2023 Pre-Institute Workshops
All Pre-Institute workshops will be held on Sunday, October 29, 2023. You may sign up and pay for any of the Pre-Institute workshops when completing the online registration form for the 2023 Assessment Institute in Indianapolis. Pre-Institute workshop fees are in addition to Assessment Institute registration fees.
Attending a Pre-Institute workshop can be a valuable experience for several reasons:
- In-depth learning: Pre-Institute workshops offer a more in-depth learning experience than regular conference sessions. Due to their longer duration, workshops allow for a more comprehensive exploration of the specific workshop topic.
- Practical experience: Pre-Institute workshops offer engaging exposure to the subject matter, giving attendees the opportunity to consider and apply what they learn in the workshop to their own contexts. This can be particularly helpful for attendees who prefer a more interactive learning experience.
- Networking: Pre-Institute workshops can be an excellent opportunity to connect with other attendees who share similar interests and goals. By attending a workshop, you can meet and network with other practitioners, potentially leading to new opportunities for collaboration.
- Access to thought-leaders: Pre-Institute workshops are facilitated by assessment and improvement thought-leaders. This provides attendees with a unique opportunity to learn directly from experienced practitioners and to ask questions in real-time.
Overall, attending a Pre-Institute workshop can be a valuable investment in your professional development. The workshops offer opportunities to learn in-depth, gain practical and applicable experience, network with like-minded colleagues, and access experienced practitioners in the field of assessment and improvement.
Full–Day Workshop | 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Morning Half–Day Workshops | 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Afternoon Half–Day Workshops | 1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Full–Day Workshop | 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. | $150.00
01A – Assessment 101 (SOLD OUT)
Assessment. Where to start? It’s here in Assessment 101. Participants will interact with each other and engage in hands-on activities throughout this full-day workshop. You will grapple with questions fundamental to higher education such as: What should students know, think, and be able to do when they graduate? And, how would someone know if students succeeded? Fortunately, assessment can help us address these questions. Specifically, by the end of this workshop, you will be able to do the following: (1) explain the basic steps in the assessment process, (2) distinguish among beginning, developing, good, and advanced assessment reporting, (3) develop an assessment plan for one student learning outcome (SLO), and (4) discuss the fundamentals of applying interventions [e.g. pedagogy and curriculum] at the program level to improve student learning.
Keston H. Fulcher and Sarah Alahmadi, James Madison University
Audience: Beginner
Primary Track: Assessment Methods
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Morning Half–Day Workshops | 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 Noon | $75.00 each
02A – Increasing Equity in the Assessment of Student Learning
The Grand Challenges in Assessment project is working to increase the equity of assessments in higher education. A key part of this work is finding more accurate and fair ways to measure learning. Assignment features can support or prevent equity in higher education. Students' work on assignments influences the extent to which they learn important concepts. Grades and feedback influence their success and feelings about the extent to which they belong in institutions or majors. In this workshop, we will discuss features of assignments that perpetuate equity gaps and interfere with students' ability to demonstrate proficiency. We will provide a range of simple ways that assessments can be improved to increase equity and support student success. We will conclude with a discussion of ways to engage others in working to improve the equity of their measures of student learning.
Karen E. Singer-Freeman, Wake Forest University; and Christine Robinson, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
02B – Assessment as a Profession, Field, and Discipline: Taking Action, Thinking Ahead
This workshop is a unique opportunity for assessment leaders to come together and define the essence of our professional roles, responsibilities, and career growth. By engaging in individual and group activities, participants will gain a deeper understanding of themselves and the field and develop personalized action plans that help advance their professional growth, scholarly pursuits, and impact on the assessment community. This workshop is ideal for early-career practitioners seeking to clarify their career goals and expectations; mid- and senior-level practitioners looking to enhance their skills, knowledge, and reputation; and senior-level researchers seeking to make a lasting impact and shape the future of the field.
Ruth Slotnick, Bridgewater State University; Nicholas Curtis, University of Wisconsin–Madison; and Laura Gambino, New England Commission of Higher Education
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Emerging Trends in Assessment
02C – Program Review: Purposes, Perspectives, and Processes
Program review is a widely acknowledged approach to improving quality in higher education. This workshop identifies the purposes of program review and examines its evolution and impact in helping colleges and universities improve student learning outcomes as well as co-curricular programs, research activities, and administrative services. Perspectives of faculty, chairs, academic unit leaders, student affairs and co-curricular professionals, research administrators, and other leaders will be shared, along with the important role of peer reviewers in serving as consultants and critical friends. Processes of planning for, conducting, and using results from program review will be highlighted.
Stephen P. Hundley, IUPUI and Associates
Audience: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment
02D – The Role of Assessment and IE/IR Professionals in Building Equity-Minded Decision Cultures
Data-informed decision cultures committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) require commitment and collaboration across the institution. Each administrative and academic unit provides unique expertise essential to the pursuit of environments supportive of student success. In this workshop we will explore the intersection of DEI and the institution’s data function, including assessment, institutional effectiveness, and institutional research; develop common understanding of relevant concepts and terms; explore what it means to frame our work with an equity lens; and identify the ways in which we can contribute to efforts to diversify our field. Join us for a safe space to learn together.
