Resource Exchange

Assessing for Excellence
Submitted by: Central Carolina Community College
Contact: Celia Hurley

During the 2007-08 academic year, Central Carolina Community College conducted a Perkins-funded professional development project focused on assessment. Two newsletters were published for faculty and staff and an assessment conference was held April 16, 2008 at the Dennis A. Wicker Civic Center in Sanford, NC.

Download Assessing for Excellence - Fall 2007 Newsletter (Adobe Acrobat file)

Download Assessing for Excellence - Spring 2008 Newsletter (Adobe Acrobat file)

2008 Assessing for Excellence Conference Sessions

The Assessing for Excellence Conference provided practical sessions for improving teaching and learning to North Carolina community college educators. Session topics included assessing written and oral communications, the institutional portfolio, advising and assessment, and writing learning outcomes in vocational courses.

Session 1: The Institutional Portfolio: A Performance-Based Model for Assessment of General Education Learning Outcomes
Presenter: Jeffrey Seybert, Director of Research, Evaluation, and Instructional Development, Johnson County Community College, KS

This workshop will present a comprehensive overview of a performance-based general education assessment model. Expected student outcomes, assessment methods, and institutional standards will be discussed. Participants will work in small “assessment teams” to evaluate actual samples of student work using the model’s holistic scoring rubrics.

Download session presentation (Adobe Acrobat file)

Session 2: The Telltale Campus: Assessing College Speakers & Writers
Presenters: Lisa Brown, Michelle Powell, Melissa Staley, and Bianka Stumpf, Central Carolina Community College QEP Assessment Team

Assessing communication skills does not have to be a chilling experience. There is no crime in wanting students who are effective speakers and writers! This session offers a model for assessing communication skills across all disciplines at your institution. Presenters will share a college-wide plan of action and specific assessment methods and tools. In addition to tackling the broad view of assessing students’ communication skills across the college, the session offers other specific classroom assessment techniques instructors can use. Handouts provided include rubrics.

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Session 3: Assessment: Nothing To It, but To Do It
Presenter: Barbara Rusher, Central Carolina Community College Humanities Department Chair

Assessment is not solely about accountability; it is also what colleges do in order to demonstrate to themselves that they actually do what they say they do. From this session, participants will be able to write a student outcome on the course level; participants will be able to establish success criteria for the outcome; and participants will leave the session with a better attitude towards assessment.

Download session presentation (PowerPoint file)

Session 4: “But That’s What We’ve Been Doing:” Assessment, Student Learning Outcomes, and Vocational Classes
Presenters: Stephen Athans, Central Carolina Community College Instructional Dean, and Gary Beasley, Laser and Photonics Lead Instructor

This session will focus on what assessment is, why we do it, and on how to write student learning outcomes. The hands-on activity will focus on writing student learning outcomes for vocational classes.

Download session presentation (PowerPoint file)

Session 5: Assessment of Academic Advising
Presenters: Brian Merritt, Central Carolina Community College Distance Education Counselor, and Joni Pavlik, Instructional Dean

Student learning begins with the advising process. Academic advising ranges from the ideals of education to the pragmatics of enrollment. To assure these values are being met, colleges need to assess academic advising. This session will present ideas on assessing academic advising established by the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA).

Download session presentation (PowerPoint file)

Session 6: Program Assessment: Where Do We Start?
Presenters: Lisa Chapman, Central Carolina Community College Instructional Dean, and Scott Byington, Biology Instructor

This session presents a model for performing program assessment. The model focuses on steps for initiating program assessment including determining how to incorporate what is already being assessed. Examples of useful tools will be provided.

Download session resources: