Workshops and Training

The Office of Educational Effectiveness Assessment provides workshops for a variety of topics. If you don’t see what you are looking for, please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate your training needs. Workshops are available virtually.

Assessment @ RIT: Workshop for New Chairs and Directors

This workshop will introduce new department chairs and directors to the basics of program assessment at RIT. Topics to be covered include developing and following an assessment plan, program/unit assessment requirements, and RIT’s annual reporting procedures. (60 minutes, resources include: PLOAP Guide, sample Progress Report, and RIT’s Continuous Improvement Rubric)

Participants of this workshop will learn:

  • Basic principles of assessment for improvement
  • Best practices in developing and implementing an assessment plan
  • Assessment roles and responsibilities for chairs and directors
  • RIT’s annual assessment reporting requirements and strategies

Outcomes Refresh

Program-level student learning outcomes describe the knowledge, skills, and abilities students will possess upon completion of their program of study. If your program student learning outcomes are feeling a little out of date, this workshop is for you. Designed to guide chairs, directors, and faculty through the process of revising and updating program student learning outcomes. (30 minutes, resources include: PLOAP Guide, sample learning outcomes, and other resources related to writing student learning outcome statements)

Participants of this workshop will:

  • Review outcomes for their program and determine outcomes that are in need of revision
  • Create measurable student learning outcomes for their program
  • Develop methods to create consensus among the faculty about the student learning outcomes

Let's Get this PLOAP Started

PLOAP stands for Program Level Outcomes Assessment Plan, and every academic program needs to have one. This workshop is for new programs who have yet to develop this document. Faculty will be introduced to the PLOAP development process. Topics include setting goals and student learning outcomes, determining benchmarks, analyzing findings and a brief summary of annual reporting requirements. (60 minutes, resources include: PLOAP Guide, sample PLOAPs)

Participants of this workshop will learn:

  • Best practices in developing and implementing an assessment plan
  • Assessment roles and responsibilities for chairs and directors
  • How to develop a PLOAP
  • Resources and services offered by the Office of EEA

PLOAP Refresh

PLOAPs (Program Level Outcomes Assessment Plans) can become out of date and irrelevant if not attended to regularly. Don’t let this happen to your PLOAP! This workshop will guide faculty through the process of revising their PLOAP, including updating student learning outcomes, re-aligning courses and assignments, setting meaningful benchmarks, and preparing for data collection. Perfect for programs preparing for RIT’s Annual PLOAP Review Process, which begins in AY 2020-21 (60 minutes, resources include: PLOAP Guide, sample PLOAPs).

Participants of this workshop will:

  • Review all PLOAP components (student learning outcomes, data sources, benchmarks) for their program and determine items in need of revision
  • Revise PLOAP with guidance from EEA
  • Develop methods to create consensus among the faculty about the student learning outcomes

All About Improvement

Continuous program improvement is at the heart of what you do, but how can you document, demonstrate, and share improvement efforts with stakeholders? This workshop will help faculty interpret and present results from program assessment activities to show how results can contribute to decisions that support student learning. (45 minutes, resources include: sample Progress Reports and RIT’s Continuous Improvement Rubric).

Participants of this workshop will:

  • Review methods to use assessment results for improvement
  • Apply strategies for aligning results from different measures
  • Interpret assessment results
  • Use techniques to help their department discuss and act on assessment results

Time for the Progress Report

It’s that time of year again… the due date for RIT’s annual Progress Report is fast approaching and you don’t know where to being. We are here to help. This workshop is designed to support Progress Report completers from start to finish as they determine the subject of their report, analyze results, develop next steps, and enter findings. (45 minutes, participants will receive a copy of last year’s Progress Report and Continuous Improvement Rubric results).

Participants of this workshop will:

  • Review prior Progress Report results
  • Review individual academic program’s PLOAP
  • Identify student learning outcome and corresponding data for annual reporting process 
  • Begin the program’s annual assessment progress report

Assignment Design Mini-Workshop

This workshop is designed for small groups of faculty (as part of a retreat, for example) to work together to revise and improve their assignments. Workshops can be organized by program, course, discipline, or student learning outcome. Each participant will bring an existing assignment in need of an update. In the session, participants brainstorm ways to improve existing assignments in order to better measure student performance, per the pre-selected SLO and reflecting basic elements of assignment design for transparency (clarifying the purpose, tasks, and expectations to students).

Participants of this workshop will:

  • Improve the connection between their assignment and learning objectives
  • Give and get feedback from colleagues on an existing assignment
  • Leave with ideas about how to improve their assignment

I Need a Rubric, Quick!

Looking to move from using a course or assignment grade to a rubric? After creating student learning outcomes, a rubric can be developed to assess student performance and provide your program with useful feedback to make improvements (and share the results on your annual Progress Report, hint, hint, wink). Developing rubric criteria and ensuring faculty agree what is a high, medium, or low student performance can be challenging, but we are here to help.

Participants will:

  • Create a rubric for the program’s student learning outcomes
  • Ensure the rubric is effective to rate student work

EEA Consultations, Services, and Resources

The Office of Educational Effectiveness Assessment provides professional development services to academic program department chairs, program directors and assessment leaders.  

Consultations

Can't find what you're looking for here? The Office of EEA offers specialized consulting related to assessing program level goals and student learning outcomes (faculty, chairs, directors, departments, or college level committees)

Services

  • Assistance with the design of manageable degree program level outcomes assessment plans (new or revised)
  • Assistance with the design of rubrics and other instruments to measure student learning
  • Analysis of course or program assessment data
  • Review of the annual Program Assessment Progress Report process, instrument, and rubric
  • Customized workshops to support assessment for programs, departments, or colleges


Resources

 

To schedule a workshop or consultation, contact

Leah Bradley
Leah Bradley, Ed.D., Director
585.475.4138