Administrative
Support
Budget
line
The Agronomy
Department has an extensive effort to review and improve the processes,
procedures, and measures of its assessment program. The project is
funded by a grant from the Agronomy Endowment. One goal of the project
is to identify the resource levels and types needed to sustain a continuous
assessment program. Once these needs are identified, the Agronomy
Department will actively seek resources and target them to the Agronomy
Assessment Program. Click here to view the Assessment Program Budget.
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Recognition
of efforts in the assessment program
The annual
review for teaching faculty includes a section on each faculty member's
efforts in establishing and assessing the learner outcomes for their
courses. Efforts in curriculum and course assessment will be recognized
and rewarded similar to all other areas of the faculty member's responsibilities.
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Written
and verbal support for assessment program
Memo encouraging
faculty to participate in the Agronomy teaching retreat on assessment
- May 2003 Include the memo here.
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Faculty
release time
While
release time may be needed at the University level for faculty who
provide assessment consulting services, the Agronomy Department expects
the need for faculty release time to be minimal. The current assessment
project is being used to imbed assessment measures directly into departmental
courses. The data from these measures will be used collectively to
provide program assessment while simultaneously evaluating the learning
of individual students. These measurements will be made continuously
throughout each Agronomy student's degree program. Indirect measures,
like alumni surveys, will be used periodically as additional outcome
measures. The intent of our approach is to integrate assessment into
the daily activites of each faculty member.
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Resources
for faculty development and scholarly endeavors in outcomes assessment.
In the
summers of 2002 and 2003, the department, college and university provided
funding for five faculty and staff members (Mullen, Polito & Wiedenhoeft
in 2002 and Cook & Pogranichniy in 2003) to attend outcomes assessment
workshops at Alverno College in Milwaukee, WI. The Agronomy Department’s
Outcomes Assessment Committee participated in a semester long outcomes
workshop sponsored by the ISU Provost’s Office and conducted by Mary
Huba. The Agronomy Department sponsored a teaching retreat in 2003
that focused on outcomes assessment. Departmental faculty and staff
presented at an Outcomes Assessment Symposium at the 2003 ASA meetings
in Denver, CO. References for their presentations and posters can
be viewed at http://www.agron.iastate.edu/assessment/ASA03.htm and
http://www.ag.iastate.edu/assessment/scholarship.htm .
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Including
assessment activities as a part of position descriptions for both
administrators and teaching faculty
It is
the intent of the Agronomy department to create a culture where assessment
is a normal and expected part of every teaching faculty member's responsibility.
The position descriptions in the Agronomy Department that include
teaching will automatically imply that a faculty member will contribute
to the department's assessment program. To list teaching and assessment
activities separately in position descriptions could imply that they
are separate and disconnected functions. The Agronomy department intendes
to make assessment integral to its teaching mission and each faculty
member's teaching assignments.
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Defining
and enacting implementation and improvement strategies at administrative
levels
Faculty
members will be given feedback on their assessment activities during
their annual review of faculty activity.
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