PNC
Assessment - RECENT NEWS!
BALOTS UPDATE
Phase 2 of BALOTS identified the
performance criteria, learning activities, and
assessment methods of at least one student learning
outcome in the program. 65% of programs are up to
date on their program assessment reporting as of April
29, 2010. Phase 3, which is due on May 15,
incorporates reporting the findings of at least one
assessment that has been conducted and suggestions for
change based on that data.

Information UPDATED 4/29/10
There is now a video available which
helps Assessment Coordinators with adding Phase 2 data
into BALOTS. Click
HERE.
Poster Shared at
Higher Learning Commission annual Meeting
| Purdue University North Central was well
represented at the annual conference of the
Higher Learning Commission in Chicago, IL with a
poster presentation sharing campus-wide efforts
related to assessment. PNC has been part of the
Academy for the Assessment of Student Learning
since spring 2009 and was invited to present at
this year’s conference a poster which
demonstrated the results of their project
“Celebrating Assessment”. Dr. Karen Schmid,
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, commented
that Purdue North Central displayed the “best
looking poster” and that it was “received very
well by conference participants.” The poster is
currently on display in the faculty lounge for
those interested in viewing it. |
 |
Presentation on BALOTS
at 2010 HLC annual Meeting
Dave Pratt co-presented with Christian Reiner, on the
topic, “Standards, Structure, and Flexibility: Three
Keys to Assessment Reporting” at the Higher Learning
Commission’s annual meeting in Chicago, IL. This
presentation focused on the elements of the new online
assessment reporting tool (BALOTS) adopted and used by
bachelor degree programs at Purdue North Central since
spring 2009. Dr. Christian Reiner is the Director of
Assessment at Purdue University West Lafayette.
2010 Assessment
Festival a Success!
|
The 2nd Annual
Assessment Festival, hosted by the Assessment
Steering Committee and sponsored by the Vice
Chancellor for Academic Affairs office, was held
Thursday, January 7 following the faculty
workshop. The theme for this year’s assessment
festival was “Assessment Road Trip”. According
to Dr. David Pratt, Chair of Assessment Steering
Committee, “assessment at PNC is similar to a
road trip: we’re committed to our destination,
we’re in it together, and it is definitely a
journey”. Despite the poor weather, over 50
found their way to LSF 144 where the event was
held. In addition to a chili and cornbread
luncheon, participants of this year’s festival
were able to view posters summarizing assessment
efforts completed recently by bachelor degree
programs across campus. |

Click here for a slideshow of the event! |
AAC&U Value Rubrics
Available Online
Click here to access rubrics
HLC Academy Group
Welcomes Dr. Kathleen McKinney!
The
Higher Learning Commission Academy for the Assessment of
Student Learning group at PNC was pleased to bring Dr.
Kathleen McKinney, of Illinois State University to
campus for a presentation on the Scholarship of Teaching
and Learning (SoTL) during the fall faculty workshop.
SoTL has been defined as a "systematic reflection on
teaching and learning made public." In collaboration
with the Faculty Affairs Committee, and with support
from the VCAA’s office, Dr. McKinney was able to make a
one hour presentation and facilitate several small group
discussions.
Dr.
McKinney’s presentation was well received by the
faculty. Survey results following the lecture found
that 90% Strongly Agreed or Agreed that Dr. McKinney was
an “effective and dynamic speaker”, and 75% Strongly
Agreed or Agreed that the presentation “helped me
understand the importance of SoTL in my profession”.
Also, 85% of the faculty responded that they were
interested in learning more about the topic. One
faculty member commented that the presentation was “very
timely and important for PNC!”

