By Debi Goldschlag

The QUEST program is constantly striving to improve. In light of this, the Curriculum Review Committee (CRC) developed eight learning outcomes to measure how effective our classes are in producing the intended outcomes.  Each semester, members of the CRC evaluate how well the core QUEST courses are achieving these outcomes. The results help the CRC to identify strengths as well as opportunities for improving the program’s curriculum and activities.

The current method for performing these evaluations is based on GoogleDocs, which has a number of shortcomings. The current process is cumbersome as an evaluator must find the GoogleDoc for each assessment, complete the same fields multiple times, and sort through which elements to evaluate. The process also does not allow evaluators to see which assignments they need to assess nor does it allow evaluators to go back to a specific assignment and review their assessments. In addition, the current system has limits analysis capabilities and requires frequent reminders to evaluators making it difficult to get assessment data in a timely fashion.

The CRC sought a more streamlined and easy-to-use process for capturing these assessments.  Members Dr. Jim Purtilo and Dr. Pam Armstrong have worked together to develop a new learning outcomes assessment system which will be rolled out this semester.  This new online system overcomes the issues of the current process, and allows evaluators to easily see what assignments they need to assess.  With this system, the evaluators can be focused on assessing assignments rather than managing various forms and data entry.  The new system will also make managing the process easier for system administrators.