Plans

The table below shows how specific programs, events, and functions of the Office of Assessment align with the goals and actions of the office.

Goals	Actions	Plans for 2014-2015
To gather, make sense of, and summarize what practitioners at MSU are learning about student learning.	Collect assessment information from all areas of the university including colleges, units, departments, and programs. Develop ways of communicating useful information about these results vertically and horizontally across the institution. Identify and lead the analyses of useful institution-level surveys and tests to assess institutional teaching practices and conditions at MSU. Conduct focus groups as a means of following up on institution-level surveys, to identify practices, conditions, courses, programs, and experiences that both benefited and detracted from student learning at MSU. Develop and implement strategies for disseminating information from institution-level surveys and focus groups to relevant leaders, faculty, staff, and students in different units across the institution to facilitate their efforts to improve student learning.	Meet with departments, groups, and individuals to learn more about assessment on campus and to share campus-wide assessment results. Conduct Coffee Breaks, focus groups, and cognitive interviews. Conduct focus groups and interviews related to university-wide questions about students’ learning experiences. Disseminate and consult with departments on Undergraduate Exit Survey data. Revise Undergraduate Exit Survey add-on questions. Create a plan and cycle for surveys for the next several years. Work with the Office of Institutional Research to develop a comprehensive understanding of student learning based on a wide variety of evidence. Develop a marketing plan for surveys such as the NSSE and BCSSE. Interview those working on assessment in departments and write Assessment In Action blogs to post on website. Collect annual assessment reports from colleges. Revise website and keep up-to-date. Oversee Assessment Council. Coordinate QIP Retreats.
To assess and advance student learning on the university’s public affairs mission.	Collect examples of student learning related to public affairs in various ways and from both curricular and co-curricular experiences. Assess the public affairs mission of the university, and develop actions in response to data from these assessments.	Coordinate the Quality Initiative Project. Coordinate "Understanding Student Learning in Public Affairs" review workshop. Work with SGA, faculty and staff, and with students directly. Implement development activities for faculty and staff that result from the assessment of student progress on the public affairs mission.
To serve as a campus resource for practitioners from across the university who are engaging in assessment and seek out partnerships with curricular and co-curricular groups.	Emphasize consultative, face-to-face interactions with individuals, departments, programs, and colleges throughout the university, rather than using reports or web content as the primary means of communicating with and supporting the MSU community. Provide a place for honest conversations about things that are working--as well as things that are not working--in courses, programs, and departments. Be a resource for individuals and units on campus that seek to improve their educational impact. Foster the development of a cross-department, cross-college, and cross-program community of practice focused on assessment.	Coordinate NSSE Coffee Breaks. Meet with individuals, departments, and programs interested in assessment for improvement. Help departments, colleges, and other units of the university that are responsible for student learning see the connection between their work and institutional surveys, findings from student focus groups, and the assessment findings and processes of other units on campus. Develop and update periodic SWOT analyses for MSU’s senior leadership on the progress and impact of assessment efforts in departments, programs, colleges, and the general education program. Focus on examining and describing strengths and weakness, as well as opportunities and threats to provide candid evaluations of MSU’s assessment efforts. Work with general education coordinators preparing to assess general education courses. Work with CGEIP to provide institutional data. Make our website and public information more transparent.

What We Don’t Do

The Office of Assessment does not engage in approving or rejecting courses for inclusion in particular programs or in making decisions about departments, courses, or programs that have ramifications for resource allocation or the continued existence of those departments, courses, or programs.