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NASPA Assessment & Persistence Conference
Session Type Descriptions & Educational Tracks

Call for Programs Deadline: March 18, 2011

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Educational Tracks

The NASPA Assessment & Persistence Conference will have clearly designated tracks throughout the conference to speak to a broad range of faculty, institutional researchers, student affairs educators, and policy-makers.

Beginner

The basics of understanding learning, developing and writing a learning outcome, and designing assessment plans, and more. These sessions will be focused for professionals new to assessment and persistence.

Intermediate

Academic and student affairs professionals who have some experience with assessment will explore new ways to use assessment to improve student learning in both academic and student affairs and move from individual program assessment to integrating assessment as an institutional focus.

Advanced

Professionals who have broad experience with assessment will focus on the next exciting steps in assessment and persistence practice, including integrating learning and assessment across students’ experiences, using learning taxonomies and knowledge of student and brain development to guide assessment efforts, the creative blending of assessment methods and using assessment methods to support institutional data analysis, policy-making, and resource decisions.

Session Formats

There are four session formats from which to choose: (1) pre-conference workshop, (2) concurrent session, (3) poster session, and (4) roundtable discussion. Please select the format that will best facilitate participants’ understanding and potential use of your work.

Pre-Conference Workshop (three-hour workshop; prior to the start of conference)

Pre-Conference Workshops provide participants an opportunity to engage the facilitator and each other in an extended learning session about a particular topic and apply it to their unique situations. Workshops should be application-oriented sessions designed to provide participants with tools and approaches for implementing or improving assessment and persistence efforts on their own situations.

Each workshop will be aimed at a specific level of implementation, from initial planning or implementation through the uses of data for institutional change through assessment programs, so that participants can enroll in sessions appropriate to their individual level of development. The session should begin with a brief framing of an issue, theory, model, or process and include data benchmarks and challenges, practical examples, and evidence that you and the participants can then use to examine and discuss the topic. If you are sharing a campus-based project, provide an opportunity for workshop participants to apply the concepts to their own situations. For example, if your work takes place at a research university, please facilitate discussion among participants as to how community colleges, liberal arts colleges, and comprehensive institutions might adapt your work to account for institutional differences.

Concurrent Sessions (60 minutes)

This session should allow 20 minutes to provide research findings or overview of a model or program, 20 minutes to provide practical applications; and 20 minutes for participant discussion. The content for concurrent sessions should demonstrate programs, practices and ideas that have data and conclusions based on years of successful activities. Data, findings, and applications should be presented in ways that are accessible to participants and allow them to engage in a discussion about the implications of your findings. Models might be presented visually as well as verbally and include strategies for implementation.

Poster/Demonstration Sessions (90 minutes; one or two facilitators; 8 wide x 4 tall message board provided)

Poster/demonstration sessions provide an opportunity for you to share your work with the entire conference audience and are designed to showcase interesting new approaches and practices that do not yet have the maturity of programs presented in concurrent sessions. These sessions can display visual charts, diagrams, pictures, graphs, etc. that demonstrate key findings.

Roundtable Discussions (60 minutes; one or two facilitators; during continental breakfast; no audio visual)

Roundtables are facilitated discussions among colleagues with a common interest. Facilitators lead discussions on current topics, issues, and strategies in assessment and retention. No formal presentations are expected in roundtable discussions; instead, proponents should have a clear plan for facilitating a highly interactive discussion on important topics.