WELCOME TO ASSESSMENT!

The Office of Assessment conducts institutional level assessments, reports institutional data, and champions institutional effectiveness.  Sandra Hiebert, Director of Institutional Assessment and Academic Compliance is available to help faculty and staff determine what and how to best collect data to assess student learning and improve institutional outcomes.

Mission:

Mission Driven-Data Informed-Collaborative Improvement

Request Assessment Assistance

You can ask questions of our Director, Sandra Hiebert by sending an email to hieberts@mcpherson.edu.

Or you can set up time to meet with Sandra using the following Calendly link: https://calendly.com/sandrahiebert-mc 

Picture of Sandra Hiebert, white woman, with long brown hair and glasses wearing a professional read sweater.

Sandra Hiebert

Director of Institutional Assessment and Academic Compliance

The Institutional Assessment Committee meets monthly during the school year. (See the calendar for meeting dates).  The committee reviews institutional survey data, sets structure for program assessments and unit improvement plans, and oversees the institutional assessment plans.  If you have input on any of these things, please contact one of the Assessment Committee members to share.

Chair:  Sandra Hiebert, Director of Institutional Assessment and Academic Compliance

Faculty Representatives:

  • Social Science Division (yr 3) - Elliot Koester – Assistant Professor of Health Science/Rural Health Rep
  • Humanities Division (yr 2) Julia Kuttler – Associate Professor of Communication/ Mary Gere Bridger – substitute for Fall 2024
  • Dr. Karrie Rathbone (yr 1) – Professor of Biology

 Staff Representatives:

  • Ed Loeb – Associate Athletic Director
  • Christi Paulsen – ERP Manager
  • Jamie Pjesky – Director of Academic Advising

Student Representative: EJ Landrum, SGA Historian

Ex-Officio: Matt Skillen, Vice President of Academic Affairs

Student Data Intern (Minutes): and Cal Bieler

General Assessment Information

A group of resources on overall good assessment, definitions and explanations.  A great place to start your assessment learning journey!

The main website of one of the premier assessment organizations.  Full of resources.

An example of assessment terms.  Can help you understand basics.  But some terms may be used differently in different places. (e.g. Assessment Plan - may be structured differently at different institutions.)

A good read of the myths of Assessment - from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Resources for DEI & Accessibility

A group of different types of dogs in black with a red bulldog in the center

A group of resources to help with teaching to a diverse population and including more diversity in teaching content.

A brief page to stimulate your thinking about different kinds of diversity in learners and how to be an inclusive instructor.  Includes short videos.

A set of nice resources from the University of Rhode Island to help consider antiracist, trauma informed and other diversity pedagogies.

A short page of resources to consider how you design your course to be accessible to all.

This is a toolkit of resources that are free to use for instructional purposes created by AAC&U with help from 22 institutions.  Take a look at what is available.

Rubrics

A five step process for designing a rubric from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.

Best practices, templates and suggestions for rubrics from NC State University

A good basic overview from Indiana University-Bloomington

Designing Assignments with Assessment in MInd

A brief page of quick information on designing assignments for assessment.  Includes information on transparent design.

Choosing an Assessment Type

A quick tutorial in data collection and methodology - including a discussion of direct and indirect methods.

Examples from KSU of direct and indirect methods of assessment

A nice discussion from the University of Rhode Island on types of evidence.

Course Evaluations

A group of resources with information on how to conduct and use classroom assessments, with particular information on the IDEA structure used by the college.

Information on how to set up and use your IDEA course evaluations

Teaching to the Mission or SLO

A set of resources with information on teaching things important to our mission and learning outcomes.

A website from Vanderbilt University on incorporating service learning/civic engagement in your coursework.  A great resource for building on the Service pillar of our mission.  Includes links to a series of other wonderful teaching resources.  Check it out for inspiration!

Current Assessment Forms

Title Description File type

The Unit Improvement Plan to be used to write a new plan for the 2024-25 academic years.  It should be returned along with the completed 2023-24 plan to the Director of Assessment (hieberts@mcpherson.edu).  Plans are due January 15, June 15, or August 15 as negotiated with the Director of Assessment.  

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This form should be used by Academic Department Heads to create a plan for the 2024-25 Year to assess Program SLOs.  It should be returned to the Office of Assessment (hieberts@mcpherson.edu) by the end of the contract year in May.  Due dates later than May 17 may be negotiated with the Director of Assessment.

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