CWAAC thanks all members of the Ramapo College community who participate in assessment including faculty, staff, administrators and students. Ramapo College has both maintained its assessment schedule this academic year and improved our assessment processes. Here are some assessment and programming highlights.

• Success Spotlight: The Center for Reading and Writing 
• The Inaugural General Education Workshop Series
• CWAAC Workshop: Using Canvas to Assess Multiple Courses & Sections At the Same Time
• A College Wide Look at Writing
• Welcome New CWAAC Member
• Friendly Reminders
• College Wide Academic Assessment Committee

Success Spotlight: The Center for Reading and Writing 

From left to right: Ramon Reyes, Priscilla Tovey and Susan Auger

Congratulations to the Center for Reading and Writing (CRW)! The CRW led by Priscilla Tovey reconceived its assessment strategy and developed direct measures for all 14 of its in-person and on-line workshops. After piloting the new strategy in fall 2022, CRW made adjustments and expanded direct assessment measures to the rest of the program in spring 2023. CRW developed two to four student learning outcomes for each workshop and analyzed the results confirming the success of the program with typically 85%+ of students demonstrating they have learned key elements of the sessions. The CRW has plans to expand assessment to individual tutoring sessions and efficient use of student feedback. Kudos to the entire team: Priscilla Tovey, Susan Auger and Ramon Reyes.

The Inaugural General Education Workshop Series

In Spring 2023, the General Education Curriculum Committee launched its General Education Workshop Series based on three years of assessment data for some General Education Categories. These collaborative sessions featured faculty experts presenting on selected categories to participating instructors focusing on category learning outcomes and developing effective assignments. This is an on-going series with GECCo planning dates and content for fall 2023 and beyond. Please contact GECCo Co-Chairs Sarah Carberry and Chris Reali for more information. Special thanks to Prof. Roark Atkinson, Assessment Librarian Christina Connor, Prof. Sarah Carberry and Prof. Emily Leskinen.

Missed the sessions? Use the following links to access the presentations:

• Historical Perspectives Workshop
  • Part 1: Sharing History / Teaching Historiography
  • Part 2: Teaching Historical Perspectives Using the American History Project
• Systems, Society & Sustainability Workshop
• Scientific Reasoning Workshop

CWAAC Workshop: Using Canvas to Assess Multiple Courses & Sections At the Same Time

In an excellent example of across the College collaboration, Prof. Tim Haase, Prof. Rick Nunez and ITS Course Management System Administrator Deb O’Connell led a workshop on using Canvas to simplify assessment in March 2023. Working with the ASB School Assessment Committee, ITS and Deb created Canvas pages to distribute and collect assessment data across multiple sections of the ASB Capstone course.

Individual instructors did not have to give up class time, track student participation or coordinate assignments with each other. Instead, the ASB SAC used Canvas to manage the assessment process (e.g., communication, distributing and collecting the assessment assignment, tracking student participation). This yielded a high response rate for students completing an outside-the-classroom assessment: 85% of student submissions were appropriate for assessment.

While ASB used a third-party provider’s test, this approach works with any Canvas assignment whether “homegrown” or from an external provider. Programs can use Canvas tools to score the assessment assignment (e.g., Canvas rubric, assignment or quiz). Want to learn more? Here’s a link to the PowerPoint presentation and contact CWAAC Chair Michael Unger for more information.

A College Wide Look at Writing

Did you know…Ramapo College programs met or exceeded program-set writing targets 86% of the time from 2019-20 to 2021-22? Also, RCNJ students report that they often write more papers, more pages and first year students feel they write more clearly than students at comparable COPLAC institutions (source: National Survey of Student Engagement). 

Welcome New CWAAC Member

Associate Professor John Gronbeck-Tedesco joins CWAAC as the School of Humanities and Global Studies representative. 

Friendly Reminders

• 2023-2024 assessment plans will be due Oct. 2.
• Programs can use their Five Year Reviews as their assessment activity for one academic year. 
• Freestanding Minors with 12 or more students will assess at least one learning outcome per academic year. The CWAAC Chair will contact minors regarding their enrollment numbers.
• CWAAC members are available to assist with assessment-related tasks including curriculum mapping, assessment measures, interpreting data and outcome revisions for yearly assessments and Five Year Program Reviews. 

College Wide Academic Assessment Committee

Michael A. Unger (Chair), Carrie Miller (TAS), Sarah Carberry (GECCo), Christina Connor (Potter Library), Rick Nunez (ASB), Sharon Leathers (SSHS), Jackie Skrynski (CA), Sarah Koenig (HGS spring 2024), John Gronbeck Tedesco (HGS, fall 2023), Gurvinder Khaneja (Dir. of Institutional Research, ex-officio) and Susan Hangen (Interim Vice Provost & HGS Dean, ex-officio)