Purpose

Higher education continues to struggle with implementing an assessment approach that simultaneously takes advantage of existing resources within an institution and changes the institution in order to improve student learning. What’s needed is a strategy that embraces embedded assessment and moves beyond it to create systemic campus improvement.

Presented by the Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment (DIIA), the UT Austin Assessment Institute will offer a practical and holistic approach for experienced higher education assessment practitioners and decision-makers who wish to cultivate a culture of assessment and improvement. Rather than focusing on basic tools or skills, the Institute will help participants develop strategies that both strengthen existing desired practices and create new strategic processes. The target audience includes experienced faculty and staff who drive assessment efforts: department chairs, deans, directors and staff of institutional research offices, assessment staff, and faculty leaders.

The Institute will provide a forum for participants to explore relationships among program and institutional level assessment, nationally-normed tests and locally-developed methods, and leadership and change. Participants will develop assessment action plans to implement on their own campuses—each lecturette is followed by interactive exercises that contribute to the action plan. Registrants will be able to:

• Identify their institutional strengths and weaknesses related to assessment.
• Select several actions to undertake that will advance assessment on campus.
• Identify several course- or program-level assessment strategies to implement at the institution level.

Who Should Attend?

Experienced higher education administrators, faculty, and staff who drive assessment efforts at their institutions:

• Department chairs
• Deans
• Directors and staff of institutional research offices
• Assessment staff
• Faculty leaders