Form 201BC: Assessment Report Form for Instructional Programs

Name: June N. Price-Shingles
Department: Secondary Education, Professional Studies and Recreation

Evidence to Support Achievement of Student Learning

This section should record the findings after conducting the actual assessment(s). Data should be recorded in three year cycles on Form 201C. Briefly summarize the types of data reported and whether the evidence indicates student achievement of learning outcomes.

1. Evaluation of Internship Supervisor-student will be evaluated at the completion of their student internship by the Agency Director. Form to be submitted the Internship Supervisor (REC faculty) by Agency Director.
2. Review of Student GPA at the entry, mid-level and  ending of program. GPA will be assessed at three different points in the program to reflect on overall progress and academic understanding of the program.
3. Oral presentation of Activity Analysis-student will demonstrate via oral presentation, the planning process and implementation strategies required in successful program facilitation.
4. Group Facilitation Project-student will plan and lead the program they designed for group instruction.
5. Ability to evaluate a program-student will submit evaluation plan they designed.
6. Submission of Philosophy statement-student will create Philosophy statement to reflect their personal outlook of the profession.
7. Submission of final project; Program Plan (all parts)-student will submit all parts of the Program Plan as well as an oral presentation.

Analysis and Program Change

This section should record the findings after conducting the actual assessment. Data should be recorded in three year cycles on Form 201C.

1. What do the data for this year’s assessment reveal? This is the third year using Live text as an instrument to collect data. Core course assignments remain the same with a few modifications to REC 2000 and 2200. REC 4500 is also currently under review with regards to one of the assignments that is currently required for assessment. Assignments continue to be scored using the rubric indicating whether the assignment/artifact is Target, Acceptable or Unacceptable. It is still our goal to have students upload current and past assignments into their Live text Portfolio to see if learning objectives and outcomes are met. The supervisor mid-term and final evaluation for student interns continues to be a valuable tool for assessing student learning.
2. What does a review of the trend data show? Past data showed that our goals were to redesign courses and add assignments that would serve as documents that we could use to assess student learning based on each COE. We (a) redesigned courses, (b) revised our SPA/SPO to be in alignment with the COEs’, (c) created a portfolio artifact checklist to give students a checklist for uploading assignments, and (d) reviewed fieldwork hours of existing courses in an effort to redesign. Our new data is showing a need to change textbook for 2 courses (REC 2200 and 4240) to encompass material not totally captured in the current textbooks. Also under review are core assignments in REC 4500 and 4240 (one assignment each).
   Current data shows that we have been successful to a degree in modifying the identified areas above in an effort to create viable assessment tools. The data identifies areas for improvement with regards to student delivery of programs designed. The data also highlights the need for students to improve upon their personal skills with regards to demonstration of leadership ability. Uploading items into Live text continues to be problematic for us. Students continue to purchase the software at a very slow rate. While folding this activity into REC 4540 has helped, we continue to focus on this as a priority issue.
3. In what areas do students do well? Students continue to perform well in completing their internships as indicated by the Intern Supervisor’s Reports this year. Students are finally participating in professional development activities outside the classroom as indicated by their conference attendance and membership in professional associations. Students are also volunteering at a much higher rate and even securing part-time and full-time employment as a result of volunteering. Students are also participating in professional business meeting. Faculty has also been successful in hosting business meeting for professional associations, giving students an opportunity to network and secure volunteer hours or even employment (full and part-time).
4. In what areas have they not succeeded? While the vast majority of students are finally seeking volunteer opportunities they are still behind their counterparts at other universities when it comes to joining professional associations. This area is a priority for faculty. Professional development is a issue we take seriously and we really want to impart on the students the importance of beginning this process while in undergrad.
5. Have the student learning outcomes that this instrument measures been met? Yes. All instruments created directly correlate to student outcomes and learning objectives. We have discussed removing some sub-components (assignments) of assessments for REC 4240 and 4500. There are other sub-components under review for the 2012/2013 academic year.
6. 6. Which strengths and weaknesses were identified in the course /program? Please see the Accreditation Report by the National Recreation and Parks Association (CAPRA/NRPA) as posted in Live text to view suggestions made prior to their next visit. Please note that our program has been re-accredited for 5 years and is in good standing. The program is up for review by our accrediting body in fall 2015.

