Academic Enhancement's New Assessment Plan Will Better Serve Students

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 24, 2012) —Academic Enhancement at UK has revamped its assessment strategy, in order to better serve UK students.

Academic Enhancement is a centralized academic unit located on south campus that promotes effective learning strategies and fosters interactions in a responsive and centric environment. As part of these efforts, Academic Enhancement determined a need for new and effective assessment strategies. Created through best practices research and with specific learning goals in mind, this new assessment strategy will allow the office to better measure the impact of all its programs and services, based on the intended learning objectives.

"Academic Enhancement has put substantial effort into developing an intentional, meaningful assessment plan," said Jim Breslin, associate director of Academic Enhancement. "After several semesters of implementation, not only has the data generated by the plan been very valuable, but the assessment plan itself has received praise."

The new method values both quantitative and qualitative data; the assessment plan is both systematic and cyclical, and through it, Academic Enhancement can evaluate the efficacy of each program and implement data-driven changes that best suit UK students.

Throughout the 2011-2012 school year, Academic Enhancement produced 16 different conference presentations and scholarly publications. Most recently, the program was featured in the August 2012 issue of "SIZZLE: What's Hot in Assessment." This newsletter, published by the Office of Assessment at UK, provides news, information and upcoming events with regard to assessment both campus-wide and nationally.

In March, the Kentucky Association for Institutional Research (KAIR) hosted its annual conference in Louisville. Among the professionals that presented during the two-day conference were UK's own Karin Lewis, assistant provost for Undergraduate Education and director of Academic Enhancement; Jim Breslin, associate director of Academic Enhancement; and Elizabeth Neiser, assessment coordinator for Academic Enhancement.

For more information about Academic Enhancement, visit www.uky.edu/AE.

Academic Enhancement is part of the Division of Undergraduate Education, which promotes academic excellence at the University of Kentucky through collaboration with colleges and support units across the institution.  Central to the division’s mission is campus leadership on issues pertinent to student retention, success and graduation, and innovation in teaching and learning.

MEDIA CONTACT: Sarah Geegan, (859) 257-5365; sarah.geegan@uky.edu