In 2008, JJC joined the Higher Learning Commission's Assessment Academy. The Academy was designed to help HLC colleges and universities develop assessment projects over a four year time-span. The initial team was headed by Kristin LaTour from the Student Learning Committee and Joe Offermann from Institutional Research & Effectiveness. A larger team attended the initial training and planning session in June 2008, and developed a four year plan to develop general education outcomes and assessment.
Our initial goals were to
- develop general education outcomes using IAI General Education Curriculum requirements as a guide, as well as past JJC work on outcomes, and other institutions.
- get input on outcomes from faculty via committees, chair and open forum discussions.
- publish final outcomes in the catalog, online, and in CurricuNet.
These goals have been accomplished.
New team members were recruited and participated in the summer 2010 Assessment Academy workshop. The new team members are Valerie Roberson/VPAA, Karl Brooks/Dean of Student Success, Bette Conkin/Dean of Arts & Sciences, Joe Offerman/IR Director, Roxanne Munch/Department Chair of English and World Languages, Wayne Gawlik/Business faculty & SLC Chair and Kristin Ciesemier, Assesment Coordinator.
Current goals include
- conducting an academic assessment inventory
- aligning existing assessments with student learning outcomes to determine if existing assessments can be re-purposed for our gen ed assessment.
- identifying any gaps (missing assessments) and proposing solutions.
- reporting baseline data on at least one gen ed outcome.
Our overarching goal is to create a useful and meaningful assessment of our general education outcomes.
As part of the Academy, we post our work on the Academy website for other participating institutions to see. We have access to an HLC mentor and receive feedback on our annual reports. Each year we are able to participate in a special Academy track at the HLC annual meeting.