Dr.
Kathleen McKinney is Cross Chair in the Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and Professor of Sociology
at Illinois State University. Her most recent book is
Enhancing Student Learning Through the Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning. McKinney is involved in the
SoTL movement working with the Carnegie Academy for the
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) Campus
Program and the International Society for the
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSoTL) of which
she is a founding member. McKinney is a 2003-2004
Carnegie Scholar. She has also received numerous
teaching awards including Illinois State University’s
Outstanding University Teacher, and the American
Sociological Association’s Hans O. Mauksch Award for
Contributions to Undergraduate Education and
Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award.
Following the faculty workshop, a new faculty group was
established called, “Scholars Investigating Successful
Student Learning” (SISSL). During this orientation
meeting, Dr. McKinney shared ideas on how to promote a
successful support group. Twenty four faculty
members participated and many expressed interest in
continuing with the group and pursuing scholarship
related to teaching and learning. The SISSL group
has planned their first meeting for Wednesday, September
9th, from 12:00-1:00 in the university
faculty dining room area. All faculty who are
interested in SoTL are invited.
BALOTS First Entry a
Success
One hundred percent of
PNC bachelor degree programs entered in the first stage
of information required of BALOTS, a new online
reporting tool for program assessment. This first
stage of reporting included each program to report a
contextual description of their program as well as
provide the Student Learning Outcomes. Dr. Shirley
Keeton has been working to analyze the outcomes to
determine similarities and differences across programs,
and to compare program outcomes with our current general
education outcomes.
The next reporting date
for BALOTS is October 31, where programs will be adding
more specific information about their Student Learning
Outcomes and ways in which they are measuring it.
Assessment Fest '09 a
Success!
More than sixty faculty
participated in the Assessment Festival on Thursday,
January 8th put on by the Assessment Steering Committee
and Vice Chancellor's Office. A chili and
cornbread lunch was served and assessment materials from
each program were made available to participants.
All documents shared at the festival can be found by
clicking here.
Click here to see a cool slide show of the event.

Assessment Steering
Committee (from left to right) includes:
Dave Pratt (chair),
Debra Pratt, Linda Duttlinger, Cindy Roberts, Janusz
Duzinkiewicz, and Carin Chuang
New
Online Tool Adopted for PNC Programs!
In order
to standardize the way that programs report assessment
data, Purdue North Central is adopting an online tool
called BALOTS in order to collect and report data
on program outcomes more systematically. Designed
by Christian Reiner & Jason Fish from Purdue University,
BALOTS is already being used successfully by many
programs on the West Lafayette campus. Soon,
BALOTS will be configured to be used at PNC.
An orientation to this online system is scheduled for
January 23rd
from 2:00-3:00 p.m. in LSF 02 and open
to all.
Click here for a view of what BALOT’s home page
looks like.
Click
here to view a portion of a PowerPoint created by
Reiner & Fish which describes the features of BALOT’s
compared to the six fundamental questions asked of the
Higher Learning Commission.
Accepted into the Academy!
As part of preparing for the upcoming
accreditation visit, PNC has applied and been accepted
to the
HLC Academy for Assessment of Student Learning.
This honor is given to institutions in order to improve
the assessment of student learning through "action
projects" that occur on each campus during a four-year
period. These projects and their results are shared
electronically and through interaction with other
institutions of higher learning.
Team of Nine Faculty Attend IUPUI
Assessment Workshop!
Nine
faculty members from various colleges across campus
represented PNC at the Annual
IUPUI Assessment Institute in Indianapolis last
October. While some were new and some were
experienced with assessment, all came away with valuable
information and best practices for assessment.
Many ideas were shared during and after the conference
by the nine attendees. Vice Chancellor, Dr. Schmid,
who suggested the idea of attending this conference, led
the group in discussions following the conference about
what could be done to help improve campus assessment
practices.

The
INDI-9 Faculty include (from left to right) Jerry Holt,
Shirley Keeton, Cyndi Montgomery, Jason Curtis, Dave
Pratt, Silvia Lorente-Murphy, Jonathan Swarts. Jeff
Shires, and Aaron Warren.
Assessment Festival Coming UP this
spring!
The Assessment Steering Committee is inviting
all programs to participate in an exciting event held on
January 8, 2009 as part of the Faculty Workshop during
our first week back to school in the spring. Our
idea is to have an Assessment Festival which
will provide an opportunity to share the various
assessment activities being done across the
campus. We would like to have individuals and/or
departments submit components of assessment that have
been planned for or completed. There are several
ideas of categories on the
flyer to consider. For more information
about this exciting event please contact Dr. Pratt at:
dpratt@pnc.edu.