Assessment and Aspiration Day, March 17
On Tuesday, March 17, Westminster College students will take part in a college-wide Assessment and Aspiration Day. No classes will be held so that all students may participate. As a learning organization, Westminster strives to continually improve and learn as our students do.
“Assessment and Aspiration Day gives the College a sense of where we are in the delivery of our product – education,” says David Jones, Associate Dean of Faculty. “It helps us determine our areas of strength and where we need to improve.”
Throughout the day, students will take part in a variety of activities and assessments to help the College gauge if students are reaching the academic goals we have set, to measure student satisfaction with Westminster, and provide guidance for students who are trying to decide on a major and/or consider a career path.
“We use this assessment information every year to try to improve your education, so your participation and feedback is really crucial to helping us to get better,” says Jones.
Some of the data collected from Assessment and Aspiration Day will help the College with benchmarking against other institutions. For example, data from previous assessments shows that Westminster scores above average in first-year student satisfaction in academic challenge, enriching experiences, active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, and supportive campus environment, according to the National Survey of Student Engagement.
Assessment
Some seniors will take part in exit interviews, relevant to their majors, to discuss what they liked about their major and ideas for improvement. Faculty from areas outside of the respective students’ majors will conduct the interviews to encourage open and honest communication. Reports from the interviews will be given back to the appropriate academic departments and used for departmental assessment and annual review.
All students are invited to participate in an online Student Satisfaction Inventory. This evaluation assesses the services provided across campus by all offices, including the library, Student Life, Academics, and bookstore.
In addition, some seniors will take part in the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) exam. This exam, given to college students across the nation, evaluate students’ critical thinking and reasoning skills. Westminster will use the data from this assessment to look for improvement from freshman year to senior year and evaluate: Have we actually taught students to think and reason as we have worked to do?
At lunchtime, first-year students have the opportunity to gather together with their Westminster Seminar groups from fall semester. Creating some of our new students’ first relationships at Westminster, Westminster Seminar helps students adjust to college academically through the study of a fun and unique topic and develop connections among classmates, mentors, and faculty members. On Assessment and Aspiration Day, first-year students will reunite with their Seminar groups to talk about how college life is going and what’s next, including advice on declaring a major and planning for the next three years.
Aspiration
Scheduled sessions for freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors help students learn more about various majors, grad school, and career opportunities.
Students can explore potential majors by visiting with faculty in Coulter Science Center classrooms (see list of majors and locations below). In addition to sharing information about majors, faculty will also discuss potential career paths, what you can do with each major. Students will pick three majors to explore and be given a passport to verify they have visited three different faculty members. Students with three stamps in their passport will be entered into a drawing for gift cards. The Majors Fair is co-sponsored by the Sophomore Class and Center for Career Development.
- Accounting, Business, Economics, and Sports Management CSC 330
- Biology and Biochemistry (Biological Emphasis) CSC 239
- Chemistry and Biochemistry (Chemical Emphasis) CSC 348
- Classics, Religion, and Philosophy CSC 206
- Early Childhood, Elementary, Middle School, and Secondary Education CSC 329
- English CSC 207
- Environmental science and Environmental Studies CSC 333
- Exercise Science, Health and Wellness, and Physical Education CSC 303
- French and Spanish CSC 304
- History CSC 305
- International Studies and Transnational Studies CSC 204
- Math and Physics CSC 306
- Political Science and Security Studies CSC 126
- Psychology CSC 110
- Self-Designed Major CSC 205
- Sociology CSC 104
To help with career development and planning, Pete Beard ’04 will speak to seniors at 9 a.m. and juniors at 10 a.m. Beard is a Program Manager for Central Technology Services (CTS) in Jefferson City, Missouri. CTS provides technical and infrastructure support for Central Bancompany, a holding company consisting of 13 affiliate banks with more than 140 branches across Missouri, Kansas, Illinois and Oklahoma. Pete graduated from Westminster College in 2004 with a degree in International Business. He also received an MBA from the University of Missouri in 2008. Pete serves on boards for the University of Missouri’s Trulaske College of Business and Capital Region Medical Center. He also serves as a mentor with the University of Missouri’s alumni mentoring program and is involved with the United Way and Coyote Hill Children’s Home.
The career development sessions at 9 and 10 are co-sponsored by the Junior and Senior Classes, respectively, and Center for Career Development.
