Assessment Initiative Mini-Grants
Assessment Initiative Mini-Grants are available for academic, college and administrative programs to make program enhancements, to improve assessment processes, or to disseminate assessment results. Preference will be given to proposals that have clearly demonstrated, in the most recent Continuous Improvement Report (CIR), a link between data gathered and the need for enhancement/improvement/ dissemination.
If this mini grant is funded, you will be required to submit a summary of the project and its outcomes & results by 15 August, to be posted on the RPA website. You should also document the impact of the project in your Continuous Improvement Report, due Oct. 1 each year. You may also be called on to participate in an informal campus forum or a meeting with the Committee on Institutional Effectiveness to share the impact of this grant.
Link to: Mini-Grant Proposal Form
Funding for the Assessment Initiative Mini-Grant program is limited and subject to availability; proposals should not exceed $500.
12-13 Recipients and Projects
Mini-grants were awarded in spring 2013 to:
- Department of Education for the development of a two-year portfolio system for MAT and MED students. The goal of the mini-grant is to support the development of a coherent system of data collection and storage that will not only organize this portfolio data for ongo ing analysis but also integrate it with other sources of MED/MAT student performance and department evaluation.
- Department of Religious and Ethical Studies for Drs Suarez, Raubenheimer and Benko to present a paper at the 2013 NCICU Assessment Conference titled "Brainstorming Language for Assessment of College Program and Student Learning Outcomes".
- Department of Business for undergraduate seniors to take the ETS Field Test. The business department uses the data to reform the curriculum to meet AACSB standards, to identify areas in which students have strengths and weaknesses, and and also for comparison to other business students nationwide.
- Department of Foreign Languages to develop critcal thinking exercises for courses at the 100 through 300 levels.
11-12 Recipients and Projects
Mini-grants were awarded in spring 2012 to:
- College Programs and Administrative Units for the development of assessment tools and rubrics to measure outcomes in co-curricular experiences, particularly relating to critical thinking.
- General Education to support the annual assessment of general education outcomes, specifically the scoring of samples of student work from WI, US Perspectives, and Global Perspectives courses and the refinement of rubrics developed by faculty for this purpose. Six faculty and two program directors participated in the process.
- Department of Religious and Ethical Studies to review and revise program outcomes, to conduct curriculum mapping of courses to program and PRISM outcomes, and to review and revise course listings using data gathered from an alumnae survey conducted in spring 2012.
- Department of English to develop a database on student performance in ENG 111 and to correlate those outcomes with high school predictors. Data is to be used to decide on needed adjustments to the new exam and paper sequence.
- Residence Life & Research Planning and Assessment to support the presentation of a paper at the 2012 NCICU Assessment Conference titled "Effective Uses of a Versatile Survey Instrument for Assessment of Residence Life".
08-09 Recipients and Projects
Mini-grants were awarded during the 08-09 year to:
- Department of Exercise and Sports Science to fund annual costs associated with use of Taskstream, which they are using for electronic portfolios as well as managing other assessment data.
- Department of Chemistry, Physics and Geosciences for the travel and visit of Dr. Hovland, the Department Head of Chemistry and Biochemistry at St. Mary's College in Maryland, to provide consultation on two departmental goals: American Chemical Society (ACS) certification and a new Biochemistry major. This consultation would help them prepare for their program review the following year.
- Department of Foreign Languages and Literature to help offset costs of bringing in a trainer from the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) to conduct an on-campus workshop for the department to help refine the correction process for the speaking section of the Foreign Language Competency Exam.
- Department of Biology for an assessment and planning retreat. The Biology Department implemented a new curriculum beginning in the 2008-2009 school year and needs to review its outcomes and measures to improve alignment with the new curriculum.
- Institutional Advancement for a survey, peer visit and workshop to assess and improve the prospect management process.