Student Affairs Assessment Council
Minutes
April 24, 2013
Attendance: Rebecca Sanderson, Maureen Cochran, Remi Nagata, Kayleen Salchenberg, Jo Alexander, Melissa
Yamamoto, Rick DeBellis, Kami Hammerschmith, Carolyn Killefer, Ann Robinson, Ozge Akcali, Jeff Kenney, Kent
Sumner, Juliana Recio
A new Assessment Council member has joined us from Disability Access Services, Juliana Recio. Welcome, Juliana!
Student Engagement Software
Rebecca presented some information on the Student Engagement Software that will likely be available on campus in
the fall of 2013. This software will provide a common platform which will make the co-curriculum much more visible
to students, provide a new avenue through which to collect data on student learning, and will allow for more
opportunities to connect data from across the Division to take a look at the big picture. Rebecca shared the process
that she and others have taken to create a Request for Proposal and a TRF funding proposal for the first year of
operation.
If you are interested in viewing a presentation that was given by one of the potential companies, you may do so via
the following link: http://media.oregonstate.edu/media/ideal-logic+presentation+4-9-13/0_b83h718d
For now, Student Affairs is the only area involved in planning and selecting this software, however, there will be
opportunities for other areas to buy-in. The system will communicate with Banner for reporting purposes but no
Banner data will be stored in the common database. It will also be able to take advantage of the data analytics
process that is coming. The log-in for this system will be single-sign-on (in other words, you’ll be able to log in with
your ONID credentials). We will need to look into purchasing card swipes in order to create a way to collect
attendance information at events.
A lot of work will be needed up-front and there will need to be some early adopters who will help guide the initial
structuring of the software. Rebecca recommends that we might want to have a Learning Pathways committee that
would help units figure out how to plan and implement their curriculum using this software and perhaps provide some
guidelines for submission into the system. This would need to be coordinated with the Student Engagement Software
Steering Committee.
A crucial usage piece to consider is that staff must engage with students through this software and react to their
entries (whether grading, approvals, or feedback).
How can we prepare? Start thinking about what type of curriculum your area might be interested in offering. A lot of
thought needs to be put into this curriculum development and it will be required that the curriculum be based in
theory. Good ideas for curriculum will be sustainable and predictable (i.e. students can expect the program to be
offered from term to term). The Learning Pathways piece will likely not be introduced until spring 2014.
Annual Retreat
The Retreat planning group met and expressed interest in bringing a speaker in for the retreat. Larry has approved
funding to invite a speaker to the retreat; the next step was to identify a topic that the Assessment Council would be
interested in delving into for the day.
The discussion about co-curricular learning pathways inspired discussion around having the focus of our topic be
about appropriate theories for our practice. Further, how can we tie the theory into curriculum development and into
the measures that we use to assess an individual’s progress? We could use this as a time to reflect upon what theories
drive our programs and how we might grow from there.
Jessica White was proposed as someone who may be able to effectively speak to these areas as she has experience in
curriculum development and is well grounded in student development theory. Please e-mail Maureen with any
additional suggestions.
Next Meeting:
May 8, 2013
MU Council Room
9-10:30am