Excellence in Assessment Award

This award recognizes individuals or teams demonstrating excellence in the use of assessment data to improve student learning, retention, the learning environment, and/or a culture of continuous improvement. Individuals and groups of faculty and staff members are encouraged to apply. Two $500 awards are available. One award is for course-level assessment and one is for recognizing other types of assessment activities. Group awards are disbursed among recipients.

Excellence in Assessment – Course Level

This award is designed to recognize and showcase outstanding efforts by faculty and staff who have made a significant contribution in the area of assessment of student learning at the course level. An outstanding assessment process is characterized by the use of assessment results to improve learning. Course level submissions must be for a course taught within the last two academic years and data from more than one cycle and/or ongoing data is preferred, although not required.

Excellence in Assessment – Beyond Course Level

This award is designed to recognize and showcase outstanding efforts by faculty and staff who have made a significant contribution beyond the individual course level, including but not limited to: program assessment, co-curricular assessment, and assessment processes and practices that support a culture of continuous improvement. An outstanding assessment process is characterized by the use of assessment results to improve the intended outcome. Data from more than one cycle and/or ongoing data is preferred, although not required.

Criteria for Evaluation

1. Outcome(s): clear, measurable outcomes that describe what you are striving to achieve
2. Methods: assessment methods used are appropriate for the outcomes
3. Criterion for Success: goals or target success rate that is reasonable
4. Results: data are directly and logically linked to the outcomes they are purported to measure
5. Actions: description of how the results were used to inform change/improvement

Eligibility

All members of the University community are eligible for this award. Past recipients of the award, either as an individual or as part of a group, are eligible following expiration of the fifth year after receiving their award.

Nomination Process

Self-nominations or nominations from others are acceptable. Nominations are to be submitted electronically to [email protected] and must include:

• The name, title, unit/department, and contact information of the nominee(s)
• A brief report describing why the nominee is deserving of the award and highlighting each of the 5 criterion that raise the assessment activities to a level of excellence
• Relevant examples of the assessment work completed by the nominee, including but not limited to reports generated by Nuventive Improve or other software used to track assessment data (e.g., ExamSoft)

Evaluation Process

Members of the Academic Affairs Assessment Committee (AAAC) will evaluate all nominees using an established rubric based on nomination materials, Nuventive Improve reports, and other supplied documentation. Voting will occur at a spring AAAC meeting to determine winners. Members with a potential or perceived conflict of interest must refrain from voting. Course level and program level assessment review will include a review of reports generated from Nuventive Improve. Recipients will be contacted and given recognition at the current academic year’s appreciation event, and a summary of the winning assessment activity will be featured on the Academic Affairs website.

Deadline

Nomination submissions  and supporting documentation from nominees for this award are due by 5 PM (EDT) on Friday, March 26, 2021.