Attending this conference to test the waters to see if this is a good new professional fit for me. I feel like I would need to attend a few more of their meetings to make that decision, but they do support a Mid-Atlantic chapter that might prove fruitful.
The most memorable sessions for me were: Terry Hartle's (ACE) talk on the implications a Trump administration will have on higher education (visa restrictions, federal funding). It was comforting. Also there was a wonderful presentation regarding the major renovation project at UVA to restore The Rotunda. The cooperative effort between the architects, the historians, and UVA administration to reclaim a crumbling (really, it was bad) for the students was quite interesting.
I've never met so many architects.
Monday, September 18, 2017
WASC Assessment Leadership Academy, June 2-9 and July 31-August 4, 2017 Holy Names University, Oakland, CA
I refer to this as the other ALA and that took a bit of getting used to. WASC academy is designed for campus assessment leaders to bulk up their credentials in assessment while creating an assessment product at the end of the academy (January 2018). These two week sessions pulled together a cohort of approximately 45 folks mostly from California but several others from outside the WASC region. Session leaders were Amy Driscoll and Carol Huston. And, they brought in some assessment heavy hitters as speakers, Peter Ewell, Cyd Jenefsky, and Jillian Kinzie. My favorite guest speaker was Adrianna Kezar - her book - How College's Change: Understanding Leading and Enacting Change is really engaging and very useful.
We stayed on the campus of Holy Names University up in the Oakland Hills. In case you were worried I was living in the lap of luxury, we stayed in student resident halls. It was hot in August.
But the campus was lightly populated by the remaining students and they were helpful and lovely. The campus has some spectacular views of the bay area.
We stayed on the campus of Holy Names University up in the Oakland Hills. In case you were worried I was living in the lap of luxury, we stayed in student resident halls. It was hot in August.
Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) General Education Conference Phoenix, February 23-25, 2016
It isn't fair that it was warmer in Virginia than it was in Phoenix, but it was still lovely, as seen from the jade plants on the hotel balcony.
This conference's theme was Design Thinking for Student Learning. One of the plenaries was given by Peter Dolittle (Virginia Tech) from my notes I have a quote, "stop chasing grades and start to invest in the learning of others versus making straight A students" that I think I attribute to him.
I attended several sessions that reported to help make sense of out assessment reports and data. One session that was particularly useful for me was the NILOA sponsored session regarding the Excellence in Assessment award (I was on the committee working to draft JMU's submission). Mary Kay Flemming (Mount St. Joseph) provided excellent ideas regarding submission and considerations for what do when/if schools achieve the designation. It was fun to be able to pass along her suggestions to the submissions committee.
The real reason to attend, presenting with Gretchen Hazard and Jeanne Horst, "Boring, Ugly and Useless Reports: Where Evidence Goes to Die." We had a MUCH larger turnout than we anticipated, but we still managed to stick to our plans. Participants assumed a role (e.g. Dr. Amanda B. Reckonedwith or Dr. Vlad Litity) and were asked to view assessment reports through the perspective of the persona they were assigned. Two nuggets made the twittersphere afterwards, "steep long in your data tea" and "never write your assessment reports alone, bring in others."
Two of my favorite people at JMU and in the world.
This conference's theme was Design Thinking for Student Learning. One of the plenaries was given by Peter Dolittle (Virginia Tech) from my notes I have a quote, "stop chasing grades and start to invest in the learning of others versus making straight A students" that I think I attribute to him.
I attended several sessions that reported to help make sense of out assessment reports and data. One session that was particularly useful for me was the NILOA sponsored session regarding the Excellence in Assessment award (I was on the committee working to draft JMU's submission). Mary Kay Flemming (Mount St. Joseph) provided excellent ideas regarding submission and considerations for what do when/if schools achieve the designation. It was fun to be able to pass along her suggestions to the submissions committee.
The real reason to attend, presenting with Gretchen Hazard and Jeanne Horst, "Boring, Ugly and Useless Reports: Where Evidence Goes to Die." We had a MUCH larger turnout than we anticipated, but we still managed to stick to our plans. Participants assumed a role (e.g. Dr. Amanda B. Reckonedwith or Dr. Vlad Litity) and were asked to view assessment reports through the perspective of the persona they were assigned. Two nuggets made the twittersphere afterwards, "steep long in your data tea" and "never write your assessment reports alone, bring in others."
ARL Library Assessment Conference, Pentagon City October 30- November 3, 2016
First lesson, think hard about registering for both a pre and post conference workshop. I attended a pre-conference workshop on Tableau. It was interesting, but due to the nature of the room set up, it was hard to keep up with the instructors if you were looking at your screen and looking at their's simultaneously. But useful.
The sessions themselves were interesting, but in my opinion, not as good as previous years. Particularly interesting was Nisa Bakkalbasi's talk on using Gephi to analyze communication trends in her library at Colombia. Also it was interesting to hear Carrick Enterprises talk on their new Information Literacy test (based on the new Frames).
The post -conference workshop was the highlight for me this year. Kim Duckett (Duke) and Joan Lippencott (CNI) held a fast-paced and highly interactive workshop on assessment in library spaces. They tackled both pre-occupancy and post-occupancy considerations for library buildings.
And DC is always pretty in the fall.
The sessions themselves were interesting, but in my opinion, not as good as previous years. Particularly interesting was Nisa Bakkalbasi's talk on using Gephi to analyze communication trends in her library at Colombia. Also it was interesting to hear Carrick Enterprises talk on their new Information Literacy test (based on the new Frames).
