Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/139946
try. "Do not wait to have a perfectly developed plan before execution," says Victoria Guzzo, director of communications for LiveText of LaGrange, Illinois. Once goals are set and the system is in place, continue to adjust and refine protocols and features as needed. Home-Grown or OOTB? Although an out-of-the-box software system can be the right option for many schools, it isn't the only solution, particularly in the areas of assessment and assurance of learning. Sometimes a simpler, home-grown method can be just as effective to meet a school's needs, whether it's an adaptation of the school's existing learning management system, the use of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, or an in-house system designed by the school's computer science and instructional design staff, says Kathryn Martell, dean of the College of Business at Central Washington University (CWU) in Ellensburg. "In a survey I conducted a couple of years ago, I asked educators what they used for assessment. Excel was the program they used the most by far," says Martell. "I think that's because faculty already have it on their machines, and they're familiar with it. Making the switch to another software platform involves a large learning curve." For instance, a member of Martell's faculty created a rubric in Blackboard for his course. After students had completed the assessment, the results were downloaded into Excel. "The professor sent me the Excel spreadsheet with the data broken down by question," says Martell. "I could see easily what areas proved most difficult for students." However, the more complicated a school's data management needs are, the more a higher-order software A WAY TO USE… A WAY TO USE… A WAY TO USE… A WAY TO USE… Mentor SEDONA Systems Taskstream One school wanted to know how its faculty were responding to assessment results, so it created an "Assessment Improvement Report" through the Mentor platform. The report asks faculty two questions: "What assessment results prompted you to modify this course/assignment?" and "What changes have you made to this course/ assignment in response?" Their responses are aggregated, by term and course number, in a report distributed to the assessment committee and dean. Schools now can use SEDONA's newest feature to create reports to support Standards 2 and 15 of the new AACSB standards regarding mission and impact of intellectual contributions. Under the module's nine tabs, schools can enter information related to AACSB tables 2-1, 15-1, and 15-2, and AACSB's Business School Questionnaire; track breadth of engagement, indicators of impact, and conveyance of outcomes to stakeholders; and monitor achievement of objectives and mission. A menu links users to reports supporting the school's intellectual contributions portfolio. STEPS for Assessment After one school has its own evaluators assess samples of student work collected in the STEPS system, it asks business professionals to evaluate the same work. Practitioners and faculty then meet to discuss the results. Another school asks employers to use the system to evaluate the performance of interns, who in turn use the system to evaluate their internship experiences. An increasing number of schools are asking their faculty to create e-portfolios to showcase their scholarship, teaching, and service accomplishments—complete with multimedia—rather than only entering those activities into a database. The schools find that e-portfolios better highlight faculty's work, support benchmarking activities, and ease the burden of the promotion and tenure process. BizEd July/August 2013 37