Taskstream Implementation
Over the past several years, the faculty has engaged in program-level assessment of student learning and program improvement. It has become clear that we need a way to see and use that information for decision making within and across programs in the university. Furthermore, in some departments, responsibility for assessment rotates between faculty members, making it difficult to maintain continuity year to year. At the University level, it has been a challenge to develop a "big picture" of student learning and achievement that includes the product of the extensive faculty work and makes it available to develop strategies to inform decisions that support university-wide improvement.
Recognizing the need to store, manage and use all of our assessment data, Provost Pallavicini appointed a task force last year to research and recommend an assessment management system. After demonstrations, opportunities to try out different systems, and feedback from academic, co-curricular, and administrative units, the group recommended Taskstream as the most user-friendly and customer service-oriented of the choices.
Taskstream is a cloud-based system that will be used by all administrative, co-curricular and academic units for program assessment, program review accreditation reporting and management of action plans. Faculty, staff and administrators will be able to see and communicate the learning that results from academic programs and co-curricular experiences. Faculty, committees and others charged with university-wide efforts to enhance learning and student success will have easy access to evidence needed for decision making.
The Office of Planning and Institutional Research is implementing Taskstream this year. Beginning in early October through December, each faculty member and administrator with responsibility for academic assessment will be trained and begin working with Taskstream. Each academic degree program will have workspace to manage assessment planning, data, results and action plans. These workspaces also will enable faculty to share their students' learning results on outcomes. These workspaces will be visible and usable for institutional reporting on assessment and program review as we undergo our WSCUC (formerly WASC) self-study (due in 2018) in preparation for our next re-affirmation of accreditation in 2019.
A one-hour Taskstream training is available throughout the Fall semester to support faculty and staff to learn the new system. Nicole Omansky, Taskstream project manager in the Office of Planning and Institutional Research, and Eileen McFall, Director of Learning and Academic Assessment, will be working with all academic departments to make sure each program has a workspace with assessment plans, reports and action plans by the end of the academic year (May 2016).
Nicole or Eileen will be contacting department chairs or other academic leadership to schedule training, or you can contact them directly at:
- Nicole Omansky: nomansky@pacific.edu, 209.932.3048
- Eileen McFall: emcfall@pacific.edu, 209.946.7715
Thank you in advance for your participation in this critical effort to enhance learning, student success and educational effectiveness.