Propósitos:

• Hacer un plan de avalúo:

– Determinar la meta general a la que aspiran

las unidades de servicio o la competencia que

quieren desarrollar en el estudiante.

– Especificar competencias relacionadas con la

meta.

– Planificar las estrategias para lograrla y el

avalúo/evaluación que se llevará a cabo.

Assessment of Student Learning at

Frederick Community College

Evaluating Institutional Learning

Centeredness Conference

San Diego, California · July 2007

Presenters

• Dr. Richard Haney

Vice President of Learning Support

• Dr. Debralee McClellan

Associate Vice President for Student Development

About Frederick Community College

• Located in central Maryland

– 45 miles west of Washington D.C. and Baltimore

– Northern end of the I-270 high-tech corridor

– County population of 220,000

– Largest county by land mass in the State

• Enrollments

– 4,800 credit students per semester

– 11,000 continuing education students annually

Did it work?

• Middle States Commission on Education Accreditation Team

Feedback – March 2006

“The Division of Learning Support deserves enthusiastic

commendation for their work with outcomes assessment. There are

articulated assessment plans in place that include clear functional

area mission statements, maintain realistic benchmarks, and

demonstrate evidence of continuous quality improvement. The model

created by this division should serve as a standard.”

Context for Assessment

College focus

• FCC’s re-organization as a “Learning College”

– Vision – “Student Learning First”

– Mission – “FCC, as a learning college prepares individuals to meet

the challenges of a diverse, global society through quality,

accessible, innovative, lifelong learning. We are a student-

centered, community-focused college. FCC offers courses,

degrees, certificates, and programs for workforce preparation,

transfer, and personal enrichment. Through these offerings, FCC

enhances the quality of life and economic vitality of our region.”

College focus

• Division of Student Development became Division of Learning

Support

• Learning Support mission statement – “To provide services in a

changing, professional environment that encourages and supports lifelong

learning.”

Context for Assessment

Learning Support

Organizational Structure

• Athletics

• Enrollment Management

• Financial Aid

• Information Technology

• Student Development

• Student Life

• Welcome & Registration Center

Overview of Assessment Process

in Learning Support

• College’s transition to a learning college shifted the focus of

assessment to student learning

– Shift from student satisfaction to student learning

– Movement away from evaluating programs by the numbers to

measuring the learning that has occurred as a result of the student’s

involvement in the program and/or services

– Forced departments to re-think their true purpose

– Emphasis shifts from what we do to what we want students to be able

to do

• Used the statewide goal of a self-directed learner as a model for

developing learning outcomes across functional areas

– Managers charged to develop assessment objectives for their

program areas to address the goal - “Student will become a self-

directed learners”

What we did

Definition of Self-directed Learner

The student will:

• Define a need or problem and employ effective

decision-making to resolve it

• Plan ahead/set goals

• Acquire knowledge

• Use available resources

• Seek assistance from appropriate people/experts

• Apply critical analysis to consider options

• Evaluate decisions

What we did

• Division-wide retreats in 2003 – “The Student Learning Imperative”

and “Outcomes Assessment in the Learning College”

Key questions we asked of ourselves as we developed our

assessment plan

• What are we trying to do and why?

• How does my program contribute to student learning?

• How well are we doing?

• How do we know?

• How do we use the information to improve or celebrate successes?

• Do the improvements we make work?

Preguntas clave

• ¿Qué hacemos o queremos hacer para que logren aprender?

• ¿Qué queremos que los estudiantes aprendan?

• ¿Cómo sabemos si han aprendido?

• ¿Cómo vamos a usar la información para mejorar o celebrar los éxitos?

• ¿Funcionan las mejoras que hacemos?

Learning Support Assessment Plan FY

AREA:

GOAL/OBJECTIVE:

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

1.1

1.2

MEASUREMENT BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT TOOLS

1.1

1.2

STRATEGIES ASSIGNED TO

1.1

1.2

STATUS/FEEDBACK LOOP (How has data been used to enhance learning, services, processes?)

Learning Support Assessment Plan FY - continued

Examples of Learning Outcomes in

Learning Support Areas

• Athletics

– Goal - Assist students in becoming self-directed learners by promoting

development of sportsmanship and citizenship skills

– Learning Outcome - Student-athletes exhibit good sportsmanship and

citizenship skill

• Welcome & Registration Center

– Goal -Assist students in becoming self-directed learners by enhancing

one-stop operations

– Learning Outcome - Students demonstrate the ability to navigate

registration processes in subsequent semesters

• Financial Aid

– Goal – Assist students in becoming self-directed learners by providing

information, assistance, and directions to students regarding sources of

financial aid and the application process.

– Learning Outcome - students will more effectively negotiate the

financial aid process.

– Learning Outcome – Students will demonstrate increased awareness of

financial aid opportunities

– Learning Outcome – Students will receive an increased number of

Maryland State Scholarship Awards

Examples of Learning Outcomes in

Learning Support Areas

Incorporating Assessment into

Student Affairs Programming

Academic Advising

Steps in Assessment

1. Develop Functional Area Goal(s)

– What is the overall purpose of the area?

2. Develop Outcomes that Operationalize the Goal

– What do we want students to know or to be able to do?

– Must be measurable – how will you know if student

accomplished the outcome?

Steps in Assessment

3. Develop Strategies to Ensure Outcomes will be Met

– Services, resources, programs offered

– Opportunities for students to accomplish what you want

them to do or to learn what you want them to know

4. Establish Benchmarks

– The level of student accomplishment will you accept as

evidence that students have met the outcome

Steps in Assessment

5. Develop Assessment Instrument to Measure each

Outcome

– Survey, focus group, portfolio of student work, rubrics,

pre and post measurement

6. Use Findings to Make Improvements

– Can include changing a program or a service, or

developing a new service to address assessment findings

Sample Outcome/Survey Items

Advising Outcome

• Students will demonstrate

knowledge of academic

requirements

– e.g., curriculum for intended

major, how to select general

education courses

Survey Items

• “I know how to select general

education courses”

• “I understand how to select courses

for my major”

• “I understand how placement test

results determine which classes I

can take”

Using Results to Improve Practice

• Reviewed outcomes and individual survey items that

received lowest scores from students in 2006 to revise First

Year Advising Program for 2007

– Focused on two lowest rated outcomes and the lowest rated

survey item within a highly rated outcome

Using Results to Improve Practice

Outcomes to be Addressed

• Students will demonstrate

knowledge of academic

requirements (general education

courses)

• Students will demonstrate

knowledge of educational policies

and procedures (related to

registration)

• Students will be aware of how to

access college resources and

services (career goal setting)

Strategy Implemented

• Developed consistent delivery

regarding how to select general

education courses

• Implemented Registration

Services module

• Implemented Career Development

module

Recuerden…