A New Semester has Began!

I know, I know, assessment was the last thing on your mind over the last few weeks! Especially for faculty members! Well, I am here to tell you a simple fact: we continued to assess even though we weren't at work! You likely believe me to be obviously out of my head at this point. You shout, "I didn't even think about work over the holidays!" And I believe you... to a point. But, we did continue to carry out assessments whilst on break. Let's examine a short but interesting list of some assessments you performed over the break, shall we?

1. Holiday travel: we assessed, based upon the weather report and our own personal sensory experiences, whether it was safe and reasonable to travel over the so-called hills and through the "woods" to visit gramma or mom or Aunt Susan or whomever.
2. Holiday meal: we assessed, based upon our personal sensory and bodily feelings and possibly goals for the new year whether to have seconds or thirds of the feast of the day.
3. Holiday libations: we assessed, with some of us weighing possible consequences as to how much we could legally consume at the holiday party and drive home. We may also have assessed, based upon new years goals, the caloric intake of beer or whether or not we should consume anything at all. 
4. Holiday shopping: we assessed, based on our knowledge, whether or not we could afford to buy that extra gift for mom or for the spouse. We weighed the pros and cons and either pulled the trigger on the gift or put the wallet back in your pocket or purse!

You get the point, as I obviously could go on and on with this. We assess, whether we actively think about it or not. That said, let's make a concerted effort to not only assess our students this semester, but to record what, why, and how we do it and incorporate those results! If we do this, we will truly be living the "culture of assessment" that we epitomise here at SCC.

One last thing... The HLC Reaccreditation team will be here in a scant 2 weeks and 4 days! Read the report that so many of you worked so hard on because the team will be asking questions! Go out to: http://southcentral.edu/accreditation2010/selfstudy.cfm and read what was written!