Introduction

Minutes

Members

Assessment Committee Minutes
Date: October 13, 1997

Members present: Debi Contoleon, David Gorman, Billie Hughes, Brent Jameson, Pat Moyer, Marian Tadano, Marian Gibney
The committee reintroduced themselves. There were no comments on the minutes from the September "virtual" meeting.

Assessment Newsletter-There will be a Fall 97 newsletter from the assessment committee. There was much discussion about the possible contents. One major item was a discussion of the general education checksheets. It was suggested that in addition to the results of last spring's assessment, a history of the origin and development of these checksheets be included. Other items to be included will be a picture of students studying, a list of some assessment websites, a follow-up report of program evaluation activities, and a summary of Gene Eastin's (Board member) visit to PC campus.

Results of checksheets-The results of last spring's checksheets were presented. There was much discussion regarding what to do with them, how to follow through with these and how the data should be presented to the ENG and RDG departments. Also discussed was how this information will be presented to the college in general. The newsletter and the research website are two vehicles for dissemination.

Program Evaluation/Assessment Feedback Loop-A form, derived from the action plan portion of the program evaluation is being developed. The form is intended to be an easy method for departments to keep track of and report on the progress of their assessment plans and other action plan items listed in their program evaluation. Most departments undergoing program evaluation have listed at least one assessment item in their action plans. It was determined that a supplemental form would be included for those departments that had not included assessment activities in their action plans, but only in the evaluation document. The purpose is to provide a feedback mechanism for program evaluation, in general, and for assessment of student outcomes within departments, in particular.

Critical thinking-Discussion revolved around where and how to measure this outcome. One suggestion was to talk with instructors of courses that meet the literacy and critical inquiry to see what they think. What does critical thinking involve? How is it taught in various courses? The courses that meet literacy and critical inquiry have been traditionally targeted as places to measure critical thinking, but they are diverse and how each course approaches teaching this skill needs to be examined. One suggestion was to examine the possibility of using the CAAP to measure a sample of IGS290 (Capstone classes).

Other-There was brief discussion of the letter due to NCA in 1999. We continue to progress toward full implementation and feedback of results. Work on assessment of outcomes of developmental courses is progressing through the developmental education committee.