The IDEA Center

with Barbara E. Walvoord

In consulting, my goal is to help move the whole institution forward on assessment in a significant way. Thus I do not accept engagements for less than two days. My usual format is this:

Before my visit:
Intensive preparation in which we talk, I read material you send me, and we try to get me as familiar as possible with your situation and your needs.

My visit to campus:
The evening of my arrival: dinner with key assessment planners to get to know each other and to enhance my understanding of your institution

Day 1 and Morning of Day 2: Some combination of the following:

• Half-day workshop for faculty on grading and classroom assessment.
  

  Goal: to establish a strong base of grading and assessment in classrooms. Issues addressed: how to make grading fair, time-efficient, and conducive to learning and how to use graded work for department assessment.

• Half day workshop for department chairs/teams on departmental assessment.
  

  Goal: participants will emerge from the workshop with a written plan for assessment that is sensible, feasible, useful to the department for its own goals, and consonant with regional and professional accreditation guidelines. Issues addressed: how to establish learning goals, select measures, and use the information. How can the most ineffable goals (e.g. “originality”) be assessed? What are the dangers of assessment? What can assessment do for the department? What is the most basic, no-frills assessment plan?

• 2-hour meeting with "general-education" or "Core" leaders about assessment.
• Meetings with individual units such as instructional technology, library, or student affairs, about assessment in their areas.

Afternoon of Day 2: Final 2-hour meeting with academic administrators and key assessment leaders to discuss what we learned, what we accomplished, and how the institution can move forward.

Late afternoon of Day 2: I depart.

This format is not set in stone, so we can shape it to individual needs.