AALHE 2020 Online

AALHE's Pre-Conference Workshops offer opportunities to build new skills, to tackle assessment challenges, and to hone your craft, all guided by leaders in your field. Online format and schedule for AALHE 2020 Online will be announced.

Full Day Workshops
(Schedule TBD)

Assessment Fundamentals

The Assessment Imperative: Creative, Proactive, and Equity-Minded Strategies to Advance Assessment Practice Today!

Morning Half-Day Workshops
(Schedule TBA)

Increasing Equity Using Evidence-Based Assessment

Leadership Theories for Effective, Equitable Assessment

Integrating Non-Traditional Assessment Models into your Assessment Practice

Afternoon Half-Day Workshops
(Schedule TBA)

Enhancing Your Grant Evaluation Skills in Support of External Funding

Using the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills for Student Success

Using CANVAS for automated collection of assessment data and disaggregated by outcomes

 


2020 Full Day Workshops

Assessment Fundamentals

Jane Marie Souza, Catherine Wehlburg

Schedule TBA

Dr. Jane Marie Souza and Dr. Catherine Wehlburg, both members of the Board of AALHE, will lead this workshop-style institute. These facilitators will bring a mix of theory and practice along with an engaging and participatory mix of information, practice, feedback, and skill-building. Participants will leave this institute with a solid foundation in the assessment of student learning, multiple resources, and a network of colleagues from across the country.  Using their experiences at the course, program, institution, and national levels, the facilitators will foster lively conversations about what has worked, what hasn’t worked, and how higher education can best focus on improving and enhancing the quality of student learning at our institutions.

This full-day workshop is intended for anyone who would benefit from a comprehensive review of assessment concepts, beginning with the basics. This is a wonderful opportunity to address knowledge gaps in your assessment education. The concepts will be introduced and immediately followed by learning activities and discussion. Topics include, but are not limited to: defining assessment and evaluation, direct and indirect measures, formative and summative assessments, qualitative and quantitative measures, rubric development and use, reliability and validity, goals and objectives, test development, assessing reflection papers, and making good use of assessment data.

Participants will spend the day learning and lunching together. By creating a network, participants will have access to each other, the facilitators, and many other resources long after the end of the program.

Recognizing that each institution has a different mission and culture, this Institute will provide a framework for ways to better understand how to use information and data to inform decision making. The facilitators will work to use examples from many different types of institutions and will encourage dialogue among all participants in order to model good practices for determining how, when, and why to use assessment.

Participants will leave with handouts of all slides, case studies, and templates. In addition, references, lists and other resources will be shared during the session and in communications following the institute. Institutions are encouraged to send more than one person to of this Institute, but all participants will benefit from making new connections for future communications and shared resources.

Facilitators:

Jane Marie Souza, PhD, serves as the Associate Provost for Academic Administration/Chief Assessment Officer, University of Rochester. A board member and president of the Association for Assessment of Learning in Higher Education, past editor-in-chief for the organization’s publication, Intersection. Dr. Souza has served on accreditation teams for multiple agencies including New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, and Council on Podiatric Medical Education, where she is also a member of the Council.  Dr. Souza has served as a consultant for institutions across the country, offering workshops on the use of technology in the classroom, mapping curricular outcomes, and meeting accreditation standards through effective assessment.  She has presented at conferences including the Association for Institutional Research, Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education, Assessment Institute in Indianapolis and (keynote speaker), Drexel Assessment Conference (keynote speaker) and the Association for Medical Education in Europe.

Dr. Catherine Wehlburg is Dean for the School of Sciences, Mathematics, and Education at Marymount University. She has taught psychology and educational psychology courses for more than a decade, serving as department chair for some of that time and then branched into faculty development and assessment. Dr. Wehlburg has worked with both the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association and the Commission on Colleges with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as an outside evaluator. In addition, she has served as editor of To Improve the Academy and is currently the Editor-in-Chief for the New Directions in Teaching and Learning series. Dr. Wehlburg regularly presents workshops on assessment, academic transformation, and the teaching/learning process. Her books include Promoting Integrated and Transformative Assessment: A Deeper Focus on Student Learning and Meaningful Course Revision: Enhancing Academic Engagement Using Student Learning Data.  She earned her Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Florida.

 

The Assessment Imperative: Creative, Proactive, and Equity-Minded Strategies to Advance Assessment Practice Today!

