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UWS – Assessment Familiarity Survey

1. What is your level of knowledge regarding assessment of student

learning? (Check one.)

# Answer

Response %

1 Excellent. I believe I have a high level of current knowledge regarding assessment.

9 13%

2

Good. I believe I have an appropriate level of knowledge regarding assessment, but could benefit from additional training on current practices in assessment.

31 44%

3

Fair. I believe I have a fair level of knowledge regarding assessment, but need to update my knowledge and skills in basic assessment.

18 26%

4 Poor. I believe I do not have the level of knowledge needed to effectively assess student learning.

5 7%

5 I have not learned about the assessment of student learning.

7 10%

Total 70 100%

2. What is your level of comfort with assessment? (Check one.)

# Answer

Response %

1 Very comfortable. I have knowledge of and use assessment in various areas; I enjoy it!

12 17%

2 Comfortable. I have knowledge of and use assessment as it relates to my work.

34 49%

3

Somewhat comfortable. I have knowledge of and use assessment, but am not fully comfortable in implementing it.

13 19%

4 Not comfortable.

11 16%

Total 70 100%

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3. Where did you FIRST learn about assessment and related

activities? (Check one.)

# Answer

Response %

1 While attending graduate school.

24 34%

2 At a UW - Superior Center for the Excellence of Teaching and Learning book club.

0 0%

3 At a UW - Superior Center for the Excellence of Teaching and Learning new faculty orientation.

4 6%

4 At a UW - Superior Faculty Enhancement Day.

4 6%

5 At a UW - Superior Opening Week activity (other than Faculty Enhancement Day).

6 9%

6 At a professional meeting or conference (not at UW - Superior).

9 13%

7 On my own.

7 10%

8 I have not learned about assessment.

5 7%

9 Other:

11 16%

Total 70 100%

Other:

Graduate studies

undergraduate education courses

Probably in some converstaion sometime with an administrator

undergraduate degree

At an earlier job, through their CETL-type center's events

Teaching Driver Education

teacher certification courses

NSTA workshop run by Jim Minstrell

My previous career was as an educational diagnostician.

Dept. meeting

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4. Do you currently use assessment activities in your curricular

(academic courses) or co-curricular (such as sports, residence life,

student clubs) activities on the UWS campus? (Check one.)

# Answer

Response %

1 Yes

57 81%

2 No

13 19%

Total 70 100%

5. What types of assessment activities do you use? (Check all that

apply.)

# Answer

Response %

1 Grading

44 63%

2 Advisement meetings

22 31%

3 Student evaluations of a learning activity

32 46%

4 Student evaluations of a course

44 63%

5 Student evaluations of a co-curricular activity or event

14 20%

6 Pre- and post-tests

20 29%

7 Exit interviews

17 24%

8 Reflective papers from students on their learning (such as minute papers)

30 43%

9 Anecdotal information from student meetings, classes, and/or activities

36 51%

10 I don't use assessment activities

12 17%

11 Other:

13 19%

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Other:

Regular meetings with student volunteers in organizations to determine learning objectives, skill development.

I have students that intern with me. I give them tasks to do and then evaluate their work and discuss their work with them.

feedback from students working for me

Qualatative Assessment of Senior Thesis Papers and Presentations

student self and peer evaluations

I'd like to do more of the above

Pointed conversations with students, faculty, and staff inform us in informal ways about the programs and services we offer in residence life

program impact studies

NSTA workshop with Jim Minstrell

outside review by "experts" of student accomplishment

Formative Quizes after each unit before they take midterms and final exams.

6. Why do you use assessment activities? (Check all that apply.)

# Answer

Response %

1 To determine student learning

51 73%

2 To determine learning in a group of students

26 37%

3 To improve a course

47 67%

4 To improve an activity

45 64%

5 To increase my understanding of my teaching

37 53%

6 I don't use assessment activities.

11 16%

7 Other

5 7%

Other

federal requirement

to determine whether a student should "test out of" my course

To Improve the Major Curriculum

provide rationale to other units for doing certain activities, to ascertain funding or knowledge about a certain question or activity, to gain information as to satisfaction rates, retention rats, etc.

to imporeve participant learning in a program

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7. Could you provide an example of an assessment method or

technique you use in your curricular or co-curricular activity? Name

and briefly describe.

Text Response

minute papers, an evaluation discussion at the end of specific activities and the course

Rubrics for grading written assignments and oral presentations.

Event evaluations - after events. Goal setting and feedback with student volunteers in organizations. Student entertainment surveys - to assess trends/interest for booking future entertainment.

Explaining a policy to a student, having them draft a policy paper, and then reviewing that policy paper with the student and talking about what they learned and how their work impacts the campus.

