Westmont

1. Collaborating for Quality of Student Learning: Academic Affairs and Student Life Teamwork on Institutional Assessment Dr. Telford Work, Lead Assessment Specialist for Christian Understanding, Practices and Affections in 2012-2013 Dr. Tatiana Nazarenko, Dean of Curriculum and Educational Effectiveness Shannon Balram, Assistant Director of Residence Life Dr. Maurice Lee, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Assessment Team Member

2. Christian Liberal Arts residential college with a student population of 1260 located in Santa Barbara, California • Protestant, evangelical, non-denominational • Employs 99 full-time faculty and 36 Student Life specialists • Has seven institutional learning outcomes and a set of General Education outcomes assessed within a 6-year cycle Westmont

3. Westmont Learning Goals /Outcomes Written Communication Oral Communication Critical Thinking Information Literacy Quantitative Literacy Christian Understanding, Practices and Affections Global Awareness and Diversity

4. Student Life Program Learning Goals Westmont Learning Goals • Christian Understanding, Practices and Affections • Global Awareness and Diversity Division Learning Goals • Physical and Emotional Health • Serving and Leading Society While Student Life will execute departmental and educational goals yearly, it will also employ a 4-year cycle wherein each of the four goals listed above will receive particular emphasis and attention over the course of one year. 

5. Westmont Mission Statement: "Westmont College is an undergraduate, residential, Christian, liberal arts community serving God's kingdom by cultivating thoughtful scholars, grateful servants and faithful leaders for global engagement with the academy, church and world." The  Christian Understanding, Practices and Affections (CUPA) outcomes read as follows: Graduates of Westmont College will demonstrate literacy in biblical and orthodox Christian faith (Christian Understanding) demonstrate faithfulness in Christianservice(Christian Practices / Affections)

6. CUPA Assessment 2012-2013 The In-house Instant Survey (10 categories, 96 questions = 40 minutes) accompanied by the ‘assessment’ video and followed by focus groups The online Christian Life Survey (51 multiple choice questions) coordinated through Taylor University’s Center for Scripture Engagement The Student Faith-Learning Assessment project

7. The Bible, and Biblical Studies (1) Do you agree or disagree with these statements? [agree, disagree, not sure] • “The forerunner” of Jesus who prepared the way for him was Isaiah • The first and second temples in Jerusalem were different sizes • Franklin D. Roosevelt was president before John F. Kennedy • India gained independence from Britain after WWII Theology and History (3) True or false?[agree, disagree, not sure] • People lack the power to keep themselves from sinning • Karl Marx was the first leader of the Soviet Union • Jesus is God the redeemer, not God the creator • Ke$ha is known for advocacy of animal rights Samples of the In-house Instant Survey questions

8. Christian Activates and Practices (4) Which of the following activities have you done recently? [past week, past month, past year, not in the past year] • Maintained personal prayer and Bible study • Attended a local Santa Barbara church • Spend one or more hours daily viewing videos on the web for non-educational purposes • Spent more than #100 on things you wanted but did not need • Given financially to support a church or explicitly Christian ministry • Given financially to support to an organization or cause that is not explicitly Christian Confidence in Christian Literacies (6) How secure do you feel about your ‘fluency’ or ‘literacy’ in . . . [intimidated/embarrassed, reticent/worried, relaxed/confident, certain/bold] • Bible knowledge • Christian practice and worship in your own church • Christian practice and worship in a different church • Major events in Christian history • Christianity in ONE other culture around the world Christian Service and Commitment (7) How does your life demonstrate faithfulness in Christian services? Samples of the In-house Instant Survey questions

9. ‘Assessment’ Video:

10. Samples of the Christian Life Survey (Taylor U) multiple-choice questions How religious or spiritual you are? What is your view of the Bible? Who has a right to have expectations for you? How often do you do the following things (pray, fast, study the Christian materials, practice confessions to others, reflect on what is means to be a Christian, serve those in need, etc.)

11. The Integration of Faith and Learning project 1898 responses (30% response rate) to the question, “How well and in what way was integration of faith and learning achieved in this course?”

12. The Integration of Faith and Learning project 1898 responses (35% response rate) to the question, “How well and in what way was integration of faith and learning achieved in this course?”

13. The Academic Senate Recommendations based on the 2012-2013 CUPA assessment Sequence Religious Studies courses (effective Fall, 2015) Spiritual Formation collaboration with Student Life It was recommended that the Provost initiate an annual planning group including the Campus Pastor, Religious Studies Chair, Martin/Willard Institute Director, Student Life representatives, and others as appropriate. The President has decided to chair this planning group to be launched in the fallof 2014. The Spiritual Formation Coordinator pilot program has selected the two students who will launch the program in a first-year residence hall in the fall in 2014. Committee Tasks for Faith-Learning Issues Faculty Personnel CommitteeThe committee has been asked to look at the effectiveness of faith-learning questions that are part of the IDEA evaluation forms Professional Development CommitteeThe committee has been asked to lead a session once per year for faculty on incorporating faith-learning into the classroom

14. Student Life Recommendations based on the 2012-2013 CUPA assessment • Increase Collaboration with Academic Affairs Student Life will increase efforts to connect and partner with Faculty, with the hope of educating students on spiritual formation in holistic measures. • Support and/or Create Intentional Spiritual Formation Initiatives Residence Life has started a pilot program in response to the CUPA Assessment, that will utilize student leaders to serve as spiritual formation liaisons in the residence halls. • Continue to Synthesize CUPA Assessment Results Continue to assess and synthesize data from 2012-2013 CUPA Assessment, in preparation for the 2016-2017 educational emphasis on CUPA. The goal is to have the assessment build on further research needing to be done

15. The CUPA Assessment project was a mission-driven inquiry. • Both the Academic Affairs and Student Life divisions were committed to collaboration, cost sharing, and mutual support. • In-depth discussions were catalysts to help us understand how we can assess and nurture spiritual formation. • The college engagement in, and support for, the project were notable.   • Using various assessment methods was helpful. • The CUPA results were presented to students, faculty and staff, and were widely discussed among the college constituencies, whose input was collected and analyzed. • The Academic Senate considered the feedback from different stake-holders and developed a set of recommendations. • The Lead Assessment Specialist and his team enjoyed a great deal of freedom in designing and implementing the project. • The CUPA results informed the restructuring of the Religious Studies curriculum as well as co-curricular activities. What was successful?

16. It was not easy to recruit students to participate in an instant assessment session.  The combined  and determined efforts of both divisions were required to make this happen. • We have learned that different people understand and interpret the term “spiritual formation” differently.  Therefore, there is a need to develop a common understanding and definition of the components of “spiritual formation.” • We found out that our expectations for student performance and their actual performance do not always match, which was challenging to accept.  • In developing suggestions for improvement, it was challenging to determine how to coordinate curricular and co-curricular activities. • In developing suggestions for improvement, it was difficult to determine how to be effective in promoting biblical and theological literacy given the variety of students’ knowledge and understanding prior to arrival. What were our challenges?

17. We need to start with the development of the common terminology and language. • We will always need engaged and committed people to keep morale, enthusiasm, and productivity high. • We will increase our attention on preparatory planning before embarking on the project. • We need to be more concrete as to what it is we are actually interested in measuring and break the categories down into different skills and components. • We need to cultivate the culture of evidence and frame assessment as instructive about the curricular and co-curricular learning.  It is also important to see assessment as an internal process and rely more on the evidence for decision-making at all levels. • In the future, students need to be involved in all aspects of assessment including the in-house survey questions development and data analysis. What would we have done differently and how are we going to conduct collaborative institutional assessment projects in the future?

18. Thank you!