Chapter Eight: Conclusion

Everyone at McNeese has a role in ensuring that the concept of “Institutional Effectiveness” is being learned, adopted, and incorporated.

Role of the President

The President has the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that institutional effectiveness is incorporated at McNeese State University. He has dedicated financial resources, human resources, and physical resources (including technology) to make sure that the process is working properly. The day-to-day responsibility for assessment matters is consigned to the Offices of Institutional Effectiveness and Institutional Research.

Role of Institutional Effectiveness

The role of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness is to educate, guide, and direct institutional assessment efforts and ensure that McNeese is complying with the requirements of accrediting bodies, specifically those of the Southern Association of College and Schools/Commission on Colleges. The Director is responsible for tracking the Master Plan/Progress Report process including submission, review, and distribution to appropriate parties.

The Director of Institutional Effectiveness serves as the MAT Coordinator and serves as the liaison between administration, MAT, and programs/units. The MAT Coordinator reports to administrative supervisors and academic heads the end results of an assessment review and handles scheduling and logistics for team meetings. Evolving research and assessment trend information will be distributed to academic programs/administrative units to assist individuals working on assessment.

The concept of assessment and continuous improvement is ongoing at McNeese. The Office is responsible for maintaining and updating information on the assessment website (www.mcneese.edu/assessment). This site is where the Assessment Handbook will be housed, with periodic updates being made to stay abreast of best practices. The Master Plan/Progress Report and other initiatives directed at assessment will continue for years to come, long after SACS has reaffirmed McNeese for another ten-year period. The Office of Institutional Effectiveness is working with University Computing Services on piloting the first web-based survey. A standardized web-based template has been developed for the 2005 Master Plan/Progress Report for academic programs and administrative units.

Role of Institutional Research

The role of the Office of Institutional Research is to coordinate and oversee assessment activities at McNeese and to serve as the data library. The Office will review planned assessment activities to determine feasibility, reliability, validity, and appropriateness. The Office maintains data trends that can be further mined, depending on the needs of the unit/program. The Director of Institutional Research is a standing member of the McNeese Assessment Team, serving to steer the direction of assessment at McNeese.

Role of the Colleges and Departments

Academic colleges and departments must begin assessment by studying the mission of the program to ensure that the focus is directed toward student learning outcomes. Analyze the missions of the programs, department, and college to see if there is congruence with the University’s mission and that institutional goals are being supported.

There must be a clear understanding of how to measure the outcomes specified. It might be helpful to develop your outcomes by breaking them into the categories of cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning. All three categories may be used in some assessments and on others only one or two may be appropriate. Decide what assessment methods are already in place to measure the outcomes. Decide what new assessment methods may need to be introduced to measure the outcomes. Decide how incorporating assessment works best in your program/unit. You might consider appointing one person to oversee assessment efforts in each department and have those members work together to strengthen assessment across the College.

There are hundreds of other universities across the nation with programs and departments similar to yours that are, in varying degrees, conducting assessment. Study best practices in your disciplines including researching assessment information on the web, attending assessment workshops at conferences, talking to your peers in other institutions, and sharing with your peers in-house concepts and ideas for strengthening assessment in your department.

It is the responsibility of the program supervisor to make sure that the Master Plan/Progress Report is prepared and submitted in a timely manner, periodically reviewed throughout the assessment cycle, and updated with measured outcomes information. Finally and most importantly, closing the loop requires planning for continuous improvement based on the results of the assessment.

Role of Administrative Units

Administrative units must begin assessment by studying the mission of the unit to ensure that there is compatibility with the University’s mission and that institutional goals are being supported. Administrative units play a vital role in the ability of the University to operate and to support students in their efforts to obtain a solid education. The question becomes can you provide those services better or meet the needs of constituents (students, parents, faculty, alumni, and supporters) more effectively than you are now?

There are hundreds of other universities across the nation with administrative units similar to yours that are, in varying degrees, conducting assessment. Study best practices in your area of specialty including researching assessment information on the web, attending assessment workshops at conferences, talking to peers in other institutions, and sharing with peers in-house concepts and ideas for strengthening assessment in your department.

It is the responsibility of the unit supervisor to make sure that the Master Plan/Progress Report is prepared and submitted in a timely manner, periodically reviewed throughout the assessment cycle, and updated with measured objectives information. Finally and most importantly, closing the loop requires planning for continuous improvement based on the results of the assessment.