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) lab in which students assess the effectiveness of the group

multi-layered assessment model provided by feds

focus group, along with many others

Reflections on labs -- I ask students to write a brief description/evaluation of labs over the semester.

one on one meeting with a student/athlete at the end of the school year

Satisfaction Surveys of Intramural Sports and Special Events participants. We offer them randomly to students after participation in an event.

We have a standard evaluation form that we use after all workshops. We also conduct an overall impact evaluation of our certificate and leadership program every three to five years. We also try to do exit surveys on Surveymonkey for our Certificate grads.

pre and post event interviews

I do mid-term evaluations in which students describe what is going well/not going well in the course. I go over the general results with students and explain any changes that will be implemented as a result. I am explain why certain changes will not be implemented.

grading, advisement

students are asked to write papers applying and reflecting on their knowledge/learning

muddiest point and crystal clear point made in class session

We conduct exit interviews with all graduating students in the major. We also assess senior thesis projects according to progrommatic learning goals. We then meet once a year to collate and interpret this data to measure program effectiveness and identify areas to work on for improvement

This does not apply to my area.

I use minute papers to assess areas of success and 'sticky points' that need to be re-addressed in a future class meeting.

course evaluation at end of course that measures learning before and after

anecdotal written comments during student discussions

"Taking the temperature of the class": I often ask students to turn in short anonymous responses to questions about how the course is going: have they done the reading, what questions do they have about the material, what concerns about the class, etc. I also often ask students to write short responses and turn them in with their names on them, to assess individual issues.

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Reflective writing exercise with feedback from a peer and the instructor.

Reflection papers after major assigments and projects

Instruction in Archery. We ask students to model the steps to shooting in Archery, we video tape them and ask them review the video and to write a short reflective paper on their skill, things done well and things that need improvement. We then ask them to create an instructional video, usually 1-2 minutes long, to be used to teach the steps to shooting an arrow. A rubric is then used to assess the video for content and creativity.

Graduate students include a section of narrative reflection (on readings, course dynamics, requirements, and assignments) in their final course paper

Exit interviews in residence life to find out why they are leaving the residence halls, what their experience has been life, etc. Also, we use reflection papers as a method of both assessment of learning and behavior change as well as understanding of policy/procedure through the conduct process with students.

student evaluations of group members' work in a project

We utilize end of semeter evaluations for continual improvement for our AS-L partnerships/projects.

program impact study, orogram or course evaluations

Writing Proces: students write multiple drafts of their papers, each time seeking to improve them. They are able to compare their changes when they compile everything in their portfolios.

No

Online Survey sent to participant emails where we incorporate the learning objectives and satisfaction with the event

Peer evaluations on group activities. Students have the opportunity to evaluate the quality and quantity of each member of their group. This feedback is then used to calculate a final grade for the project.

On line interactive discussions.

Assess how faculty/staff/students are comfortable with PS by the number of requests for change or the complaints filed.

Group discussions on in-class projects & the student's views of the most useful and least useful aspects of their projects.

Ask students to write a "quick" paper on their opinion of the value of a learning activity (usually a discussion of certain ideas in a music history class).

I include at least one 'reflective' question about what was learned within assignments that appear merely 'technical' in nature.

I begin by defining four kinds of evaluation: formative evaluation, summative evaluation, peer-evaluation, and self-evaluation. I emphasize that each type serves a function in student learning and ask them to engage in guided self-assessment of "what they've learned" from their writing. These assessments involve reflection on and discussion of general knowledge gained, personal knowledge gained, task-specific knowledge gained, and text-specific knowledge gained. Usually, by the end of the semester, beginning writers appreciate the truth that writing involves cognition/knowing, process/doing, and artifact/product.

Group Presentation

Students are provided a case study of a student with a disability and then take (or are assigned, depending on the class) a "role" on an IEP (individual education Plan) team and participate in a meeting

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-- they must use the skills and information from the class regarding ethical, social. legal and managements conduct during an IEP team planning meeting while participating. I have a rubric which I use for scoring the activity and which I then share with individuals and the entire team. i use the rubric as a teaching tool as we reflect on the whole activity and I also use it to improve the activity for the next class.

We do an end of the summer assessment of our summer program. It includes both qualitative and quantitative measures.

I use rubrics for all major assignments. I then examine each dimension of the rubric to see if all dimensions are being addressed well by the entire group or whether a particular dimension(s) is seemingly not well understood.

Formative Quizzes that the students are not graded on but rather to allow them to see their own progress or lack their of. This gives them a chance to imporve their learning before it "counts."

Exit interviews, exit surveys...

Provide hands-on projects and service learning opportunities

One-on-one assessment at every weekly applied lesson -- constant interaction and feedback from student.

Statistic Value

Total Responses 48

8. How often do you use assessment activities, on average? (Choose

the answer that best describes what you do.)

