Presenter:

Jane Maire Souza PhD: Assistant Provost for Academic Administration, University of Rochester

Jane Marie Souza is an assistant provost for academic administration at the University of Rochester. In her role, Souza serves as the University’s chief assessment officer and manages academic policies in areas that require coordination among schools. In addition, she serves as a liaison with the New York State Education Department and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Souza has served on accreditation teams for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the Council on Podiatric Medicine, and the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.  She has offered assessment workshops for higher education institutions and presented at national and international assessment conferences. She has also written for the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment publications and for the journal Assessment Update.  Souza believes that her primary objective is to translate and document assessment and accreditation information for multiple constituencies, including state boards, accrediting agencies, alumni, and most importantly Rochester’s campus community. Prior to her role at Rochester, Souza was assistant dean of assessment and chair of the assessment leadership team at St. John Fisher College. She has also served as chief academic officer for the New England Institute of Art and executive director of CONNECT, a six-university consortium in southeastern Massachusetts.

Presenter:

Catherine M. Wehlburg: Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness, Texas Christian University

Dr. Catherine M. Wehlburg is the Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness at Texas Christian University. She has taught psychology and educational psychology courses for more than a decade, serving as department chair for some of that time and then branched into faculty development and assessment. Dr. Wehlburg has worked with both the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association and the Commission on Colleges with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as an outside evaluator. In addition, she has served as editor of To Improve the Academy and is currently the Editor-in-Chief for the New Directions in Teaching and Learning series. Dr. Wehlburg regularly presents workshops on assessment, academic transformation, and the teaching/learning process. Her books include Promoting Integrated and Transformative Assessment: A Deeper Focus on Student Learning and Meaningful Course Revision: Enhancing Academic Engagement Using Student Learning Data.  She earned her Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Florida.

This full-day learning opportunity will be offered to an inaugural cohort of 40 participants maximum. Dr. Jane Marie Souza and Dr. Catherine Wehlburg, both members of the Board of AALHE, will lead this workshop-style institute. These facilitators will bring a mix of theory and practice along with an engaging and participatory mix of information, practice, feedback, and skill-building. Participants will leave this institute with a solid foundation in the assessment of student learning, multiple resources, and a network of colleagues from across the country.  Using their experiences at the course, program, institution, and national levels, the facilitators will foster lively conversations about what has worked, what hasn’t worked, and how higher education can best focus on improving and enhancing the quality of student learning at our institutions.

This AALHE Assessment Institute is a full day workshop with lunch provided. 

The AALHE Assessment Institute is intended for…

• Anyone who would benefit from a comprehensive review of assessment concepts, beginning with the basics
• Anyone who would like to address knowledge gaps in their assessment education 
• Anyone who would like hands-on practice applying fundamental assessment strategies

Topics will include, but are not limited to… 

• Defining assessment and assessment-related terms
• Identifying ways to practice formative and summative assessment
• Describing both qualitative and quantitative methods for gathering meaningful data
• Illustrating good psychometric practices that can be used by anyone
• Practicing good rubric development and use
• Including many opportunities for discussion and active learning
  
  Note: The concepts will be introduced and immediately followed by learning activities and discussion.
  
  

An important aspect of this Institute is the cohort-based approach. 

• Participants will spend the day learning together, lunching together, and attending a plenary session together
• By creating a network, participants will have access to each other, the facilitators, and many other resources long after the end of the program

Recognizing that each institution has a different mission and culture…

• This Institute will provide a framework for ways to better understand how to use information and data to inform decision making. The facilitators will work to use examples from many different types of institutions and will encourage dialogue among all participants in order to model good practices for determining how, when, and why to use assessment. 
  
  

Participants will leave with…

• Handouts of all slides, case studies, and templates
• Reference lists and other resources will be shared during the session and in communications following the institute. Contact information for cohort members. 
  
  Please note: Institutions are encouraged to send more than one person to of this Institute, but all participants will benefit from making new connections for future communications and shared resources.