A&R's signature professional development program to build assessment capacity for university staff.
Apply for the Assessment Institute
Applications for the 2024-25 Assessment Institute are now closed. Typically, applications open in July with an August deadline. Sign up for our professional development newsletter to stay up-to-date with A&R's professional development offerings.
Overview
The Assessment Institute is cohort-based, experiential learning program that has been offered annually by A&R since 2017. The year-long institute provides University of Arizona staff, administrators, and faculty with an opportunity to develop knowledge and hone their skills conducting co-curricular assessments within their unit and department. Currently, there are no costs associated with participation for UA staff and faculty.
Eligibility requirements
- Full time staff or faculty member at UA
- Emerging to intermediate assessment skills
- Proposing a project broadly focused on student success (for reference of 2023-24 Capstone Projects, see Professional Development Impact Report page 4)
Learning Goals
- Develop knowledge, skills, and tools needed to plan and implement robust assessments
- Understand and apply program outcome-based assessment in programs and services
- Effectively synthesize, communicate, and use assessment results
- Acquire skills to lead assessment within a unit or department at the University of Arizona
Cohort Experience
Interested applicants apply over the summer with support from their supervisor and an assessment project or area of inquiry in mind. The admitted cohort completes 8 weekly modules in the Fall led by campus data and assessment experts. In the Spring, each member completes a Capstone Project with support from a designated assessment coach.
Relaunched fully in person in 2022, A&R partnered with Student Success & Retention Innovation (SSRI) on a focused redesign to
- Emphasize real-world applications by highlighting guest speakers’ relevant assessment projects
- Build community through weekly check-ins, sharing progress, and constructive feedback of capstone plans
- Provide scaffolding to leverage learning module content into capstone planning
Assessment Institute Modules
- Assessment Purpose and Foundations
- Logic Models and Outcome-Based Assessment
- Equity in Assessment
- Data Collection Techniques
- Leveraging Institutional Data
- Primer on Data Analysis
- Synthesizing and Using Results
- Capstone Project Preview and Workshop
Assessment Capstone Project
Participants also plan and implement an assessment capstone project through the academic year based on an assessment need in the unit or department. The plan is developed in the Fall through the modules and executed in the Spring with support from an assessment coach.
Each May, Assessment Institute participants are invited to share their project progress and impact through a capstone showcase presentation.
Alumni Feedback
We surveyed the 2022-2023 cohort one year after the end of their Assessment Institute experience.