# Answer

Response %

1 Never

10 14%

2 Daily

4 6%

3 Three to four times a week

3 4%

4 One to two times a week

12 17%

5 Three to four times a month

16 23%

6 One to two times a month

16 23%

7 One to two times an academic semester or athletic season

5 7%

8 One to two times a year

4 6%

Total 70 100%

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9. What role do you believe assessment plays in student

learning? (Check all that apply.)

# Answer

Response %

1 It provides me with a greater understanding of what (ideas, concepts) students are learning.

54 77%

2 It provides me with a greater understanding of how (thinking process) students are learning.

42 60%

3

It provides me with a greater understanding of what affects student learning (strengths, stressors, environmental factors).

40 57%

4

It provides me with a tool to assess my own effectiveness in my role with students (such as faculty, coach, student service support).

57 81%

5 It provides me an opportunity to get to know students better.

36 51%

6 It provides me with the opportunity to do research related to the scholarship of teaching and learning.

14 20%

7 Other:

14 20%

Other:

It should do all those things if the instructor can construct an assessment tool that will measure them.

Provide with data on student interests - entertainment.

It's required for documentation purposes, "playing the game," if you will. I value assessment, but I also am wary of how it is often used (e.g., for job retention decisions) and also how it is indicative of our ever-increasing workload, the accountability required imposed on educators, and so on.

N/A

It helps me determine what to do next with my students.

Comment: This isn't to say that all of these are realized in my use of assessment; I'm reading this question as a general one.

It allows me to compare my effectiveness (and my unit) with others across the UW system and other professional orgs

provides me with an understanding as to how the program changed particpants' behaviors

Not an instructor

9

10. Please rate your degree of interest in learning more about

assessment and best practices through workshops or trainings at UW -

S. (Check one.)

# Answer

Response %

1 I am very interested in learning more, just tell me when!

17 24%

2 I am somewhat interested in learning more, depending on the topic.

31 44%

3 This area is not a high priority for me.

11 16%

4 I am not interested in learning more.

2 3%

5 I would not attend a workshop.

9 13%

Total 70 100%

10

We have five liberal education learning goals in place at UWS. They

are:

The ability and inclination to think and make connections across

academic disciplines.

The ability and inclination to express oneself through multiple

forms.

The ability and inclination to analyze and reflect upon multiple

perspectives to arrive at a perspective of one’s own.

The ability and inclination to engage as a global citizen.

The ability and inclination to engage in evidence-based problem

solving.

11. Are you familiar with the liberal education learning goals listed

above? (Check one.)

# Answer

Response %

1 Yes

57 81%

2 No

13 19%

Total 70 100%

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12. Where did you FIRST hear of the liberal education learning goals?

(Check one.)

# Answer

Response %

1 At an Academic Affairs Committee meeting.

2 3%

2 At a Faculty Senate meeting.

1 1%

3 At another campus committee meeting (including chairs).

15 21%

4 At a departmental meeting.

23 33%

5 At a program meeting (including an academic discipline or co-curricular program).

6 9%

6 Through the Faculty/Student Digest.

1 1%

7 I’ve never heard of the liberal learning goals before seeing them in this survey.

8 11%

8 Other:

14 20%

Total 70 100%

Other:

Freshman Faculty Orientation?

UWS website

Through reading the UWS website through my own job search/interview process (I just started at UWS two months ago)

During the NCA reassessment process 10 years ago, I think.

I found them on the website to use for an in-class writing activity

Through conversation with peers

My colleagues

during job interview

Read them

I was on the team developing them

In this survey.

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13. What activities are you involved with regarding student learning?

(Check all that apply.)

# Answer

Response %

1 Academic coursework.

47 67%

2 Co-curricular activities, including student clubs, athletics, Yellow Jacket Union, and residence life.

22 31%

3 Advisement.

35 50%

4 University administration.

15 21%

5 Other:

16 23%

Other:

Support

None

Student internships

Five Liberal Arts Initiatives

CEE workshops

Tutoring services

N/A

university judicial processes

continuing education programming

student worker(s)

library instruction

13

14. What is your PRIMARY role on campus? (Check one.)

# Answer

Response %

1 Faculty (tenure-track or tenured)

28 40%

2 Instructional academic staff (including adjunct faculty)

10 14%

3 Non-instructional academic staff

17 24%

4 Classified staff

8 11%

5 Adminstration

4 6%

6 Other:

3 4%

Total 70 100%

Other:

Program Manager

Upward Bound-College prep for H.S.

Research

15. How long have you been employed at UWS?

# Answer

Response %

1 Less than one year.

7 10%

2 Between 1 to 4 years.

22 31%

3 Between 5 to 8 years.

9 13%

4 Between 9 to 12 years.

9 13%

5 Between 13 to 16 years.

10 14%

6 Between 17 to 20 years.

2 3%

7 More than 20 years.

11 16%

Total 70 100%