Assessment Plan Composer Instructions

The Assessment Plan Composer is designed to guide those individuals developing an academic assessment plan for their unit so that it is submitted in the desired format. A user's access rights to this system are assigned by the system administrator at the Office of Institutional Assessment and Compliance. Some users will have update rights while others will be read-only.

The main screen of the Assessment Plan Composer is a listing of Colleges / Departments / Programs for which the logged in user has been granted access to create an assessment plan, to update an assessment report, or to view and read an assessment document. To create an assessment plan, click on the (green plus sign) beside the program to which you have been assigned. If there was a plan in the previous year for that departmental program, that plan will be used to create the current year's plan; otherwise, a completely new plan will be created.

Upon selecting a plan from the main screen, the user will be directed to the Plan Manager screen. It is here that the user develops the various parts of the academic assessment document.


Plan Manager

The Plan Manager will act as a main menu in the development of the assessment plan. From this screen, the user can follow the logical step-by-step process in entering and editing the required sections that make up the plan. A checklist is provided beside each section.  Checking sections off as they are completed may be helpful to the user when working on the plan over a period of time. When a plan is finished, it may be submitted to the Office of Institutional Assessment and Compliance for review, where it will be either accepted or sent back with comments requesting additional information. If a plan is in need of additional information or changes after being reviewed, the user will be notified via email. On the main screen of Assessment Plan Composer, the plan will have a (red X) beside it. Clicking the (red X) will return the user to the Plan Manager screen, where there will be links for 'Comments On File'. Clicking these links will direct the user to the comment or to the appropriate section where the comments will be accessible by clicking the  (red exclamation point).


Mission Statement

When creating a plan, the mission statement will be generated from the previous year (if there is one on file), whereupon it may be edited with any necessary changes. If no previous plan exists, the data entry field will be blank and a mission statement must be entered. Please note that an 8000 character maximum is set on the mission statement field.


Update Annual Report (This section will only exist if the plan from the previous year is on file.)

The user will be required to comment on the 'Results' and 'Use of Results' for their assessment of the learning outcomes for each of their previous goals. This can be done from the Update Annual Report page by first clicking on 'Assessment Results and Use of Results' beneath each learning outcome, and then clicking the (pencil icon) to enter data into the 'Results' and 'Use of Results' fields. The narrative should address any changes that were implemented because of information collected through the assessment methods.


Copy Annual To Future

The user may use this feature to copy any goals, learning outcomes, and assessments from the previous year's plan to the future plan being created. Once copied, they may be edited and/or deleted. To page or scroll through the goals, use the buttons at the top of the page. To copy forward the goal and its learning outcomes and assessments, use the 'Copy To Future' button. By default, all learning outcomes and assessments will be copied with the goal; however, the user may override this by unchecking any learning outcome or assessment. Please note that if a learning outcome is unchecked, its assessment will not be copied, either.


Goals

From the Goals List page, the user can add new goals using the button on the bottom of the page, edit an existing goal by clicking the   (pencil icon), or delete a goal by clicking the  (trashcan icon).


Learning Outcomes and Assessments

The Learning Outcomes and Assessments link will direct the user to the Learning Outcomes List screen where, for each goal added, the user will be able to add new learning outcomes or edit and delete existing learning outcomes. The Add Learning Outcome command button will appear on the header line of each goal for which the learning outcome should be added. Learning Outcomes are managed using the (pencil icon) for editing, the   (trashcan icon) for deleting, or the (red exclamation point) for reading comments from the Office of Institutional Assessment and Compliance. Underneath each learning outcome will be a link to direct the user to a screen for adding or editing the assessment of the learning outcome. An assessment for a learning outcome includes the Measures and Criteria, and the Methods.

Directions for Inserting Line Breaks, Bold Text, Italics, or Hyperlinks  

For all fields in this system, you will need to insert HTML code to make bold text, italics, line breaks, and web hyperlinks appear. In these fields, just hitting your "Enter" key does not put in a line break. Instead, you must insert the appropriate HTML code, which is provided below.

Copy the line of code you need and insert it into the appropriate field. Line break tags need to be only at the end of your text, before the line break. To create a space between paragraphs, select Double Line Break from the drop menu.

Where it says "text here", type in the text which needs formatting. Make sure that the Italic, Underline, and Bold tags are in front of and behind your text.

 

Line break                   <br>

Double line break        <br><br>

Italics                          <i>type text here</i>

Underline                    <u>type text here</u>

Bold                            <b>type text here</b>

Bulleted list                 <UL><LI>1st bullet line</LI><LI>2nd bullet line</LI></UL>

Hyperlink                    <a href="http://www.MyLink.com">www.Mylink.com</a>

View Full Strategic Plan

This will display the formatted assessment plan as it has been entered.