Leah Ross, Association for Institutional Research (AIR); Michele J. Hansen, The Ohio State University; and Bethany Miller, Macalester College
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
02E – Maximizing Learning Within Your General Education Curriculum
At the heart of most general education programs is what takes place in individual courses and individual classrooms across campus. A well-designed general education curriculum is ultimately only as good as the teaching and learning practice that takes place within the courses that comprise the general education curriculum. This workshop focuses on this reality by considering general education learning from multiple perspectives. It will begin by highlighting programmatic opportunities provided by different models of general education along with the learning outcomes that each model is designed to foster. The session will then investigate what we empirically know about how students learn and consider practical pedagogical strategies that leverage that foundation. Assignment design and leveraging high impact practices will be included within the scope of this pedagogical discussion. Attendees will also consider data-driven sources for course improvement efforts, including end of semester evaluations and the results of learning outcomes assessment activities, as well as how to best utilize that information. Attendees are encouraged to come to this workshop with course syllabi and assignments as time will be provided to engage in course revision activities. Those who attend this interactive presentation will leave with concrete, evidence-based strategies they can employ in their general education curriculum and courses.
C. Edward Watson, American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: General Education
02F – High-Impact Practices: What, Why, and, Most Importantly, How?
Learn about the research practices that are providing equitable results for students, invigorating faculty, and creating a much more engaged learning experience across the higher education world. This session will be rooted in discussing scaling, access, and assessment of HIPs. We will also share, and ask you to share, ideas for practical campus-wide applications of HIPs. We will share our tracking ideas, student surveys, tools for public demonstration of competence, and other online resources that support faculty. If you are looking for a high energy solution to some of the disconnectedness that has been plaguing our campuses since 2020, this is the workshop for you. You will walk away with real ideas that can be implemented at your college or university right away.
Jo Ellen Becco, Pikes Peak State College; and Robin Schofield, Community College of Aurora
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: HIPs in the States
02G – Jump-Start Your Professional Program’s Assessment Process: Focus on Program Evaluation for Accreditation and Effective Data Communication Strategies
This interactive workshop will help participants develop or fine-tune their program’s evaluation plan in order to satisfy institutional and specialized accreditation requirements for continuous quality improvement. Key elements of an evaluation plan will be addressed, including the identification of program goals and accreditation standards to be evaluated, development and selection of appropriate measures and metrics, and establishment of benchmarks. Participants will engage in discussions centered on identifying key stakeholders to involve and establishing cycles and timelines for each stage of the process. Challenges and recommendations for locating metrics and data related to areas common to specialized accreditors, such as faculty and staff, finances, student success, and admissions, will also be examined. Additionally, the presenters will provide an overview of basic statistical approaches that can be applied to analysis of assessment data as well as best practices in visualization and communication of assessment results. Session participants will receive examples from the presenters’ institutions, analyze case studies, and conclude the session with a brief period of guided working time to identify action steps for building or improving their program’s evaluation plan.
Mike Rudolph, Lincoln Memorial University School of Medical Sciences; Leslie Woltenberg, University of Kentucky College of Health Sciences, Justine Gortney, Wayne State University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences; and Dan Trujillo, Auburn University - Harrison College of Pharmacy
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Accreditation
02H – Designing and Implementing a Sustainable Assessment Process: Practical Strategies for Balancing Accountability and Improvement
The principal purpose of assessment is continuous improvement of student learning. However, in most institutions, the design and implementation of assessment and outcomes of the process are often linked primarily to compliance with external requirements such as accreditation and/or state mandates. This approach renders systematic enhancement of student learning and programmatic improvement as simple byproducts of the assessment process. This workshop will provide practical strategies for developing, implementing, and sustaining a systematic institutional assessment process aimed, primarily, at cultivating a culture of continuous improvement of student learning, while also addressing accountability needs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Felix Wao, University of Oklahoma
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Learning Improvement
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Afternoon Half–Day Workshops | 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. | $75.00 each
03A – Jumpstarting General Education Program Review: A Systems Thinking Approach to the Self-Study
Often overlooked in the discussion of general education program development and assessment is the issue of program review. The Association for General and Liberal Studies (AGLS) offers a “Guide to Assessment and Program Review” intended to stimulate a collaborative discussion for the improvement of a general education program. At the heart of the “Guide” is a set of twenty systems-analysis questions aimed at improving program quality. This workshop will focus on the initial stage of the self-study and provides attendees an opportunity to “test-drive” the tool and practice basic general education program evaluation steps.
Jody Dekorte, Purdue University Global; and Christine Robinson, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: General Education
03B – Student Partnership in Assessment: Ideas for Meaningful Student Engagement
In more than three decades of work, we are yet to regularly evidence a return on the investment of student outcomes assessment. Many adjustments to the process have been made (e.g., outcomes design, motivation, instrument design, faculty buy-in). Nevertheless, the key stakeholders, students, are rarely included in the process. Instead, we must—often incorrectly—assume the student experience and build our processes accordingly. To address this issue, participants will engage in a guided redesign of a specific assessment process at their own institution; intentionally planning for student partnership.
