Michael T Stephenson Ginger Carney George Cunningham Jon

Michael T. Stephenson Ginger Carney George Cunningham Jon Kotinek Leroy Dorsey Alicia M. Dorsey

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Aggies Commit • SACSCOC QEP • Builds on Institutional History • Culture of Commitment – Intentionality

Aggies Commit …to create a culture that makes intentional and thoughtful engagement in transformative learning experiences the norm for all A&M students.

Aggies Commit • Focus on integrative and lifelong learning achieved through intentional engagement in high-impact learning experiences • A flexible, college/branch campus-based implementation process

Aggies Commit • Student learning goal: develop habits and skills for integrative and/or lifelong learning – Integrative learning: connections to experience and discipline; transfer; integrated communication; selfassessment – Lifelong learning: curiosity, initiative, independence, transfer, reflection

Aggies Commit • Institutional goal: provide supportive environment for achievement of student learning goal – $8 M Reallocation – Coordination – Assessment

Aggies Commit • Implementation plan • Identify SLO(s), articulate the connection to integrative learning and/or lifelong learning • Strengthen/develop high impact learning experience(s) • Provide effective advising and mentoring • Identify meaningful partnership with co-curricular units • Elicit individual student commitment and reflection • Assess achievement

QEP Theme Undergrad SLO High Impact Practice Assessment Integrative & Lifelong Learning Develop Global Competence Study Abroad GPI, Reflections

Aggies Commit • How do you “pass the test”? • How do you create culture change? • How do you decentralize an institutional initiative? • How do you take HIPs to scale?

Curricular and Co-Curricular • Ginger Carney, Science • George Cunningham, Education & Human Development • Leroy Dorsey, Liberal Arts • Jon Kotinek, Honors & Undergraduate Research • Alicia Dorsey, Institution Effectiveness & Evaluation

Undergraduate Research in the College of Science ----------------------------------Ginger E. Carney, Ph. D. Associate Dean for Assessment and College Climate Department of Biology Texas A&M University

Aggies Commit to Learning for a Lifetime • Each college tasked with strengthening existing and/or developing new sustainable high impact learning experiences • College of Science = Undergraduate Research • Goal: increase participation by 10% by 2015 • Challenges: departmental culture, capacity, student awareness of opportunities

Strategies • Associate Dean for Undergraduate Research (culture, awareness) • Meetings with college stakeholders (students and faculty) to determine needs and goals (culture, capacity) • Partnership with Health Science Center faculty (capacity) • Increased advertising: opportunities, Aggies Commit t-shirts, new college website (awareness)

Course-based Research Experiences (capacity) Guided, intensive and independent investigation in a specific area Biology: Organelle Discovery Lab; Fungal Functional Genomics (NIH funded); Capstone Program (blended experience); Tropical Ecology Costa Rica (international field experience) Mathematics: Mathematical Modeling; Math Research Seminar Physics: DEEP (embedded in intro Physics) Undergraduates work in teams with graduate student facilitator to design projects for Physics Open House

Independent Research Experiences (capacity) One-on-one or small group research with a faculty member or in a faculty laboratory. • 291/491 independent research courses (0 credit option) • Paid opportunities (0 credit for tracking) o. Faculty NSF-REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) supplements (~1 student per grant) o. Work-study o. NSF-LSAMP (Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation) o. NSF funded summer programs: Mathematics, Chemistry, Cyclotron Institute, Physics and Astronomy

Aggies Commit to Learning for a Lifetime What progress have we made? • College Goal: increase participation by 10% by 2015 • Actual increase of 14% through 2015

What progress have we made? • Implementation of 291/491 assessment measures • NSF URSSA (indirect) • Experimental design prompts (direct; in progress) • Required laboratory safety training • Faculty/Graduate Student Undergraduate Research Mentoring Awards • College of Science Undergraduate Research Advisory Committee • Increased emphasis on Math 491 (increased participation by 5 X)

George Cunningham

Jon Kotinek

Leroy Dorsey

Assessment Strategies for Aggies Commit 8 Student Learning Outcomes 13 Colleges PLUS co-curricular experiences 15 HIPs

Centralizing Assessment for a Decentralized Initiative Fundamental Assumptions: • College/Division autonomy to select HIPs and SLOs based on mission and priorities • Centralizing assessment strategies to ease burden for colleges/divisions AND ease attempts to reach university-wide conclusions • Focus on what’s doable and meaningful

Basic Assessment Strategies • • Student Artifacts Survey Data Targeted Assignment Grades Hybrid Approach

Challenges and Opportunities • Scaling up for both HIPs and assessment • Securing quality artifacts and data that reflect student learning and engagement • Linking sources of data for a more complete picture

Thoughts? Comments? Questions?