Closing the Loop: Personalized Assessment Data for Students

Jones International University (JIU) offers online programs from the associate's to the doctorate. Its student body is made up primarily of working professionals with an average age of 36. Recognizing that learning in adulthood is social and embedded in the learner's life context (Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 1998), JIU designed program and course design models that give learners meaningful experiences and feedback via project-based courses and an assessment matrix with multiple sources of input. Students have access not only to professors' assessments of their performance, but also to comparisons of their performance against peers on course and program outcomes as well as university workplace competencies. Regular assessments yield multiple points of formative and summative feedback to guide the adult learner's progress, and the ability to monitor that progress adds value to the learning experience. This presentation will demonstrate the student and administrator views of JIU assessment data and engage participants in a conversation about the value, and challenges, of creating such a system.

Agenda: This 15 minute presentation will focus on 5 slides 1 JIU Context 2 Student summative view 3 Student view of comparative data 4 Administrator view of program data 5 Value and challenges of creating this model Outcomes: 1 Participants will be familiar with the JIU model for communicating assessment data to students. 2 Participants will be familiar with the JIU model for integrating assessment data into Program Review. 3 Participants will be given the opportunity to process with other participants both the value-added benefits of providing such data to students as well as the challenges that such a system presents to an institution.