Nicholas Curtis, University of Wisconsin–Madison; and Robin Anderson, James Madison University
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Student Partnership and Engagement in Assessment
03C – Using Equity-Centered Assessment Approaches to Challenge the Status Quo
Challenging the status quo means not only interrogating and revising our own assessment practices but also ensuring that information is used to improve learning environments for all our students, faculty, and staff. Two questions that drive our assessment purposes and strategies at Macalester are: (1) How do we engage in meaningful, equity-centered assessment inquiry that creates a more nuanced data picture and compels action? and (2) How do we empower agency and engagement in assessment while also respecting power dynamics between and among students; and between and among faculty and students?
In this interactive workshop, participants will learn how to apply elements of Participatory Action Inquiry to engage in equity-centered assessment. We’ll use case studies to illustrate specific reflective and group activities we’ve designed to engage students and faculty in context-specific inquiry for the purpose of improving learning and learning environments. Bring your assessment challenges and questions, and together we’ll brainstorm about how these (and/or other) approaches can be adapted to keep students at the center.
Bethany Miller and Nancy Bostrom, Macalester College
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
03D – Elevating the Importance of Leadership in Assessment and Accreditation
Anyone taking on the mantle of assessment automatically becomes a continuous improvement leader. While it is important to know the “how to” of engaging in sound assessment and accreditation practices, less emphasis has been placed on all the soft skills or rather “essential skills” needed to be effective in our roles as leaders. We often feel we are limited in our title/role, authority, and where we live within our institutions to impact meaningful change. Attend this workshop to learn and practice six essential skills/areas that will serve you in being impactful and effective as a true assessment leader.
Joseph D. Levy, Excelsior University; and Divya Bheda, Educational Consultant
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Leadership for Assessment
03E – A Simple Framework for Assessing Student Services and Administrative Units (SOLD OUT)
This presentation will focus on a simple, stress-free framework to assess non-academic units to achieve continuous improvement. Participants will learn how to use commonly available data to improve their departments’ value-added functions. This presentation will center around a lecture of the simplified process, demonstration of the elements of the process (for a variety of student services and administrative functions), and hands-on work in defining each step of the process (with presenter feedback). Participants will also be provided with an editable version of an assessment manual, complete with templates for assessment planning and reporting.
Edward Hummingbird, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Assessment Methods
03F – Exploring a Practical Application of Program Theory and Implementation Fidelity with Assessment
Assessment for student learning can be enhanced by collaboratively integrating curriculum, instruction, and assessment. This workshop will explore cultivating integrated processes by practically applying key components of Program Theory (PT) and Implementation Fidelity (IF) to assessment practices.
After briefly describing and discussing PT and IF as typically presented in journal articles, the workshop will focus on specific essential components of PT and IF, which emerged organically in an institution-wide initiative to foster critical thinking and effective writing. Attendees will apply these essential components to scenarios in different contexts for enabling component application and integrated processes at their own institutions.
Teresa Flateby, Higher Education and Assessment Consultant
Audience Level: Intermediate
Primary Track: Learning Improvement
03G – Getting HIP to ePortfolios: Scaling Assignment-Level Reflective Pedagogies into Program-Based ePortfolios
A multi-disciplinary faculty group from a Michigan urban regional comprehensive university will share milestones of their multi-year plan to turn an intentional focus on high-impact activities in assignment design into the high-impact practice (HIP) of ePortfolios anchored within General Education. We will share findings from our study of signature assignments, strategies from scaling into an ePortfolio, and principles upheld in the design, including materials related to our HIP and ways we employed the guiding principle of equity-mindedness. We will model reflective practices central to our program and guide participants through reflective exercises to consider presentation themes, values, and implications for their own campuses. This interactive workshop is designed to offer practical tools and opportunities for planning in local contexts.
Stephanie Roach, Jennifer Alvey, and Kazuko Hiramatsu, University of Michigan-Flint
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: HIPs in the States
03H – Academic Program Assessment: The Nuts and Bolts
This workshop strategically focuses on the “nuts and bolts” to create an academic program-level assessment plan that is faculty-led and sustainable. The workshop will offer participants with best practices, tips and tricks, and structures to create elements of an assessment plan, including: (a) a mission statement, (b) program learning objectives, (c) curriculum mapping/learning opportunities, (d) means and methods for assessment, and (e) logistics for assessment (when, what, where, what, who, and how). This approach offers a scalable system for program-level assessment that can also help meet requirements for institutional and national accrediting agencies. It is intended to serve as a practical guide for program chairs, individual faculty members, or assessment professionals charged with implementing assessment for individual programs or at the campus level. Participants will walk away from the workshop with a clear rationale and charge for doing program-level assessment and with a feeling that program assessment is manageable and feasible.
Mark Nicholas, Framingham State University
Audience Level: Beginner
Primary Track: Assessment Methods