Assessment News – 3/1/2021

May 12, 2021

Hello Program/Department Chairs and Assessment Allies!

Below is a list of assessment-related events, opportunities, and resources curated to support the effort you put into program assessment to improve your students’ learning. Be sure to read this email to the end to get all the news!

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

  • Assessment webinars: The Association for the Assessment Learning in Higher Education (AALHE) is offering a webinar on “Understanding Reliability and Validity Evidence to Support the Interpretations and Uses of Assessment Scores” (March 2nd). To learn more about this event, go to: https://www.aalhe.org/webinars
  • Looking to share your assessment work with a wider audience? Intersection, AALHE’s peer-reviewed journal, is accepting papers for its Spring 2021 edition on the topic of “Grand Challenges in Assessment.” Check out the Call for Papers (deadline extended to March 15th), and/or connect with Amy Topper (atopper@uri.edu), our Assessment & Evaluation Specialist, who is currently the Intersection Vice Chair.
  • Upcoming Assessment Conferences: 
  • Weekly drop-in hours:
    • All Programs: Wednesday, March 3, 2021, from 3-4pm; check out the URI Events Calendar for Zoom room info. 
    • Graduate Programs: Friday, March 5, 2021, from 2-3pm; check out the URI Events Calendar for Zoom room info.

If you have any questions or concerns, or if you can’t make these sessions and need to schedule an alternative time to meet, please send us an email at: assess@uri.edu.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

  • Assessment Innovation Mini-Grants: Competitive funding is available to support programs’ efforts to advance assessment. Check out the Mini-Grant application. Application Deadline: Rolling; up to 5 mini-grants awarded per semester.
  • Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Funds: Competitive funding is available to facilitate URI faculty engagement in the development and execution of research focused on either undergraduate or graduate program-level student learning using outcomes assessment strategies. Check out the SoTL RFP and download the SoTL application. Application Deadline: April 23, 2021.

ASSESSMENT TERM OF THE MONTH: “INDIRECT MEASURES OF LEARNING”

Assessments that measure opinions or thoughts about students’ or graduates’ own knowledge, skills, attitudes, learning experiences, or perceptions are considered “indirect measures of learning.” These types of measures are necessary and valuable, but they do not measure students’ performance directly – they supplement direct measures of learning by providing information about how and why learning is occurring. Examples include: 

  • self-assessment
  • peer-feedback
  • surveys
  • end-of-course evaluations
  • questionnaires
  • focus groups
  • exit interviews
  • academic performance levels (e.g., GPAs)
  • graduation rates, retention and transfer studies,
  • graduate follow-up studies
  • job placement data.

For more information on appropriate measures of student learning for program assessment, check out these Assessment Office webpages: Direct Evidence and Indirect Evidence.

IMPORTANT DATES

  • 2021 URI Teaching and Learning Showcase: Join Provost DeHayes and ATL in celebrating our teaching and learning community on Friday, April 9th, 12pm – 2pm.
  • Program Assessment Reporting Deadline: All program assessment reports (full and partial), interim reports, and reflections are due on or before graduation, May 23, 2021. Need information about your program? Send us an email at assess@uri.edu.

If you have any questions or concerns, or just want to pick our brains about assessment, we would love to hear from you! Email us at assess@uri.edu.

URI Assessment Team