2007-2008 Annual Activity Report

The mission of Southwestern Oklahoma State University is to provide educational opportunities in higher education that meet the needs of the state and region; contribute to the educational, economic, and cultural environment; and support scholarly activity. Students are provided with opportunities to obtain skills, knowledge, and cultural appreciation that lead to productive lives and effective citizenship.

The Weatherford Campus Assessment Center contributes to this mission by:

• Participating in the coordination of Faculty Development events that provide faculty growth opportunities (the Director of Assessment has acted as the Faculty Development Committee Ex-Officio for more than ten years).
• Compiling and reporting assessment data that provides the basis for continuous evaluation and program improvement.
• Meeting the commitment to student development by providing student testing that places students in appropriate course work including advanced placement.

The Weatherford Campus Assessment Center includes a staff of three full time employees (Director, Testing Supervisor, and Administrative Assistant) and one part-time student worker.  Both areas of assessment and student testing are assisted by the Administrative Assistant and student worker.

The Assessment Center serves as a clearinghouse for students wishing to take advanced standing examinations, take course placement examinations, and take and/or register for testing of national exams. The advanced standing plan at SWOSU was established to give students an opportunity to begin college work on the level commensurate with their demonstrated achievement. With certain limitations, all such achievement once certified to be at the college level by this institution, receives appropriate academic credit. 

The Assessment Center as a whole is full of activity in January, February, March, April, August, and October.  1. Assessment’s most demanding months specifically are January, February, April, August, and October.  In these months we process regular evaluations and surveys as well as administer the CAAP and update the Advisement Handbook and first-time freshman tracking study.  2. Student Testing’s busiest months were February because of the administration of seven ACT Residuals, and January, April, July and August because of the abundance of CPT and CLEP test administrations.  We estimate over 2500 phone calls, 300 walk-ins, and 4000 emails during the year.

SERVICES

Assessment

1. Staff communication and weekly meetings
2. Hosted New Student/Freshman Orientation Booth
3. Assessment Committee participation
4. Faculty Development Committee participation
5. Attended Meeting/Conference/Training/Reception
6. Designed and Printed scannable forms
7. Processed pencil/paper & online surveys & evaluations (RR=Response Rate)
   1. CAAP – 49/327 participants (15% RR)
   2. NSSE – 624/2597 respondents (24% RR)
   3. Survey of Student Opinion – 144/916 respondents (16% RR)
   4. Freshman Orientation Evaluation – 576 respondents
   5. Course/Instructor Evaluations – 23,825 respondents (-4%)
   6. Nursing Course Evaluation – 167/237 respondents (70% RR)
   7. Online Pharmacy evaluation – 396/680 respondents (58% RR / +14%)
   8. Distance Learning Surveys – 787 respondents (-8%)
   9. Intro. To Public Speaking Exam – 730 respondents
   10. Faculty Evaluation of the Dean – 86/209 respondents (42% RR)
   11. Faculty Evaluation of the Associate Dean – 39/106 respondents (37% RR)
   12. Faculty Evaluation of the Chair – 55/157 respondents (35% RR)
   13. Annual Evaluation of Administrative & Support Services – 216/463 Weatherford (47% RR) and 17/27 Sayre (63% RR)
   14. Athletic Training Departmental Evaluations – 458 respondents
   15. Education Departmental Evaluations – 161 respondents
   16. Continuing Education Evaluation – 28 respondents
   17. Residence Life Evaluation – 175 respondents
   18. Faculty Development Workshop Evaluations – 32 Respondents
8. Collected data and processed/reported of Annual Student Assessment Report
9. Processed Remediation Survey for Regents
10. Updated Advisement Handbook
11. Processed update of Assessment Committee’s First-time Freshmen Tracking Study
12. Developed Course/Instructor Evaluation Faculty Summaries – 113 (+3%)
13. Alumni Survey (every 5 years) – 490 respondents
14. Student worker application process – 6 Interviews

Student Testing—An exorbitant amount of time and effort has gone toward establishing the Assessment Center as a GED testing site.  (Percentages shown below are a comparison with last year.)

1. ACT Residual exams – at least 21 test administrations / 314 students (+9%)
2. ACT National exams – 6 test administrations / 534 students (-9%)
3. CLEP exams – 190 (+31%)
4. CLEP essay I – 54 (-2%)
5. CLEP essay II – 29 (+7%)
6. Computer Placement Tests for English, math, reading – 1271 tests / 760 students (+18%)
7. Computers & Information Access exams – 13 (+0%)
8. English Proficiency Essays – 13 (-24%)
9. Keyboarding exams – 75 (-3%)
10. Nursing Entrance Exam/TEAS - 68
11. WorkKeys exams – 98 examinees (+13%)
12. TOEFL exams – 7 administrations / 18 students (+11%)
13. PCAT National exams – 4 test administrations / 229 students (+17%)
14. Praxis National exams – 4 test administrations / 8 students (-64%)
15. GRE National exams – 1 test administration / 2 students
16. GED – 1 test administration / 1 student
17. Proctored exams – 20 (+15%)
18. Coordinated/administered MFAT exams
    1. Business – 116 students (-8%)
    2. MBA – 19 students (-21%)
    3. Biology – 21 students (+19%)
19. Scheduled Preventing Sexual Harassment for various SWOSU employees (particularly for Physical Plant staff) – less than 10
20. Submitted departmental remediation reports
21. Distribution of testing information through New Student Orientation, website, office flyers, Advisement Handbook, etc.
22. Attended Conference of the Oklahoma Association of College Testing Personnel (OACTP)
23. Attended and participated in panel for the SWOSU Counselor’s Day

The Assessment Center staff is pleased with several areas of efficiency and satisfaction:

1. Competed for the Bulldog Homecoming Pride Award.
2. Established administration of TEAS & GED.
3. Continued department training via KeyTrain’s Career Skills.
4. Southwestern full time employees have consistently rated the Assessment Center in the category of Very Good through the Annual Evaluation of Administrative and Support Services.
5. Sustained the use of shared files and electronic sharing of information as well as eliminated unneeded copies of reports (in the mode of being paper conscious).
6. Continue to utilize cross-training and cross-tasking in support of each other, especially during times of illness, annual leave, etc.
7. Try to perform a quick and efficient turn around of some daily and unexpected tasks.
8. Maintain a high atmosphere and feeling of camaraderie among department staff by showing appreciation and respect and by meeting weekly.
9. Make consistent efforts to generate goodwill to all Assessment Center guests, in person or on the phone, especially focusing on an atmosphere that encourages examinees to do their best (guests may be examinees, parents, faculty, staff, administrators, and each other).
10. Assist students by making phone calls to find answers to questions rather than sending them driving around unnecessarily to other offices.
11. When a student is scheduling more than one lengthy test, we try to plan them for different days so that they will not be overly tired on the second test.  However, if they are driving from a significant distance, we offer more than one test on the same day with a break in between.
12. We are pleased to do our best to cooperate with the needs of other departments.

• Extending KeyTrain and WorkKeys services to Center for Economic and Business Development through agreement with Cameron University.
• Developing the Assessment Center for GED test administration at the request of Southwestern Adventure Programs.