date:2/11/2014

MEETING:Assessment Team

VENUE:SC 2109

FACILITATOR(S):Abby Langham

ATTENDING:Andrea Conti-Elkins, Branden Farmer (absent), Dafni Greene, Maegan Hamner, Haven Hart (absent)Bill Jackson, Virginia Koch, Rachael Mesner, Jill Moore, John-Michael Roehm, and Kristee Treadwell, Guest - Stephanie Daniels

I.Introductions – Dr. Abby Langham mentioned a new addition to the A-Team, Ms. Haven Hart, Director of Student Conduct. Additionally, Dr. Langham introduced Ms. Stephanie Daniels, Assessment &Strategic Planning Intern, to the group.

II.Contact List – Members received an updated contact list. (Note: These minutes include two updated phone numbers from the list given out at the meeting. The numbers for Bill Jackson and Branden Farmer are correct as shown below on the contact list.)

Assessment Committee

(A-Team)
Contact List

(Updated February 12, 2014)

Abby Langham, Ph.D.

Assessment & Strategic Planning

334-844-8610

Andrea Conti Elkins

Student Center

334-844-1303

Branden Farmer

Campus Recreation

334-844-0063

Dafni Greene

Student Media

334-844-2167

Maegan Hamner

Medical Clinic

334-844-6106

Haven Hart

Student Conduct

334-844-5751

Bill Jackson

Campus Recreation

334-844-0016

Virginia Koch, Ph.D.

Residence Life

334-844-3466

Rachael Mesner

Health Promotion & Wellness Services

334-844-1471

Jill Moore

Greek Life

334-844-4595

John Michael Roehm

Student Involvement

334-844-1344

Kristee Treadwell, Ph.D.

Student Counseling Services

334-844-4000

Minutes from A-Team Meeting

Abby Langham

2/11/2014

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III.NSSE –

  1. Iryna Johnson from the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment(OIRA) is seeking the Division’s help for improving the response rate for this year’s National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE). OIRA administers NSSE to a select group of freshman and seniors.
  2. The A-team can help by getting the word out to students. Examples of how the A-Team members can help include posting an announcement on AU involve, through Student Media, and by placing fliers in the Student Center and in residence halls. Asample of the flier was passed around to all members. All Directors were emailed about the request to share NSSE information with students. A-Team members will receive the email soon as well. The invitation to participate in the survey will be sent to students on February 18th.

IV.SACS-

  1. There is updated information on SACS accreditation. Auburn has been re-accredited. Dr. Langham gave credit to the A-team for their part in the preparation and review of materials. Auburn met the standard for4 out of 5areas assessed during the on-site review. 3 of the 4 standards for Institutional Effectiveness (IE) were met: Administrative Services, Academic and Student Support Services, and Public Research Mission. SACS placed areas included in the fourth IE standard, Educational Programs, under monitoring. SACS reviewers deemed a final, fifth, area acceptable, General Education Competencies. Thus, for the Educational Programs standard, the one major area that Auburn needs to work on is the documentation of learning and program outcomes for educational programs housed within the colleges and schools. Since the standard for Academic and Student Support Services was met, the Division will not be included in the 5-year review nor will they be asked to revise previous reports. The next review will be the 10-year review in 2023. The DoSA will, however, be expected to continue improving its outcome assessments and institutional effectiveness reporting
  2. A-Team and Directors will soon receive emails containing suggestions from OIRA on how they could have improved their 2012-2013 Institutional Effectiveness Reports. In addition to the peer review of these reports conducted by the A-Team, OIRA’s new staff member, Chelsea Ellithorpe, conducted a further review of the reports. Dr. Langham has her feedback and will be sending it via email this week to Directors and A-Team members. The information shared should be something to help the A-Team and departments with reporting in the future.
  3. Question (Virginia): Could we have rubrics with reporting criteria ahead of time? Reply (Abby): The rubrics are now available on the Assessment & Strategic Planning website.

V.Campus Labs-

  1. The Campus Labs Baseline and Compliance Assist consultant has changed. His name is George Smiltins.
  2. Baseline has a new “Create your Own” survey feature. Before this new feature, users were only able to request a project through a Baseline representative. Now users will be able to create their own surveys immediately. Users can now also change their own open and close dates. Dr. Langham demonstrated the use of the new feature to members.
  3. This month marks the halfway point for Departments to have measures and explanations of methods for Year One Outcomes entered into Compliance Assist. All departments should have their measurements/instruments entered at this point and should have already or should be in the process of administering assessments and analyzing results for Year One DoSA strategic plan outcomes. Additionally, all departments should begin to compile results into the Baseline system and place results in Compliance Assist for 2013-2014 Institutional Effectiveness reports.
  4. Remember to use Baseline as DOSA’s official assessment software.
  5. Helpful Hint: Make sure that you label each project with a specific title and include a date.
  6. Question (Virginia): If we have started a survey and we no longer need the survey, should we get Campus Labs to delete the survey? Reply(Abby): If the survey you created was never administered to participants then sure you can delete it. If you collected data, please leave it in Baseline.

VI.Determine what to accomplish next- The A-Team used its newly created planning document to prioritize future tasks.

  1. A-Team members began to look through the document and prioritize tasks.
  2. Question (Dafni): Do we plan to conduct focus groups with students on the strategic plan? Reply: We are still operating with our working document of our strategic plan. These focus groups are important; however,given the ongoing search for a new Vice President, we are not sure on the timeframe in which these can begin.
  3. Comment (John-Michael): I think that we should do something with the Staff Aptitude Survey results that are in Baseline. We need to go through and make sense of the results. This survey was a survey to staff about how they feel about using and administering assessment. The survey was given over a year ago.
  4. Question(Dafni): What is the assessment cycle timeline? Reply(Abby): Year TwoOutcomes will be drafted this semester. Effectiveness reporting is always due to OIRA in October. Internally, the Institutional Effectiveness reports based on Year One Outcomes will be due in August. It will be helpful to create a timeline for the assessment cycle for routine reporting.
  5. A list of initial priorities of the A-Team was created based on the above conversation.
  6. Revise Expanded Common Language and distribute to the DoSA
  7. Create an assessment calendar timeline for routine reporting
  8. Use results from Staff Aptitude, Attitude, and Experience with Assessment Survey to understand comfort levels and gaps with assessment
  9. Create frequently asked questions and answers related to assessment and strategic planning
  10. Create an assessment decision tree for methods selection
  11. Create survey/focus group question banks and templates
  12. Offer training related to closing gaps identified by participants in the Staff Aptitude, Attitude, and Experience with Assessment Survey
  13. Evaluate website value

VII.Tasks for next meeting-

  1. During the next meeting, the A-Team will finalize the Expanded Common Language and will look at a draft for new possible definitions to add.
  2. The A-Team will create an assessment cycle timeline.
  3. Additionally, Dr. Virginia Koch will give a short presentation at the next meeting.

VIII.Next Meeting- February 25th, 2014, Student Center room 2109 at 2:30pm.