Tool URL: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B9RRglkR3FbTaEVfSjRIQklwenc?usp=sharing

Institution URL: http://www.aims.edu

Tools are shared from a google doc.

Aims Community College is a two-year public college with multiple locations in northern Colorado. Aims offers 160 degree and certificate programs, serving nearly 7,500 students in FY 15-16.

The academic and CTE programs did not have a foundation for conducting meaningful and sustainable assessment of student learning. One of the key issues was the lack of defined program learning outcomes and the expected level of learning for each outcome. The other issue was the need for a curriculum map in order to identify where learning opportunities existed within the curriculum and where meaningful assessment could take place. The College identified this as a gap that needed to be addressed in order to bridge the gap between Common Learning Outcomes (CLO) and course level outcomes (objectives).

• • “Prepare Aims for learning needs of current and future students.” We accomplish this by ensuring that faculty are using assessment of student-learning outcomes information to make continuous improvements to their courses and programs, which are linked to the Aims’ Common Learning Outcomes.
  • Establishing a foundation to ensure sustainable and meaningful assessment at Aims. A program’s mission statement, program learning goals, and program learning outcomes are the critical components to this foundation
  • Provide transparency for students and faculty. All of the student learning outcomes for program/departments should be published on the external facing assessment webpage.

Curriculum mapping is necessary to identify where learning opportunities exist for students within the program’s curriculum. In order to ensure that a culture of assessment is being built, programs and departments will continue to develop assessment projects that are grounded in the values and learning expectations of the course/program/department/institution.

• • Recognizing the need for organized and ongoing assessment of student achievement/success and program outcomes, Aims Community College is committed to establishing and sustaining a culture of teaching and learning which is accomplished through inquiry and driven by evidence. Data and information gathered from assessment of student learning activities is used by faculty, staff, and administrators to focus assessment efforts on improving student learning opportunities, supporting faculty needs to do so through professional development opportunities, and making necessary organizational enhancements based on the results. The ultimate responsibility for academic assessment (Assessment of Student Learning) belongs to the faculty.
  • Programs will submit their mission, learning goals, and learning outcomes to their boards for review and feedback. Most advisory boards will be a part of this conversation from the beginning, and will have ongoing input in to the final products. CTE programs advisory boards will need to approve the final mission statement, learning goals, and learning outcomes, which will be recorded in their advisory board minutes. In addition, programs/departments will map their student learning outcomes to their core courses. After the curriculum map is completed, each program/department will create an individualized assessment schedule that is unique to their program/department. The assessment schedule will lay out a two-year sequence of which student learning out
    
    FEATURES:
    

    NA

    
    
    PERFORMANCE MEASURES:
    
    • • (15-16) 40% of current A.A., A.S., A.A.S., and A.G.S. programs will have articulated program/department mission statement, learning goals, learning outcomes, and curriculum map.
      • (16-17) 60% of current A.A., A.S., A.A.S., and A.G.S. programs will have articulated program/ department mission statement, learning goals, learning outcomes, and curriculum map.
      • (16-17) All program/department two-year assessment cycle will be posted on the Office of Academic Assessment website.
    
    
    ACHIEVED OUTCOMES:
    
    • • C.T.E. (A.A.S.) Programs: Mission Statements=100%, PLG=63%, PLO=63% Curriculum Maps=30%
      • Arts and Sciences: Mission Statements=100%, PLG=60%, PLO=60% Curriculum Maps=0% (in progress)
    
    
    IMPACTS:
    

    This project has had a positive effect in that it helps chairs and faculty (full and part-time) to discuss what they value in their program/department. It allows faculty to reflect on learning as multidimensional, integrated, and revealed in performance over time. The curriculum map is a physical representation of this reflection. Most importantly, this project supports assessment of student learning as ongoing and not episodic.

    
    

• • We found it very productive to shift our strategy from large trainings to more one-on-one trainings where we can meet the individual needs of each faculty and/or program.
  • Through our assessment survey, we discovered that our PT instructors felt 'left out' of the process. This year we have focused our outreach to include PT instructors.

One of the greatest challenges is finding a common time for all full and part-time faculty in a program/department to meet to have the in-depth discussions needed to establish a common understanding of the program and how each individual course supports the program student learning outcome (mapping).

COSTS

• Training costs/time
• Software (LiveText)

The curriculum mapping project and assessment will be integrated into the annual program review process where data will be shared on student success for each program. We will continue to streamline the process in order to make it more user friendly for faculty, for example, to modify our existing assessment planning form and reporting form into one cohesive document.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B9RRglkR3FbTaEVfSjRIQklwenc?usp=..

Ross Perkins 
Chair of Academic Assessment 
Aims Community College 
5401 West 20th Street 
PO BOX 69 
Greeley, Colorado 80632 
Phone: 970-339-6402 
ross.perkins@aims.edu

Ross Perkins 
Chair of Academic Assessment 
Aims Community College 
5401 West 20th Street 
PO BOX 69 
Greeley, Colorado 80632 
Phone: 970-339-6402 
ross.perkins@aims.edu