Divya Bheda, Ph.D

Schedule TBA

Assessment often devolves into a compliance function--if not in reality, at least from a perception perspective. In today's world, the work of an assessment professional is not just to make assessment meaningful and useful to all campus stakeholders (in addition to meeting the compliance requirements set forth before them). It is to also engage leaders, colleagues, and students authentically to make meaningful change, and establish effective and efficient continuous improvement processes. Additionally, now more than ever, it is imperative that we champion equity and discover/represent voices and data that are often hidden, missing, silent, or silenced so that these narratives can better be considered, and inform decision-making. So, the question is how can an assessment professional accomplish all of these herculean tasks when they often face resistance, ridicule, cynicism, and aggression every step of the way in carrying out any one these responsibilities? This workshop is for those assessment professionals who want to make a positive difference on their campus, who want to gain ideas and models that help ease the strain of these herculean tasks, and who want to engage their colleagues, leaders, and students in novel, innovative ways that challenge status quo and flip the script.

Keywords:Academic and Co-Curricular Assessment, Assessment Culture, Faculty and Staff Engagement, Equity-Building, Student Voice

Facilitator:

Dr. Divya Bheda is the Director of Assessment for the School of Health Sciences at Northcentral University where she oversees program and student learning outcomes assessment for the school. She has a decade of experience in consulting and leading program evaluations and assessments in higher education institutions and non-profit organizations. She is an WSCUC Assessment Leadership Academy participant and uses a formative, utilization-focused, equity-building lens in all her work. Previously, she was the Director for Institutional Assessment at The University of Texas at Austin, responsible for meeting the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) assessment standards and expectations for the entire institution. Dr. Bheda has experience in general education, administrative, academic, and student support services assessment and program evaluation, and has presented papers and run multiple workshops at state, regional, and national levels. She has expertise in using assessment to build organizational responsiveness, catalyze curricular and pedagogical innovation, and enhance student learning and success. Her PhD is in Critical and Socio-Cultural Studies in Education with a focus on building higher education institutions that better serve students and communities. She draws from transformative and empowerment evaluation approaches that advocate for capacity-building, participatory/collaborative methods, responsive local control, strong accountability, and critical, democratic leadership within any context.


2020 Half-Day Workshops (Morning)

Increasing Equity Using Evidence-Based Assessment

Karen Singer-Freeman, Harriet Hobbs, Christine Robinson

Schedule TBA

To achieve equity in higher education, we must understand the circumstances under which assessment and assignment choices contribute to the perpetuation of equity gaps. In this workshop we teach participants about our model of culturally relevant assessment (Singer-Freeman, Hobbs, & Robinson, 2019), introduce a measure that can be used to evaluate the inclusiveness of classroom assignments, examine classroom data to identify equity gaps, and discuss evidence-based methods that measure learning equally for all groups of students. Participants will leave the workshop with an understanding of how certain assessment types perpetuate equity gaps, how to use campus data to identify equity gaps, and a set of best practices that supports increased equity in the assessment of student learning. This workshop will be valuable to both teaching faculty and assessment professionals.

Keywords: equity, academic assessment, disaggregation, culturally relevant assessment, assignments

Facilitators:

Dr. Karen Singer-Freeman is the Director of Academic Planning and Assessment at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She was previously Department Chair of psychology at Purchase College, State University of New York where she received the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching for her classes on research design and data analysis. Her research examines pedagogical interventions that support underserved students. Dr. Singer-Freeman has given workshops and published research on culturally responsive pedagogy and assessment.

Harriet Hobbs is the Director of Assessment Systems and University Accreditation at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Harriet provides leadership and support in the demonstration of institutional effectiveness.  She supports individuals preparing compliance narratives and coordinates accreditation compliance reports for SACSCOC. Her 18 years of experience includes providing leadership for strategic planning, assessment, accreditation, managing an institutional research office, supporting teaching and learning, and promoting continuous improvement.
Before joining UNC Charlotte, she served as the Director of Institutional Planning, Assessment, Effectiveness and Research at Johnson C. Smith University and was the Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Planning at Bladen Community College. In 2019, Harriet was a Campus Labs finalist in Exemplifying Great Collaboration across Divisions and the Campus. In 2011, she was recognized and honored as the Staff Member of the Year at Bladen Community College.  She holds an M.S. in public administration and is currently completing her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction. Her research interest examines the effects of noncognitive factors and equitable assessment practices for underrepresented minority college students.

Dr. Christine Robinson is Executive Director of the Office of Assessment and Accreditation at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She leads a team that promotes continuous improvement in student learning, educational practices, and support services, and facilitates an institutional culture of ongoing and systematic self-evaluation and improvement. Her more than 20 years of experience as an administrator includes collaborating with and leading academic faculty and staff in the assessment of educational practices and programs and institutional effectiveness.  Dr. Robinson has given workshops and published research on culturally responsive pedagogy and assessment.


