Frequently Asked Assessment Questions

Who needs to do assessment? 
Anyone teaching two or more classes for CSET each semester needs to complete the assessment. Those teaching less than two classes a semester may choose to do the assessment, but they are not required to do it.

Why am I doing assessment?
Assessment is a measure of the health of our courses and of our institution. It enables us to see how well our students are learning the essential skill sets that we teach in our disciplines to ensure that they will be successful global citizens.

Further, it is an HLC requirement and neglecting to do it will result in a loss of accreditation. Assessment is an essential component of your job if you are teaching, and all instructors are required to do assessment if they are teaching more than one course per semester.

How many classes should I assess?
Only ONE per semester.

What if I teach both General Education courses and non-GE, upper-level or graduate course? 
Pick only ONE course to assess. You will be sent the links to both surveys, but you will decide which course to assess.

I only teach one class per semester. How do I Opt Out?
There is an "Opt Out" link underneath my signature on the assessment survey email. Please click that.

Which class should I pick? 
This is a strategic conversation that you need to have with your program. Typically, you should pick the courses that are most important to your program: gateway courses, courses that serve as the prerequisite to the majors courses, essential majors courses, courses with high d/w/f rates, courses where you are trying something new or courses with historically high enrollments. We need to eventually assess every course, but we do need to be strategic about when courses are assessed, too.

What, exactly, am I assessing?
You will assess one of the General Education Learning Outcomes and one Institutional Learning Outcome if you are teaching a General Education course that you would like to assess.

You will assess one Institutional Learning Outcome if you are teaching a non-GE, upper-level or graduate course that you will like to assess.

Ok, but what does the assessment entail? 
You will be asked to indicate the number of students in your course who have achieved "High Proficiency" of the skill, "Proficiency," "Low Proficiency" and "Little-to-No Proficiency." There are spaces for you to input the number of students in each category for each assessment.

Should I pick different assignments to assess for the GE LOs and the ILOs?
No. Please use the same assignment.

What about Programmatic Learning Outcome assessment?
If you program chair would like you to assess your program's Learning Outcomes, there is a space for you to input those into the survey and assess them.

Should I create a new assignment just for this? 
No. Please use one that is already a part of your course.

Should our program create a rubric for norming?
That can be very helpful. However, you can use the AACU Value Rubrics (provided on this page) for the basis of your norming language for Institutional Learning Outcome Assessment. The University Assessment Committee will be working on taxonomies for the General Education courses this year.

Do I have to use an entire exam for the assessment?
This is up to you. If you feel that you would better be able to assess your students on the skill using a lengthier assignment, do that. However, if it would make sense to pick one or two problems and assess them that way, do that.

Where will I find the Learning Outcomes that I am assessing?
Those have been provided to you within the survey. You will simply pick the one you wish to assess from a list of LOs provided for the course.

What if my course isn't listed in the options to choose?
You have the option of inputting your own course with the Course and Section number.

How do we norm to ensure the entire program has the same definitions of "High Proficiency," "Proficiency," "Low Proficiency," and "Little-to-No Proficiency"? 
You need to have a conversation with your program to ensure that you all have the same understanding of those parameters for the varying levels of your courses (benchmark courses, milestone courses and mastery courses).

Why don't the Proficiency Levels equal our Grading Levels (A, B, C, D, F)?
We are not equating students' skills with grading because grading can be a false measure of a student's ability and aptitude for a particular skill. The four ranges ("High Proficiency," "Proficiency," "Low Proficiency," and "Little-to-No Proficiency") incorporate a range of ability levels. We are thinking of students' ability level over time (assessment) rather than just one snapshot in time (grading).

Will I be able to see my individual course assessment in relation to other courses with the same course number? 
No. We aggregate the data results so that we get a sense of how students are mastering the skills overall rather than in individual courses.

When is this due?
December 30.

When will we get the results of the assessment?
We will try to have the assessment dashboards updated within a month after the final assessment date.

How do I access the results?
You can click on the link to the Assessment Dashboards from the Assessment website (www.uwgb.edu/assessment). You then put in your UWGB username and password and you are able to search for your program's assessment results.

How can assessment affect our courses or curriculum? 
Assessment allows you to see what is working well and what needs to be tweaked. It can help your program advocate for changes and resources that can lead to increased student learning, retention, and enrollments.

Will doing assessment harm me professionally in any way?
No, assessment results cannot be used in any personnel or retention issues.

Can doing assessment help me professionally? 
Yes! Assessment enables you to be more student-centered and to think mindfully about how students approach the material in your course. Further, indicating that you engage in assessment on your PAR is considered essential service to the university.

What happens if the survey link doesn't work?
Contact the Assessment Coordinator, Valerie Murrenus Pilmaier, at murrenuv@uwgb.edu.

Who do I contact if I have questions? 
Feel free to contact the Assessment Coordinator, Valerie Murrenus Pilmaier, at any time with assessment questions: murrenuv@uwgb.edu or 920.459.6647 (leave a message and I'll return your call).