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Education and assessment have always been an integral part of my professional life. I earned a BA from a teacher's college to become a secondary school teacher, followed by a master's in educational administration and a PhD in higher education …
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“You’re a wizard, Harry,” explains Hagrid, saving him from the infamous cupboard under the stairs and escorting him to Hogwarts. After years of living with his Muggle aunt and uncle, wondering …
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I’ve always been hesitant to take on a leadership role for an organization because I fear not being able to give my very best to all of my competing personal and professional responsibilities. However, when I was notified that I had been nominated …
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As I sat in our new SAAL board onboarding meeting, I could not help but think, “what in the world am I doing here?” Here I was, someone who has only been working professionally (at all) for one year, and my ex…
This blog provides a summary of the data analysis and results from the 2022 open course that ran February – April 2022. Reporting this year resulted in 166 total pages (!) opening with a 5-page executive summary and followed by reports for the Welcome Survey/User Profile, Quiz Results, A…
As an assessment professional for the past five years, I have had the opportunity to experience several assessment cycles. We use the following assessment cycle visual to describe our efforts and the progress we hope to make on our campus.
When I first described the assessment cycle, it was t…
As we find ourselves in the month of May, it’s officially been one month since the 2022 SAAL open course ended. At the conclusion of the course, instructors typically gather to reflect on how the course went this year, spend the early summer reviewing course data, and then strategizing for course ch…
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Due to social distancing practices and travel restrictions, I found myself at home with a wealth of free time over the past year. Some of this time was occupied by exploring vario…
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Having spent six years working in the field of student affairs, I still find myself feeling like a “new” professional at times. There is so much to learn, and at times, I feel like I am not sure what…
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For many in higher education, summer is often a time of reflection, a time to look back on the previous academic year and identify successes and areas for growth. The assessment of the previous year …
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In the Fall of 2019, during the Covid-19 pandemic, I began teaching an online course for first-year, first-generation students. Along with most universities across the country…
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To me, student affairs assessment has always been about asking questions. “What is the purpose of our work? How do we know we’re making a difference for our students? How are we im…
Image Credit: Elon University's Visual Experiential Transcript
As Student Affairs professionals, we know the importance of demonstrating and assessing student learning. Many institutions use tools such as co-curricular transcripts to help students document their experiences. The curr…
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Higher education is very good at reinventing the wheel. Why do something that another campus has done and demonstrated success with when you can…
I love musicals! As part of my bike riding regiment mentioned in Integrating STEEP Analysis into Planning, the Hamilton soundtrack became my go to playlist (by the way, I…
As 2020 is coming to a close, it is time for us to reflect on the past year. It has been a year of political unrest, fighting for racial justice, a national election, natural disasters, and a pandemic. And through it all, we have been working to do what we can to improve higher education and to supp…
Two recent blog posts (click here and here) have mentioned the various forms of professional development for assessment professionals. With many forms available, professional development is most valuable when aligned with a superficial goal or reason for learning more about assessment. Two assessme…
Winter is right around the corner and if you are like me, I am getting a little anxious just thinking about all of the tasks I need to do before winter break.
Since the pandemic began, I have been juggling being an at-home employee and being my teen’s right-hand teacher and tutor as we navigate r…
