* Continued Development
of General Education Assessment.
OSU is in its fourth year of implementing a general
education assessment plan that was developed in 2000.
The process uses three methods (institutional portfolios,
university-wide surveys, and a course content database)
to evaluate the extent to which students are achieving
the articulated learning goals for the general education
program. Results of the assessment of students’ written
communication skills prompted the General Education
Advisory Council to increase requirements for writing
assignments in some general education courses. A process
for assessment of students’ critical thinking
skills was tested in 2003-04, and an institutional
portfolio of student work samples will be developed
for assessment in 2005.
* Professional
Development Sessions for Faculty and Assessment
Coordinators. The
General Education Assessment Committee and the
Assessment Council plan to provide
a series of professional development sessions for
faculty and assessment coordinators in 2004-05.
In Fall 2004, these groups are scheduled to present
sessions titled “Developing and Assessing
Critical Thinking,” “Using Portfolios
for Outcomes Assessment,” “Effective
Departmental Outcomes Assessment,” and “Regional
Accreditation with the Higher Learning Commission.” Additional
sessions are planned on the process and results
of general education assessment since its inception
in 2000, and effective outcomes assessment for
graduate programs. In addition, the Assessment
Council agreed to provide additional funding to
support faculty travel to conferences and workshops
on assessment.
* Assessment Council Reviews of Outcomes
Assessment Programs Integrated with Academic
Program Review Process. In Spring 2004, the OSU Assessment
Council approved a modification to its schedule for
review of program outcomes assessment. Beginning in
Fall 2004, outcomes assessment for each degree program
will be reviewed one year in advance of the program’s
participation in the Academic Program Review (APR)
process. The APR process now requests documentation
of each program’s assessment activities, so this
schedule modification will allow for feedback from
the Assessment Council well in advance of the Academic
Program Review. Past assessment reviews have resulted
in greater communication and understanding of outcomes
assessment and what academic units should be doing.
Almost three-quarters of the academic units have revised
their assessment plans or otherwise demonstrated greater
commitment to outcomes assessment in their programs
as a result of feedback received from the Assessment
Council Reviews.The OSU Assessment
Council completed its third year of reviewing the assessment
plans and reports for academic units in spring 2003
and has now completed at least one review of all OSU
academic programs. These reviews have resulted in greater
communication and understanding of what outcomes assessment
is about and what academic units should be doing. Almost
three-quarters of all academic units have revised their
assessment plans or otherwise demonstrated greater
commitment to outcomes assessment in their programs
as a result of feedback received from the Assessment
Council Reviews.
* Student Satisfaction with the Northern
Oklahoma College / Oklahoma State University Gateway
Program. An important special assessment
project in Spring 2003 was the development of an assessment
plan for evaluating the impact of remedial courses
offered to OSU students by NOC faculty at their new
Stillwater campus. This assessment process will be
tracked through future OSU Annual Assessment Reports.
*
2004 Survey of Alumni of Undergraduate Programs.
The Office of University Assessment conducted the
second university-wide survey of alumni
of OSU undergraduate programs in January 2004. Results
from these alumni surveys have become a cornerstone
of the assessment efforts for most OSU academic units
and provide valuable information about the career patterns
of recent graduates.
