October 11, 2006

8:00 a.m.
Livingston Lord Library 120D

Present: Jean Sando, chair; Tim Decker, Ellen Hill, Rajiv Kalra, Mike McCord, Margaret Sankey

Absent: Brian Smith, Stacy Voeller

Minutes: Moved by Hill, seconded by Sankey to approve the September 27 and October 4, 2006 minutes. The motion was approved unanimously.

IPESL Proposals: Proposals were sent electronically to the membership on October 9, 2006 for review. Proposals are due to the Academic Affairs Office on October 12, 2006. Sando noted that all proposals list a lead faculty, herself, and the Dragon Core Assessment Committee. Discussion ensued on whether the five proposals should be submitted separately or as a package. It was agreed to submit the proposals separately. Members are to contact Sando by early tomorrow with additional comments.

Dragon Core Course List: Sando distributed the list of courses posted on the Dragon Core website. A review of enrollment caps for the courses and implications for assessment were discussed.

Dragon Core Assessment Plan: A revised draft of the assessment plan was distributed and reviewed. The plan consists of four layers: Foundation Four, Inner Cluster Electives, Middle Cluster, and Outer Cluster. Assessment of Foundation Four courses would include four projects involving embedded assessments. The DCAC would create a “university Portfolio of Student Work” to assess Inner Cluster elective courses. The Middle Cluster would be assessed the same as Inner Cluster electives courses, plus an assessment that addresses expansion of the two Foundation Four skills. A student portfolio would be used for assessment of the Outer Cluster. The advantages/disadvantages of using portfolios and portfolio management issues were discussed.

Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) Project: Sando distributed and reviewed material from the CLA website. CLA is a nationally administered test that assesses students in three areas: critical thinking, analytic reasoning, and written communication. The annual service fee is $6,300, which covers the cost of testing up to 100 freshmen and 100 seniors. Additional tests are $20/per student. Advantages/disadvantages of using a national test were discussed. An alternate suggestion was to use sections of the Graduate Records Exam. It was agreed that the CLA would not be a good instrument for MSUM to use.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, October 25, 2006, at 8:00 a.m. Members are to review the assessment plan and consider:

1. What do we want to know?

2.  What would you submit as an assessment artifact from your courses?

3.  Is it manageable?

4.  How/where to include writing-intensive assessment?

5.  How to handle portfolio management?

The meeting adjourned at 8:55 a.m.

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