plan

Core Assessment Team requested feedback

Assessment Cycle“Cooking” Time Varies

Plan

Assess

Report/Revise

Implement

Utensils and the Taste Test

Program Assessment – assess at least 2 measurable program/discipline outcomes and at least 2 Learning Outcomes each year

AESU Process Assessment

Year 1 – assess the effectiveness of 1 process in terms of Information Management against an established benchmark or establish a benchmark

Year 2 – assess 1 process in terms of the Information Management Learning Outcome and 1 process in terms of Communication (against established benchmark or establish a benchmark)

Added Benefits - Pie a la Mode

Well-designed, time-tested Program Assessment model

proved to be invaluable

AESU initial discussions provided a first-time forum for

process review

AESU “report out” informative regarding other College

processes plus instilled pride in terms of contribution to

student learning

Process improvement – great opportunity to model

behavior for students

Empirical documentation of success

Insights/Concerns“Burned-On Pie Filling”

AESU Assessment is NOT Assessment of Employee Performance

Impact of processes on Student Learning cannot be directly measured as a result of AESU assessment

Steep learning curve for some AESU supervisors and employees

Saving what we’ve created – the refrigerator!

Assessment Management System

Goal: To electronically produce reports at the institutional effectiveness level toward the improvement of academic achievement and the services that support it.

Let’s Eat!!!!

Did the way we combined our ingredients produce

the taste we wanted?

Was it filling enough?

Did our “creation” leave our students wanting

more?

What do we need to add/take away to make this

“pie” continually better?