Let’s Face It, Assessment Can Be Bothersome

Assessment is a bit like a visit to a physician or dentist for a regular checkup. It takes time away from productive things we’d much rather be doing; and it is likely to turn up something that is not particularly good news. Those, of course, are not valid reasons to avoid it.

The North Central Association, NCATE, the Pew Charitable Trust, and Eastern's newly enrolled record Freshman class have all trusted in Eastern’s health. Such trust was not solely due to assessment, of course; but assessment surely helped. The fact that we have regular checkups is bound to inspire some confidence in our programs.

So, here it is. It’s time for our annual checkups - the outcomes assessment reports, due November 6. Of course it’s a bother, but it’s good for our health. The Web locations of the departmental report forms have been emailed to department chairs/administrators. If you have questions concerning your reports, please call the Assessment Resource Office at 4313 or e-mail assess@enmu.edu.

Outcomes Assessment Campus Survey Results

In May of 1998, a survey of student opinion of the effectiveness of non-instructional services was conducted. The survey forms were delivered to 701 students in nineteen different classes, which were selected primarily because of the large numbers of students in the classes. An attempt was made to spread the classes evenly among the four colleges. By far, the majority of surveys were distributed in 100 level courses, but there was some distribution in each of the other three levels.

There were 409 (58.43%) surveys returned to the Assessment Resource Office. This survey asks questions that were not included in data gathered for non-instructional outcomes assessment plans. A sampling of responses is presented in this DATAWave issue. The complete survey report is available from the Assessment Resource Office.

Students completing the survey were given the opportunity to include comments that might help improve the services provided to the ENMU community.

Seventy-nine students provided such comments. Some comments related to only one service area. Other comments related to two or more service areas. Although it is difficult to qualify or quantify the comments in any sort of scientific way, we believe the comments provide a window to student perceptions of campus services. There seemed to be categories into which the comments fell. Those categories were as follows:

Bookstore pricing concerns	Class scheduling concerns
Complaints of poor service	Complaints about advising
Complimentary statements	Financial aid concerns
Food complaints	Lack of activities on campus
Library furnishings/appearance	Physical appearance of campus
References to specific incidents of poor service	Residence hall concerns
Sidewalk and road conditions

The complimentary comments tended to be general, indicating that the person was pleased with the overall ENMU educational and student life experience. The complaints and concerns tended to be specific as to one or two service areas.

A complete copy of this survey report has previously been shared with departmental adminstrators of non-instructional units.

Anyone wishing to obtain a copy of all of the comments may do so by contacting the Assessment Resource Office at extension 4313 or email at assess@enmu.edu.