Leadership Theories for Effective, Equitable Assessment

Matthew Fuller

Schedule TBA

Assessment officers are critical to the success of higher education institutions.  Yet, many assessment leaders say they don't even think of themselves as campus leaders or as guides in equitable processes!  Most have never been introduced to leadership and organizational theories that can guide how to engage others on campus.  Leadership is contextual, cultural, and challenging.  This session introducing a number of leadership theories often used in responding to many of the typical challenges assessment leaders face, including equity or participation and desired outcomes of processes.  Participants will reflect on contexts of their institution, articulate desired goals and outcomes for their leadership of assessment, and implement responses to case studies in assessment leadership.  Participants will find the session to be fun, energetic, restorative, and directly applicable to their role as assessment leaders at their institutions.

Keywords: Assessment culture; leadership; Survey of Assessment Culture

Facilitator:

Matthew B. Fuller, PhD is Associate Professor of Higher Education Leadership, Director of the SHSU Doctoral Program in Higher Education Leadership, and Director of the Center for Education Safety Assessment and Research.  His scholarly interests include higher education assessment, legal issues, school and university safety, threat assessment, and financial aid policy.  Dr. Fuller is Principal Investigator for the Survey of Assessment Culture, an international, annual survey of faculty, administrators, and student affairs staff members' perspectives on institutional cultures of assessment.  Dr. Fuller has served as a faculty member or administrator in residence life/student affairs, assessment, accreditation, faculty governance, academic colleges, and Provost offices at Texas A&M University, The University of Alaska-Southeast, Illinois State University, and Sam Houston State University.  His recent scholarly accomplishments include numerous articles and books seeking to integrate leadership theory with assessment practice.

 

Integrating Non-Traditional Assessment Models into your Assessment Practice

Jen Sweet, Shannon Milligan

Schedule TBA

Frequently, resistance we may encounter from faculty and staff to engage in the assessment of student learning is not a resistance to measuring student learning, but rather resistance to measuring student learning in a manner that is inauthentic to a faculty/staff member's particular field. In this interactive workshop, we will explore "non-traditional" assessment models as a way of communicating with faculty/staff different ways to approach assessment that may better match inquiry practices that are more authentic to their own fields.  We will explore different models, identify how they might be useful to participants, and create plans that will allow participants to integrate model(s) in their own work.

Keywords: assessment design, faculty engagement, assessment models

Facilitators:

Jen Sweet, PhD is the Director of Assessment at DePaul University.  Jen has been working in the field of higher education assessment for the past fifteen years and has experience at three different universities, working in both academic and student affairs assessment.  Jen has a PhD in Educational Psychology with a focus on Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment from the University of Illinois at Chicago.  Jen co-developed and runs an annual workshop on non-traditional assessment models annually for Chicago's Assessment Certificate Program.

Shannon Milligan, PhD is Director of Assessment, Evaluation, and Organizational Development for Student Affairs at the University of California San Diego.  Shannon has been working in the field of higher education assessment for the past eleven years in various roles in academic affairs, institutional research, and student affairs. Shannon has a PhD in Educational Psychology with a focus on Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment from the University of Illinois at Chicago.  Shannon co-developed a workshop on non-traditional assessment models for Chicago's Assessment Certificate Program.

 


2020 Half-Day Workshops (Afternoon)

Enhancing Your Grant Evaluation Skills in Support of External Funding

Patricia Gregg, Felisha Shepard-White

Schedule TBA

This workshop builds on the AALHE-sponsored webinar, 'Bringing Assessment Expertise to Grant Evaluation' originally presented in November 2019. The workshop environment will enable the facilitators to provide hands-on experience with understanding RFPs, crafting a high-scoring evaluation plan in the proposal stage, and reframing a weak evaluation plan for successful implementation. Participants should leave with enhanced skill in grant evaluation design and confidence to assist proposals in development at their own institutions and to pursue external evaluating opportunities that may present themselves. In keeping with the conference theme, examples will be drawn from Federal initiatives aimed at increasing participation and success for historically under-represented student populations, including but not limited to U.S. Department of Education Title III and TRiO programs, National Science Foundation S-STEM and REU programs, as well as relevant private foundation initiatives. Participants will self-assess their achievement of learning outcomes based on group activities and discussions. Additionally, participants will engage in a peer-review process for one activity and will receive written feedback from the facilitators on all activities following the conclusion of the workshop.

Keywords: grant evaluation, external funding

Facilitators:

Patricia Gregg is Associate Director of Assessment and Review at Georgia State University and an online lecturer in Sam Houston State University's M.A. in Higher Education degree program. She has served as an evaluation consultant for over 20 years on projects funded by the Gateway to College National Network, National Science Foundation, University System of Georgia, U.S. Department of Labor, and U.S. Department of Education focusing on promoting access and academic success. She is currently the Research Director for a funded NSF S-STEM grant with another in proposal stage, and is the external evaluator on two proposals to NSF and one to the National Security Agency, currently in the pipeline.

