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Outcomes Assessment at Geneva College
Commission of Higher Education (CHE)
Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
Fall 2000
BACKGROUND
The issue of outcomes assessment at Geneva College was first raised in 1992 when Professor of Biology John Cruzan prepared a preliminary paper on the subject. Dr. Cruzan's presentation led to the creation of an ad hoc committee that laid the groundwork for subsequent discussions. More recently, in preparation for the Spring 1998 visit by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, an Outcomes Assessment Task Force was commissioned to review the progress that had been made on outcomes assessment at Geneva and to draft recommendations that could bolster its efforts. The extensive and ambitious report of the Task Force was included as Chapter Two in Geneva's Self-Study (February 1998).
In June 1998, the Commission of Higher Education (CHE) reaffirmed the accreditation (of Geneva College) and requested a report by October 1, 2000, demonstrating progress in the outcomes assessment effort. In response to this request as well as to one of the assessment recommendations contained in the college's Self-Study, the Vice President for Academic Affairs created the Academic Assessment Committee (AAC) in Fall 1998.
The AAC was charged with five general responsibilities as follows: 1) Develop and recommend (to the Faculty Senate) policies and guidelines for engaging in effective outcomes assessment; 2) Develop, recommend (to the Faculty Senate), and implement methods of assessing the effectiveness of the core curriculum; 3) Provide information, support, and training to academic departments as they develop outcomes assessment plans; 4) Work to improve student retention rates in cooperation with the Retention Task Force; and 5) Advise the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs on all matters related to outcomes assessment and retention.
YEAR ONE
Given the relative newness of assessment at Geneva, the AAC began its efforts by learning about outcomes assessment; committee members agreed that knowledge was a precondition for understanding and action. It purchased copies of Erwin's (1991) Assessing Student Learning and Development, read it, and discussed it.
During the remainder of the year, the AAC worked diligently on three central tasks:
1) Drafted institutional outcomes statements - Geneva's mission statement is clear and broadly accepted. Thus, the AAC did not have to draft a mission statement, though it is typically the first step in the assessment process. Similarly, a set of broad educational "Aims" are included in the college Bulletin and referred to frequently. However, the "Aims" were not written with outcomes assessment in mind. Therefore, the AAC set about the task of rewriting the "Aims" in outcomes language but without compromising the intent of the particular Aims themselves. In addition to the AAC's own work in this regard, it also solicited feedback from the faculty.
2) Revised the end-of-semester student evaluations (of courses) process - In cooperation with another committee (Faculty Policies and Development), the AAC reviewed various options for the soliciting student feedback on academic courses. It decided that none of the "off-the-shelf" measures fully accounted for what the College wants to measure. The AAC made plans to collaborate with other institutions affiliated with the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) to develop a new instrument that will provide norms from member schools and, at the same time, measure Christian integration goals adequately. In the meantime, however, the AAC recommended and the Faculty Senate approved that the faculty would use the SIR-II (from ETS) as the course evaluation instrument for the 1999-2000 academic year, and the CAFETERIA system (Purdue University) as the course evaluation instrument for 2000-2001 academic year. The AAC believed that a two-year window would provide adequate time to develop the new instrument in cooperation with member institutions of the CCCU.
3) Completed an initial draft of a outcomes assessment handbook - This resource provides a useful template for helping academic departments conduct assessment. It also contains a set of basic policies that Geneva will utilize to support the assessment process and, at the same time, protect faculty members in their assessment efforts.
In addition to the work of the AAC, Geneva continued its participation in the FIPSE-funded Collaboration Assessment Project ("Taking Values Seriously") under the auspices of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, of which Geneva is a member. Copious amounts of data are being generated in this effort that are instructive to the overall assessment project. In addition, and based on one of the assessment recommendations contained in Geneva's Self-Study, Dr. Randy Bergen, Associate Professor of Psychology, received a quarter-time appointment to oversee and coordinate institutional research at Geneva, including outcomes assessment.
YEAR TWO
The AAC began the 1999-2000 academic year with good momentum from its inaugural year, but with much to follow through on. The substantial membership continuity between last year's committee and this year's committee was helpful in pursuing its work. The AAC focused on the following primary issues:
1) Reviewed and edited the Outcomes Statements - This work was begun during the first year as noted above. To build understanding of and support for the assessment effort, the AAC spent considerable time soliciting feedback from departments and other committees on its drafts of these outcomes statements. Numerous suggestions for each outcomes statements were received in the effort to build consensus around the assessment project; countless revisions were made based on the feedback that the AAC received. Finally, in the Spring 2000, the Faculty Senate approved the Outcomes Statements. They are included in the Program Guide discussed below (#3).
2) Developed and distributed supplemental questions as part of the course evaluation process (in conjunction with the SIR-II instrument from ETS) - The AAC utilized the SIR-II instrument for the course evaluation process as planned. It also designed supplemental questions in the interest of obtaining more specific feedback about faith/learning integration issues relative to the particular courses being evaluated by students during the spring semester. Some members of the faculty are interested in using the SIR-II instrument and supplemental questions for a second year in order to obtain a better sense of their usefulness. The AAC put this issue on its agenda for the beginning of the next academic year.
3) Reviewed and edited A Program Guide for Outcomes Assessment at Geneva College - This document was drafted by Randy Bergen (last year's chair) during the early Summer 1999. This document was printed and provided to faculty members in Spring 2000. It will be utilized in Fall 2000 as we begin the actual assessment process.
4) Reviewed and edited the Policies for engaging in effective outcomes assessment - The AAC also solicited feedback about these Policies from the Academic Programs Committee, the Faculty Policies and Development Committee, and the Academic Council. The Policies are included in the Program Guide as approved by the Faculty Senate in Spring 2000.
5) Considered, without conclusive resolve, the issue of who will coordinate the assessment of the core curriculum - Conversations and clarifications with the Academic Programs Committee should and will continue in this regard in Fall 2000. Based on conversations about the core curriculum that occurred this summer, assessing the core may become a joint project of at least two committees.
During the last two years, the AAC and Dr. Randy Bergen (in his capacity as the coordinator of institutional research) have provided necessary groundwork for the assessment effort at Geneva College to be most effective. Next year (2000-2001) the hard work begins of developing a systematic, campus-wide assessment plan; providing information, resources, ongoing feedback, and support to programs as they undertake assessment; evaluating the usefulness of the Outcomes Statements and Policies that were developed during the 1999-2000 academic year; developing a strategy for assessing the core curriculum; and reviewing the wisdom of the current course evaluation strategy (SIR-II this past year, CAFETERIA next year, and a CCCU-normed instrument for use in the future). In addition to the continuing work of the AAC, the Vice President of Academic Affairs has also created an ad hoc committee to chronicle all of the data that Geneva collects on a regular basis and to develop strategies for and mechanisms through which these data may be used most effectively in the decision-making process of the college.