Indianapolis, Indiana l April 3-4, 2009

The Best Assessment Processes Symposium provides interactive and lecture-based opportunities for applied science, computing, engineering, and technology educators to learn about assessment methods and how they can be used to validate and improve student learning outcomes. 2009 marks the 11th anniversary of the symposium.

Schedule at a Glance (pdf)
Program details
About the keynote
Roundtables
Location and accommodations
Purchase the Proceedings

Program Details

Friday, April 3

• 8:30 - Welcome, Opening Plenary Session with Keynote Speaker Dr. Trudy Banta
• 9:45-10:35 - Eight concurrent 50-minute sessions
• 10:50-11:40 - Eight concurrent 50-minute sessions
• 11:50-12:50 - Lunch
• 1-1:50 - Eight concurrent 50-minutesessions
• 2-5 - Seven concurrent 3-hour workshops
• Continental breakfast, morning and afternoon coffee breaks, and lunch provided.

Saturday, April 4

• 8-9:20 - Seven concurrent 80-minute mini-workshops
• 9:35-10:25 - Seven concurrent 50-minute sessions
• 10:40-12 - Six concurrent 80-minute mini-workshops
• 12-1 - Lunch
• 1-1:50 - Seven concurrent 50-minute sessions
• 2-3:30 - Roundtables
• 3:40-4:30 - Closing Plenary with Symposium Chair Dr. Gloria Rogers
  
  • Continental breakfast, morning and afternoon coffee breaks, and lunch provided.

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Keynote Presentation - Lessons Learned from a National Study of Outcomes Assessment

Assessment of the higher education outcomes may be viewed as a cycle that begins with planning an approach, then implementing it, and finally sustaining and improving it. This three-part framework has been used to organize 146 profiles of institutional assessment practice obtained from institutions across the country for inclusion in a new book by Trudy Banta and two colleagues. Examples of good practice from this study, as well as concerns about the current external press for institutional accountability, will be presented.

Keynote Speaker - Trudy W. Banta Back to Top Trudy W. Banta is Professor of Higher Education and Senior Advisor to the Chancellor for Academic Planning and Evaluation at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. She has developed and coordinated 22 national conferences and 15 international conferences on the topic of assessing quality in higher education. She has consulted with faculty and administrators in 46 states, Puerto Rico, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates and has by invitation addressed national conferences on outcomes assessment in Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Spain, and Scotland. Dr. Banta has edited 15 published volumes on assessment, contributed 26 chapters to published works, and written more than 200 articles and reports. She is the founding editor of Assessment Update, a bimonthly periodical published since 1989.

Roundtables

On the afternoon of April 4, three concurrent roundtable sessions will be held, one hosted by a team chair from ABET’s Computing Accreditation Commission, one by a team chair from the Engineering Accreditation Commission, and one by a team chair from the Technology Accreditation Commission. After a brief presentation, the team chair will open the floor for accreditation questions and discussion. Symposium attendees may participate in the roundtable session of their choice.

CAC Roundtable - David Kelly

David Kelly is the Chair-Elect of the Computing Accreditation Commission. He has been involved with computing accreditation since 1995 as a program evaluator and then as a Team Chair for CSAB in 1998. David was appointed a commissioner of CAC of ABET in 2001 and to the CAC Executive Committee in 2005. On the CAC Executive Committee, he has served as the Rollout Committee Chair and the CAC Vice-Chair of Operations. In his professional life, David is the President and CEO of Bluefin Robotics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Battelle. Bluefin Robotics manufactures a complete line of autonomous underwater vehicles for the security, commercial, and oceanographic research markets.

EAC Roundtable - Mary Leigh Wolfe

Mary Leigh Wolfe is a Professor and the Assistant Department Head for Teaching in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Mary Leigh was the Chair of the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) for the 2007-2008 accreditation cycle and now serves as the commission’s Past Chair for the 2008-2009 cycle. She began volunteering for ABET in 1991 as a program evaluator, and she was elected as an EAC representative by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) in 2000. Mary Leigh was elected to the EAC Executive Committee in 2003, serving as a Member At-Large from 2003-2005, Vice Chair for Operations in 2005-2006, and Chair-Elect in 2006-2007. Mary Leigh Wolfe conducts research and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses focused on hydrologic modeling, nonpoint source (NPS) pollution control strategies, and decision support tools for NPS pollution control and watershed management. She also conducts research related to engineering education and is currently a co-PI on an NSF Department Level Reform Grant entitled "Reformulating General Engineering and Biological Systems Engineering Programs at Virginia Tech."

TAC Roundtable - Kevin Taylor

Kevin Taylor is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology at Purdue University College of Technology Kokomo. Kevin is Chair-Elect of the Executive Committee of the Technology Accreditation Commission (TAC) of ABET. He is a Professional Engineer (PA), a Senior Member of IEEE, a member of SAE and ASEE, and the Co-Affiliate Director for Project Lead the Way® at Purdue.

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