Academy for Assessment of Student Learning
Wayne State College was accepted to the Academy for Assessment of Student Learning sponsored by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) on September 19, 2007. The Academy for Assessment of Student Learning offers HLC member institutions a four-year sequence of events and interactions that are focused on student learning, targeted at accelerating and advancing efforts to assess and improve student learning, and designed to build institution-wide commitment to assessment of student learning.
A seven member team from Wayne State College attended the Academy Roundtable, February 20-22, 2008, in Lisle, Illinois. The team members were selected based upon their service to the General Education Committee and/or to provide representation from each of the four schools. The team members who attended were Dr. James O’Donnell, Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, Sue Sydow, Director of Assessment, Dr. Patricia Arneson, Professor of Business; Dr. Gwen Jensen, Associate Professor of Communication Arts; Dr. Keith Willis, Professor and Department Chair for Counseling and Special Education; Dr. Tamara Worner, Associate Professor of Physical Sciences and Mathematics, and Phyllis Spethman, Director of Field Experience and Teacher Certification. Dr. Patricia Arneson and Sue Sydow also attended the Academy Information and Planning Workshop held January 10-11, 2008, in Lisle, Illinois.
During the four-year Academy commitment, the Academy team members worked in cooperation with the HLC mentors and cohort institutions from across the nation to develop a program assessment plan for the new general education program. The team created an Action Portfolio during the four-year commitment focused on assessing and documenting student learning in relationship to intended outcomes, engaging stakeholders in analyzing assessment data on student learning, and engaging stakeholders and the institution in taking action based on the analysis to confirm or improve student learning. This Action Portfolio was mentored through an electronic network where the plan received mentoring, critique, and validation through annual progress analyses by the Higher Learning Commission. In addition, optional events and intervention strategies were implemented, such as on-campus consultation, on-campus conversation facilitation, visits to good practice sites, etc.
The Academy for Assessment of Student Learning team worked cooperatively with the General Education Committee and the Assessment Oversight Committee to assess, evaluate, and implement the Action Portfolio. The Academy for Assessment of Student Learning team members were focused on improving student learning, targeted at accelerating and advancing efforts to assess and improve student learning, and were willing to assist in building an institution-wide commitment to assessment of student learning at Wayne State College.
The Academy for Assessment of Student Learning was successfully completed in November 2011.