For this reporting cycle, our strength continues to be the recognition of our interns for the quality of work, work ethic and professionalism they exemplify. It should be noted that our graduates continue to secure employment upon graduation in the field of Parks and Recreation in either Therapeutic or General Recreation Administration with the status of both full-time and part-time. Our weakness continues to be our goal for improvement that is to impress upon students the importance of pursuing professional development at the undergraduate level, volunteerism with agencies above and beyond required fieldwork and understanding the importance of time management which is a valued and necessary skill in this profession.

In the previous years we discussed requiring additional fieldwork hours in existing courses. Another goal was to create additional learning experiences outside the classroom via volunteering, conference attendance, presentations, joining professional associations.

Our goals remain the same. Putting theory-to-practice continues to be the message we want to press upon students. Encouraging students to seeking opportunities outside the classroom will always be our goal.

With regards to curriculum, we have already noted changes to be implemented in the past in REC 2000, 2200, 4240. This year, we made additional updates to REC 2200, 2200 and REC 4540. Specifically:

• REC 2000      is now a individual assignment (effective spring 2008)
  • Students now have to design a Program and a Special event, neither of which can be a Sport related activity (effective spring 2012)
• REC 2200 has an additional text which requires a book critique assignment (effective spring 2009)
  • Textbook has been changed (effective fall 2012)
  • REC 2200 is now a individual assignment (effective spring 2011)
• REC 4500 one of the core assignments is under review to determine whether it should remain as an item to be submitted in Live text.
• REC 4540 has the addition of one assignment, which is completing the Live text portfolio (spring 2011)

These proposed changes will have no impact on the budget.

Assessment as a Departmental Priority

Recreation Program Faculty meets monthly in addition to departmental faculty whereby assessment is a slated agenda item. At the meeting, I identify upcoming due dates and remind faculty of information required of them for the reporting period. Specifically, during the Recreation Program meetings, faculty have the opportunity to share challenges and discuss assignments that we may want to re-vamp to better depict whether actual learning is taking place with regards to the key assessment indicators. At this time, faculty has not considered reliability or validity of the assessments, other than content (face) validity. Although no formal tests have been analyzed, construct validity is also a factor, such that the best students tend to do well on the key assessments and the poorer students score lower. At the end of each semester, faculty complete assessment reports for the core courses they instructed. This allows faculty to consistently identify deficiencies and accomplishments for a course each time the course is instructed. The assessment artifacts for each core assignment is scored in Live text by faculty, whereby its indicated whether or not the student was Target, Acceptable or Unacceptable. Assessment is critical to retention of our students. We use feedback from faculty assessment reports to ensure that we are providing instruction that students can excel in and allow for them to have a thorough understanding of the content their learning.

Effectiveness of Program Assessment

Providing students with a checklist for assignments to be uploaded into their Live text Portfolio was a vital piece to collecting the necessary data to assess their learning. In doing so, we are able to clearly ascertain whether or not the program objectives and learning outcomes were achieved. Aligning our national standards (CAPRA/NRPA) to the COEs’ (NCATE) also was critical in making sure we were assessing the same areas of learning. Our biggest challenge continues to be making sure students are Live text subscribers and their actively uploading information and assignments from courses their taking. To ensure this happens we now require students to complete their Live Text Portfolio while taking REC 4540 (effective fall 2011). This will be their final assignment.

Publicizing Student Learning

How do you inform the public about what students learn and how well they have learned it? How do you publicize the assessment results? Indicate what data or results you will use, and also indicate the means of internal and external publication: departmental website, brochures, and other published documents or media.

• SEPR staff at staff retreats and College Retreats
  • Staff retreat took place Saturday, August 21st, 2010
  • Staff retreat took place Friday, January 21st, 2011
  • Staff retreat took place fall 2012 in All College of Education Retreat during breakout session.
• Advisory Board Meetings held both fall and spring semester
• Documentation provided to COE for NCATE reporting
  • On-going
• CSU Public Relations department
• During recruitment visits to 2-year institutions
  • Professor McNicholas visited MVCC
  • Dr. Price-Shingles continues to request meetings with City of Chicago Colleges to discuss articulation agreement and has met with 3 schools.
• SEPR web page (in progress at University level)
• Yearly SPA/SPO reports
  • On-going
• Information on students advancement
  • On-going via Department Newsletter
• Fieldwork hours and Internships
  • Documented in REC 4540 and REC 4750
• Program changes as a result of evidence learned
  • Indicated in syllabus for REC 4240, 2000, 4540 (effective fall 2011 and for fall 2012)
• SEPR Department Newsletter (please find our most recent copy in Live text). The letter is forwarded to Alumni, Recreation Advisory Board, Professional Association (IPRA) members
• Program Brochures
  • Located in Live Text