PROGRAM REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE                  
 
Annual Report 2004-2005
May 5th 2005

MEMBERS: C. Coron (co-chair), K. Cummings, R. Mugno,  H. Podnar (co-chair),

E. Schmitt, W. Shyam, L. Yacher.

VISITORS: M. Kennedy.

During the 2004-2005 academic year, PRAC members actively participated in the SCSU assessment effort, attended several national assessment meetings, and organized a series of workshops to provide a platform for the assessment dialog. The members continued to invest their time in analysis of current and alternative assessment models, with the goal of defining a process that will be attractive to SCSU departments and administration. Another activity that took considerable amount of time was clarifying and defining the assessment component in the new undergraduate courses' guidelines.

We finish this academic year with the list of accomplishments:

PRAC members attended a number of national assessment meetings and workshops
2004 NEEAN/NEASC  assessment Fall Forum "Assessment New England Style", Bentley College, MA
"Campus Connections 2005" - CSU System Assessment Conference, Willimantic, CT
These events helped PRAC members to have a closer look at successes at other institutions and provided a plentiful of networking opportunities.

PRAC was awarded (Spring 2005) a Faculty development grant to organize a serious of workshops that celebrate positive assessment experiences @ SCSU.
      The following workshops were delivered:

Workshop 1 :   (March 16th 2005: 1:05-1:55pm) (EN D 125)  "Taking a Scientific Approach to Improving Science Instruction" presented by K. Cummings, moderated by PRAC.

Workshop 2 :   (April 20th 2005: 1:05-1:55pm) (EN D 125)  "WebCT for Program Assessment" presented K. Peters & W. Yu, moderated by PRAC.

Workshop 3 :   (April 27th 2005: 1:05-1:55pm) (EN D 125) "Accessing Assessment: SCSU's Sociology Department" presented by S. A. Jackson, moderated by PRAC.

PRAC's website was made publicly available:
http://www.southernct.edu/committees/ucfpra    

PRAC members participated in the planning of the "Campus Connections 2005", a CSU System Assessment Conference.
PRAC participated in monitoring the assessment process. (E.g. students surveys) The flow of information established between PRAC, Dr. M. Kennedy and Dr. E. R. Beatty helped this effort.
In their effort to unify the assessment component of new undergraduate course proposals, PRAC contacted chairs of School Curriculum Committees to find out their assessment standards and criteria. This work is still in progress.
PRAC has continued to collect data about other assessment models, in search for alternative models that might be more attractive to SCSU departments. This process included: workshops participations and gathering Internet resources.
 

Future goals:

PRAC members will continue their efforts in establishing SCSU's assessment culture. PRAC plans to support the assessment dialog by organizing a series of workshops and meetings.
PRAC will continue with work on the assessment component of new undergraduate course proposals.
PRAC would like to thank UCF members for their support.