Meeting of the Minds

“Collaboration” – Bresciani et al

            Collaboration is vital to the success of a higher education institution. To purposefully and holistically develop any student, departments need to be working with one another to ensure all needs are being met. It is likely that there may be several obstacles on the road to reaching this level of achievement.

            One of the first barriers mentioned in the book is the mindset that student learning is only achieved in the classroom with faculty. When reading that statement, I was reminded of some of the struggles my chapter went through during my undergrad years. Our campus advisor was receiving negative feedback from professors about Greek men and women being late to class, not focusing, etc. and we needed to take a stance to show that our chapter’s members were not the type of men that would slack off academically. We asked two faculty to become our new chapter advisors and that helped them see all that we do outside of classes. It also gave them information to share with their peers so that the image of Greeks on campus would become more positive.

            I think motivation is an important factor in collaborating, especially with faculty and staff. Both faculty and staff do their job requirements and to go above and beyond, there would need to be some buy-in for them. Personally, motivation comes from personal accounts and relationships and so having students invested in the collaboration too might produce collaboration at a greater frequency.  

"Action Plans and Implementation"

"Implementation" - Bresciani et al 

Reading this chapter reinforced the importance of the learning outcomes and the overall purpose of the assessment that we've been discussing in class. The purpose of an assessment is to answer a question proposed by current literature and the operations of a given department or event. The assessment should aim to “fill the gap” or provide supporting or new knowledge to the given field. Learning outcomes, once created, should also be at the forefront of the planning process as the outcomes and results should confirm or disconfirm the achievement of reaching these.

            Reading all of the processing questions, I was reminded that since I am doing an assessment for a department on campus, I should focus on any and all questions that they have during the data collection and analysis process, not just my own. Keeping the partner in the process as much as possible will not only remind you to reflect upon the purpose of your study and the learning outcomes but also will ensure that you keep a healthy, positive relationship with one another.

            I also really enjoyed looking at an example of a professional development plan. My assessment project was based off of a conference that takes place every two years. One of my hesitations in doing this was that the results found would get lost in the time between analysis and the next conference planning. Seeing how to plan out the time effectively was a great tool I can bring to my campus partner once all data in analyzed.

"Assessment Scholarship Reconsidered" - Keeling et al

      I'm reading this article and being reminded of what Dr. Mahoney was talking about during our first class of the semester. Knowing that after this program, we will all hopefully be in our first professional role within higher education, it is essential that we are prepared to perform an assessment project from start to finish. While some institutions and departments may have their own ways about executing their assessment, there will also be the times where a new program is being implemented and we need to assess its success for future funding or for a shift in focus: that is when we will need to be able to start from stage one.
      It is also very important to have this experience not only in the classroom but also with offices on campus. For my individual project, I was asked to partner with a conference committee with members of the Pacific community. By doing so, I was able to utilize the activities and components of class into practice for this project.
      Looking at the table on page 99, the biggest takeaway I had was under the "Student affairs practice" section. Aligning student activities to the students' development of lifelong skills is exactly why I entered this field. Academic work can teach a student many things; however, cannot place them into a job in their exact field of expertise time and time again. It is the student life side that teaches the transferability of skills and the development of person that will make a higher number of successful graduates.

"Not an end; rather, a beginning"

"Assessment Results Reconsidered" - Keeling et al

        "Building a culture of assessment reflects an orientation towards organizational functioning that is open to discovery, growth, and advancement. No single project defines assessment within an institution; rather, the overall effort towards engaging in critical examination of an institution's practices, outputs, and outcomes in the spirit of of open discovery represents a sea-change in the culture of higher education" (Keeling, 103).  This rings so true to me as I am becoming more involved with the field of higher education and student affairs. Assessment is not by any means an end; rather, it is the beginning of a new cycle as we make sense of that knowledge and put it towards the next task. It is also vital that all departments of the institution are on the same level as far as defining the importance of doing assessment work. One project does not advance the whole office or department, nor does one department's work elevate the work of the entire division. We must all be making constant efforts to assess more and to do more with those results.
      The article questions whether or not assessment is seen as a "fledgling response to external calls for accountability" (Keeling, 105). When competition arises between universities, most departments like to promote the great work that their staff, faculty, and students are accomplishing. To insure that their work is top notch, assessment must be done. This response to the external calls will show a program or department's strengths as well as future projects to strengthen their areas of improvement.