The post -conference workshop was the highlight for me this year. Kim Duckett (Duke) and Joan Lippencott (CNI) held a fast-paced and highly interactive workshop on assessment in library spaces. They tackled both pre-occupancy and post-occupancy considerations for library buildings.
And DC is always pretty in the fall.
ARL Assessment Institute, Washington, DC October 22-24, 2015
Leading a Strategic Assessment Program is a really good investment for anyone thinking about assessment work in libraries. We heard from many of the field's rockstars (Steve Hiller/UW), Megan Oakleaf (Syracuse). The best part of this program was really hearing the state of where other assessment efforts were in libraries from around the country. We worked in teams to find common understandings and definitions and found we many different sets of expectations regarding who we were supposed to be in our respective organizations and in the profession.
Particularly useful sessions included, development of a data dashboard, strategic planning cycles, and student learning assessment efforts in libraries.
But, be prepared to work. This comes with a rich pre-reading list. And that is just the first page. But excellent networking opportunity.
Association for General & Liberal Studies (AGLS) September 23-26, 2015 Milwaukee, WI
First, Milwaukee is a very cool town. Well, in September. Am told it cools down an awful lot in the winter months. And they have a good sense of humor about things.
Primary reason for attendance was to present with the JMU General Education Cluster Coordinators (Skip Hyser, Georgia Polacek, and Gretchen Hazard). Our presentation was, Rewarding and Showcasing Excellence in General Education: Out of the Classroom and into the Spotlight" which reporting on the success and growth of the JMU General Education Student Conference, Banquet and awards ceremony.
I spent a lot of this particular conference attending sessions related to changing and evolving the liberal education core curriculum, as that was a discussion on our campus at the time, but also to see how other schools were tackling what looked like a wholesale updating of university cores. But we also did a fair bit of eating.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Virginia Assessment Group Conference - November 13-14, 2015 Norfolk, VA
Again, I love other people's conferences. You know you are exotic when you sign in and the nice people handing out the name tags say, "oh you are the librarian! We're happy to have you here." How nice.
This conference is an interesting mix of university assessment officers and administrators. So some OIR-types but just as likely to be faculty development administrators, deans, student affairs professionals, and several staffers from the State Council of Higher Education (SCHEV).
I was attending to present with Donna Sundre (CARS) - Information Literacy Assessment: A Case Study in Collaboration. This talk was about how we (the libraries) were working with CARS and instructional faculty to develop information literacy tests in major programs that also worked in tandem with our information literacy assessment in General Education. We also touched on how we were using CARS graduate assistants in our organization and on this particular project. It was another one of those moments when I just have to stand back be really proud to work here, but humble enough to know that not many universities or libraries are anywhere near where we are with this stuff.
But the best presentation I attended was the keynote speaker, Scott Jaschick, who is an editor from Inside Higher Ed. His talk was titled The Evolving Assessment Conversation, and he challenged everyone in the room to consider what he saw as the big five issues that will happening assessment-wise in higher education in the near future - creditability of assessment tools, demonstrating the value of a degree, moves towards outcomes based education, scalability and faculty investment/fatigue. He had great examples and anecdotes. I can certainly recommend him if you ever have the opportunity to hear him speak.
Other sessions I attended included, data visualization tools, oral presentation assessment (not from JMU!), sessions related to LEAP and Lumina initiatives, inserting learning outcomes assessment into academic program reviews, and using AAC&U value rubrics for various types of assessment.
This was one of those, you-never-leave-building conferences, so we were somewhat trapped in the Waterside Marriott (not complaining). but it was interesting to share conference space with the Mid-Atlantic Bridge Association.
This conference is an interesting mix of university assessment officers and administrators. So some OIR-types but just as likely to be faculty development administrators, deans, student affairs professionals, and several staffers from the State Council of Higher Education (SCHEV).
I was attending to present with Donna Sundre (CARS) - Information Literacy Assessment: A Case Study in Collaboration. This talk was about how we (the libraries) were working with CARS and instructional faculty to develop information literacy tests in major programs that also worked in tandem with our information literacy assessment in General Education. We also touched on how we were using CARS graduate assistants in our organization and on this particular project. It was another one of those moments when I just have to stand back be really proud to work here, but humble enough to know that not many universities or libraries are anywhere near where we are with this stuff.
But the best presentation I attended was the keynote speaker, Scott Jaschick, who is an editor from Inside Higher Ed. His talk was titled The Evolving Assessment Conversation, and he challenged everyone in the room to consider what he saw as the big five issues that will happening assessment-wise in higher education in the near future - creditability of assessment tools, demonstrating the value of a degree, moves towards outcomes based education, scalability and faculty investment/fatigue. He had great examples and anecdotes. I can certainly recommend him if you ever have the opportunity to hear him speak.
Other sessions I attended included, data visualization tools, oral presentation assessment (not from JMU!), sessions related to LEAP and Lumina initiatives, inserting learning outcomes assessment into academic program reviews, and using AAC&U value rubrics for various types of assessment.
This was one of those, you-never-leave-building conferences, so we were somewhat trapped in the Waterside Marriott (not complaining). but it was interesting to share conference space with the Mid-Atlantic Bridge Association.
I kept getting on elevators with people dressed in card-playing regalia (pins, t-shirts, earrings, jumpers, tote bags). But it is weird to walk past rooms of full of people and all you hear is cards shuffling.
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