Felisha Shepard-White is the Senior Assessment Specialist at Clayton State University. She has participated in grant assessment for over 10 years and has evaluated grants funded in excess of $3 million. She has served as an evaluation consultant on projects funded by the AAC&U, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Labor, and U.S. Department of Education focusing on areas including mental health, liberal studies and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). She is currently the External Evaluator for funded NSF S-STEM and Department of Ed Title III PBI grants.

 

Using the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills for Student Success

Jason Bryer, Angela Lui, Andre Foisy

Schedule TBA

Identifying and addressing the preparedness of newly enrolled college students is one of the most pressing issues in higher education today. The Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills (DAACS) is a no-stakes, open source assessment of academic and self-regulated learning skills with personalized student feedback. This workshop will provide participants with information on using DAACS for student advising and predicting student success.

Keywords: College readiness; self-regulated learning; diagnostic assessments; predictive analytics; student support

Facilitators:

Dr. Bryer is currently Executive Director at Excelsior College and Principal Investigator of a $3 million FIPSE First in the World grant to develop and test the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills (DAACS). He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the City University of New York teaching statistics in the Master's of Data Analytics program as well as a Research Consultant for New York State's implementation of Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS). He earned his doctorate in Educational Psychology and Methodology from the University at Albany in 2014 after working as a Software Engineer for 10 years. Jason's research interests include quasi experimental designs with propensity score analysis, data systems to support formative assessment, and the use of open source software for conducting reproducible research. When not crunching numbers, Jason and his wife are wedding photographers and proud parents to three boys.

Angela Lui is the DAACS Project Coordinator and Data Analyst at Excelsior College and a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Psychology at SUNY Albany. Lui's dissertation project focuses on students' cognitive and affective responses to teacher feedback. Her research and pedagogical interests include classroom assessment, internal processes involved in learning, and applied measurement in education. Her research agenda includes the intersection of research among these three areas to inform effective teaching strategies and curriculum approaches to improve student learning and engagement.

Andre Foisy is the Executive Director of Institutional Outcomes Assessment, Excelsior College. He is president-elect of Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education and a Ph.D. student in the Educational Policy and Leadership program at SUNY Albany. Foisy has taught and worked in higher education assessment for more than a decade and has presented at conferences including AIR, AALHE, and VAG. Foisy co-organizes AALHE's podcast "Assessment Works."


Using CANVAS for automated collection of assessment data and disaggregated by outcomes

Frederick Burrack, Dorothy Thompson

Schedule TBA

Many institutions use CANVAS as their learning management system and some use the assessment modules for creating and scoring course assessment. But many are not aware of or take full advantage of the integrated processes of collecting student achievement data for outcomes and their embedded criteria. This session will provide a step-by-step workshop the will guide participants' learning in the following outcomes: (a) understanding of the assessment capacities embedded in CANVAS, (b) knowledge of how to set-up and administer processes of collecting student learning data organized by program and institutional outcomes through automated processes, and (c) how to use the data extracted from CANVAS.

Keywords: CANVAS; data collection; outcomes assessment

Facilitators:

Dr. Frederick Burrack has held the position as Director of Assessment at Kansas State University since 2008. He also holds a professor rank and is chair of the graduate music program and have been bestowed the title of Distinguished Graduate Faculty. He is a deep interest in promoting and enhancing student learning assessment in all levels of education, including higher education. This has recently been exemplified through a recent project to assist Taiwanese Universities in exploring how outcomes-based assessment can be useful for program and institutional assessment as well as accreditation. He is on the planning committee for the International Symposium on Assessment in Music Education and the Editorial Board for the Journal of Assessment in Higher Education. Dr. Burrack has recently published two texts on assessment for his home discipline: Developing and Applying Assessments in the Music Classroom and Applying model cornerstone assessments in K-12 music: A research supported approach. He has multiple book chapters and journal articles focused across a variety of assessment topics, and more than 70 national/international presentations on student learning assessment. His work in developing, piloting, and publishing assessments for the National Standards for Music Education extends his work beyond higher education into elementary and secondary schooling.

Dorothy Musselwhite Thompson is the Assistant Director of Assessment at Kansas State University. She received a Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Georgia in 2018. Dr. Thompson has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in music education. She has previously taught instrumental music, science, and mathematics at the middle and high school level in Georgia.  Her research focuses primarily in educational and music psychology, and measurement and assessment, specifically in the building and maintaining of performance measures.