UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Registration is now open for the 2024-25 Assessment Workshop Series presented by the Office of Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Research (OPAIR). This comprehensive series features various assessment topics to support program learning assessment leaders, faculty and administrators across the University.
It will cover the full cycle of Penn State’s program assessment process including assessment best practices, General Education assessment, and using Nuventive for documentation.
Workshops are free and open to the entire Penn State community. Join for any single workshop or attend them all. Participants should feel free to enjoy their lunch during the Zoom presentation.
Faculty participating in the Provost Endorsement Program, “Making the Most of Program Assessment,” can attend sessions for credit toward the endorsement. Visit the Provost Endorsement Program website for more information.
For more information and to register for a workshop, go to our workshops webpage or email assessment@psu.edu with any questions.
Workshops for assessment assistance and best practices
From Design to Delivery: Optimizing Forced-Choice Exams for General Education Assessment
- Thursday, Sept. 12, noon – 1 p.m.
STAT 200 faculty, Maggie Slattery, Betty Harper and Chris Barnes
Are you a General Education instructor using forced-choice exams? Join us for a workshop designed to enhance your skills in using these measures to conduct effective General Education Assessment at Penn State. You’ll gain valuable insights into aligning online required-choice exams with general education criteria by exploring successful practices from STAT 200 faculty. Additionally, you’ll participate in a hands-on activity to apply these concepts by pairing one of your own course exams with a general education rubric, helping you refine your exam alignment and improve assessment effectiveness.
Charting Your Course: Fundamentals of Program Assessment Planning
- Thursday, Sept. 26, noon – 1 p.m.
This workshop will introduce the core components of program-level learning assessment.
Crafting High-Quality PLOs
- Tuesday, Oct. 15, noon – 1 p.m.
This workshop will prepare participants to craft high-quality learning objectives.
Incorporating Penn State’s General Education into your Course Assessment — co-sponsored by the Office for General Education
- Tuesday, Nov. 12, 11 a.m. – noon
This workshop will provide an overview of the General Education Learning Outcome rubrics and the ways in which they can be used in a variety of General Education courses with a variety of assignments.
Centering Equity in Program Assessment
- Tuesday, Jan. 21, noon – 1 p.m.
This workshop will provide faculty with resources that standardize equity as a vital component of program assessment.
Creating and Using Rubrics
- Thursday, Feb. 13, noon – 1 p.m.
This workshop will give an overview of rubrics and how they can be used to score assignments.
Assessing Small Programs
- Tuesday, March 4, noon – 1 p.m.
This workshop focuses on addressing the unique assessment challenges that low-enrollment programs face.
Closing the Loop in Program Assessment
- Thursday, April 10, noon – 1 p.m.
This workshop explores what it means to “close the loop” in program learning assessment and the necessary steps for doing so.
Creating and Using Curriculum Maps
- Tuesday, May 13, noon – 1 p.m.
This workshop will provide an overview of curriculum maps and how they can be used to ensure alignment between a program’s learning objectives and its curriculum.
Workshops for Nuventive assistance
Nuventive Training for New Assessment Leaders
- Tuesday, Sept. 10, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
- Tuesday, April 8, noon – 1:30 p.m.
This workshop provides assessment leaders with instructions for completing their annual assessment reporting in the online assessment management system, Nuventive. This workshop will cover the most common tasks that assessment leaders complete in Nuventive. Examples include editing and archiving program learning objectives (PLOs), entering assessment plans, impacts, and findings, including documents and other evidence, submitting plans, and producing assessment reports.
30-Minute Nuventive Refresher
- Wednesday, March 26, 1 – 1:30 p.m.
- Thursday, April 24, noon– 12:30 p.m.
You’re getting ready to submit your assessment report, but it has been a while since you last used Nuventive and you can’t quite remember how to navigate the system. Join us for a quick 30-minute refresher where we will go over the Nuventive basics that you need to know to submit your assessment report.
Nuventive Training for Disciplinary Community Members
- Wednesday, April 2, 1 – 1:30 p.m.
Disciplinary Communities are created in Nuventive when a degree program is offered at more than one Penn State campus to encourage and facilitate collaboration across locations. In this workshop, disciplinary community members (assessment leaders in a program that is part of a disciplinary community) will learn how to find their colleagues at other campuses who are leading assessment efforts in their programs and view the assessments at other locations.
Nuventive Training for Academic Administrators
- Thursday, May 15, 11 a.m. – noon
This workshop provides academic administrators (e.g., assistant/associate deans, directors of academic affairs) with instructions for accessing assessment information for all relevant college or campus programs. The workshop will cover the most common tasks that academic administrators complete in the assessment management system, Nuventive. Examples include navigating Nuventive, viewing and generating status reports, saving reports, and reviewing program feedback from OPAIR.
For more information and to register for a workshop, go to our workshops webpage or email assessment@psu.edu with any questions.