AAC&U and ACAD Pre-Meeting Workshops

Wednesday, January 25, 2:00-5:00 p.m.

The Art and Science of Assessing General Education Outcomes (SOLD OUT)

AAC&U 2002 publication, Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College, lays out a new vision of liberal learning—one that calls for higher levels of coherence, transparency, and quality in undergraduate education. To serve that vision, assessment must be as ambitious and sophisticated as the complex intellectual capacities we seek to assess. That means addressing learning over time and across multiple courses; combining technical rigor with expert human judgment; using findings in powerful ways; and communicating with a wide range of audiences. This workshop provides guidance on principles of good assessment practice, supplemented by a hands-on exercise and a case study.

BARBARA WRIGHT, Associate Director, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), formerly Assessment Coordinator at Eastern Connecticut State University

Taking Stock: Assessing the Institutionalization of Civic Engagement

As more and more colleges and universities make a commitment to civic engagement, they also need ways to assess their progress. Fortunately, there has been much done to assist universities on this front: benchmarks, indicators, guidelines, rubrics, accreditation standards, and more. The challenge for institutions is to choose methods of measuring progress that are consistent with their missions, institutional types, and goals. This workshop is structured so that participants will be exposed to the latest thinking about the institutionalization of civic engagement and the tools and methods available to assess this across the campus. There will be a "live case" featuring an institution that has endeavored to assess its progress (its strategies, methods, success, and failures will be discussed); and participants will work together to develop individual plans and approaches. The goal is to enable participants to return to their campuses with ideas that can serve as a starting point in developing a campus strategy to assess progress.

CATHY BURACK, Senior Research Associate for Higher Education, Brandeis University, and JOHN A. SALTMARSH, Director, New England Resource Center for Higher Education (NERCHE)

Excellence in Action: Academic and Student Affairs Partnerships for Student Learning

The challenges for excellence in liberal education serve as catalysts for examining the substance of and context for our work as educators in today’s colleges and universities. What are students learning and in what venues? How do we construct the social, organizational and physical environments on our campuses to nurture and model intentionally the interdependencies that enhance learning? What are the new social contracts we should be forging among and between our academic and student affairs leaders at our institutions to focus our human and physical resources on student learning? What are the structures and strategies that promise to engender the excellence we envision? Transformative student learning demands that we explore how to create successful collaborations at our colleges and universities. What changes in our approaches to student learning do we want to address? Participants will explore these questions by using case studies and applying key theoretical constructs to this process of change. Finally, participants will have the opportunity to develop some possible approaches for their campuses.

MARY BOYCE, Consultant, former Chief Academic Officer, SUSAN E. BORREGO, Vice President of Student Affairs, California State University, Monterey Bay; and CYNTHIA FORREST, Consultant, Harvard University Graduate School of Education

Technology Across the Curriculum: Programmatic Approaches to Developing Students’ IT Fluency

This workshop will address ways to integrate technology-based assignments in the liberal arts curriculum to develop students’ IT skills and enhance learning in the subject matter. Workshop leaders and participants will share experiences in effecting programmatic change in their institutions, addressing such topics as: How is IT fluency incorporated into the curriculum at your institution? How can you change the curriculum to better teach technology skills? What might the locus of change be—new degrees, new minors, new or revised courses? What are the barriers to this kind of curriculum change? Who needs to be part of the curriculum development process? Who else needs to be involved for the project to be successfully implemented? How do you propose to coordinate their participation? How do you currently evaluate the technology skills of your at your institution? What are some ways you might measure the success of your proposed curriculum development project? Participants should leave the session with increased awareness of approaches to integrating technology in the liberal arts curriculum as well as issues to be considered in developing students’ IT fluency at their institution.

BETH SECRIST, Technology Across the Curriculum Coordinator; DEE HOLISKY, Senior Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences; ANNE AGEE, Deputy CIO and Director Division of Instructional & Technology Support Services—all of George Mason University

Understanding Our Students: Measuring Non-Cognitive, Social, and Emotional Abilities

The evaluation of student success within postsecondary settings has historically focused on cognitive abilities and academic performance. Emerging evidence, however, suggests that a more comprehensive approach that addresses students’ non-cognitive, social, and emotional abilities is directly linked to individual student learning outcomes and life challenges beyond the academic sphere. This workshop will introduce a new, non-cognitive, validated measure of social and emotional functioning—the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i ®)— that will provide registrants a way to enrich and broaden their institutions’ curriculum and the co-curriculum, while fostering dialogue about student learning in dynamic ways. Registrants will be asked to complete the EQ-i ® prior to attending this workshop and will work with facilitators to understand the historical roots of emotional intelligence, explore a conceptual framework for defining non-cognitive abilities, and gain insights on how this instrument can have an impact on both academic and student affairs programming to improve student learning outcomes.

PATRICK KILCARR, Director, Center for Personal Development, Georgetown University; JAMES PARKER, Associate Vice President for Research, Trent University; and JON DUFFY, Education Market Specialist, Multi-Health Systems

ACAD Workshop: The Entrepreneurial Dean

This workshop, based on the triangular relationship among the entrepreneurial dean, the entrepreneurial university, and entrepreneurship across the curriculum, is designed to introduce deans at all levels to the rewards and risks of building a culture of innovation and change. With colleges and universities facing challenges to their resource base, it is imperative that institutions develop the capacity to innovate and “add value” (entrepreneurship) to their communities. The role of the dean as an agent of change is critical to developing this capacity. A culture of entrepreneurship fostered by deans can help institutionalize the capacity to initiate change and lead change efforts in a timely and effective manner. Participants are asked to review the spring 2005 issue of AAC&U’s periodical Peer Review— “Liberal Education and the Entrepreneurial Spirit” (selected article available online at www.aacu.org, and are asked to bring examples of change processes/ innovations they have been involved with at their institutions.

SAMUEL M. HINES, Jr., Dean, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Charleston; REW A. GODOW, Dean, College of Charleston North Campus and Director of the Lowcountry Graduate Center; GINNY COOMBS, President of ACAD, Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Wisconsin, River Falls
This workshop is funded in part by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

ACAD Workshop: Deans and Dean’s Assistants: Enhancing a Strategic Partnership

Designed for Deans and their (executive) assistants, this workshop will focus on defining and strengthening their strategic partnership. Special attention will be given to tasks and expectations, essential skills, boundaries, fostering trust and respect, and strategies for developing the overall effectiveness of this critical working relationship. Participants will be invited to discuss challenges and dilemmas that deans and their assistants face and models of successful working partnerships.

STEPHAN AINLAY, Vice President and Dean of the College, and DEBORAH NEAL, Executive Assistant —both of College of the Holy Cross; PAUL ARMSTRONG, Dean of the College, and BARBARA SARDY, Executive Assistant—both of Brown University

Also offered on Wednesday, January 25, 2:00-5:00 p.m.

Grants Workshop sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities

This NEH workshop is designed for college and university faculty and administrators interested in strengthening and improving their humanities programs. Workshop activities will focus on those grant opportunities of greatest interest to college humanities faculty and administrators. The workshop will include a review of NEH funding opportunities and simulated panel reviews of NEH proposals. Participants are encouraged to bring their ideas for campus humanities initiatives to discuss at the workshop itself and in follow-up meetings throughout the conference. Participants are encouraged to familiarize themselves with NEH funding opportunities by consulting the NEH Web site prior to the workshop (www.neh.gov).

There is no registration fee for the NEH Workshop, but prior registration is required to ensure a space. Please send an email to hyers@aacu.org if you would like to attend.

If you have questions, please e-mail us at meetings@aacu.org.