The Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness Committee met on Dec. 15, 2020.
The meeting minutes are as follows:
Dr. Margaret Geehan opened the meeting at 1:00pm.
1. Middle States Update
Dr. Geehan let the group know that she didn’t have much in the way of Middle States updates. She said she and Joe Stenard would have more on that front after an important meeting with their Middle States liaison on Dec. 16. Three of the seven Working Groups have held their final meetings for the fall 2020 semester and have been formally charged and “commissioned” by the Core Team. Others are scheduled.
2. Assessment Definition Addendum
Brian Vlieg’s addendum to the definition of “Assessment” in the 2014 Institutional Effectiveness Plan was reviewed by the group. A screenshot of this can be provided if requested. Having reviewed the original definition in the plan, it was decided that the definition was excellent and relevant, and Brian created an addendum as follows:
“In short, assessment is an inclusive process that incorporates academic inquiry and creates accountability in all areas of educational decision-making with the objective of assuring and confirming the quality of higher education within the bounds of available resources and timelines.”
3. Future Core Indicator Review
The group agreed to postpone this review in order to review the survey to ensure it was ready to be distributed in early spring 2021.
4. Employee Satisfaction Review Survey Review
Edits were made to various questions on the survey and the ways they were worded. (A screenshot is available of this as well.)
The Employee Satisfaction survey was discussed for the remainder of the meeting. The group spent time discussing why many faculty members (and some staff) skip some possibly identifying questions on the survey. It seems to be that they skip questions because they are afraid someone will be able to identify who wrote what on the survey and perhaps retaliate if they wrote something negative.
This committee wants to encourage more people to answer the surveys fully and honestly. Dr. Geehan commented that she has heard people say that they don’t do it anymore because nothing changes. Vice President Gloria Baez said it is important that more people respond so that it is not always the same group responding year after year. The group agreed. One possible way of doing this may be to word the beginning of the survey, or the message with which it is sent out to people, differently. Wording such as “we used last year’s survey to modify things to be more how employees wanted them, so please fill out this year’s survey to help us to continue changing things for your benefit,” might encourage more people to fill it out. Dr. Geehan noted that the annual VP/ExD summary of assessment reports, starting in March, will have questions that ask specifically how their areas used the Employee and Student Satisfaction Surveys results for continuous improvement.
Lastly, the committee also spent a good deal of time discussing the wording of the question/survey statement “I am satisfied with the level of data-informed decision making at the college.” It was revised to something more like “I am satisfied that the college makes data-informed decisions,” or “uses data to make decisions.” This made the wording of the statement more clear and concise, and will hopefully cause more survey-takers to answer not based on what decisions they like, but on whether they think data is taken into account when decisions are made. A separate question can then deal with a person’s satisfaction regarding said decisions. Dr. Baez in particular advocated for changing this question.
The meeting adjourned at 2 p.m. The next meeting will take place at a time TBD.
AIE Members
Gloria Baez
Clem Campana
Colleen Ferris
Pat Gaston
Margaret Geehan
Caitlyn Gerardi
Antoinette Howard
Matt Howe
Alan Joseph
Dennis Kennedy
Pat Klimkewicz
Jim Macklin
Margaret Mann
Karen Paquette
Kathy Petley
Chrissy Smith
Joseph Stenard
Ainsley Thomas
Brian Vlieg
Dennis Wax
Ronalyn Wilson
Published: Tue, 05 Jan 2021 12:45:13 +0000 by c.gerardi