Previous Assessment Grant Recipients

Mathematics & Statistics, CAS

• Masanao Yajima, Associate Professor of the Practice
• Eric Kolaczyk, Professor and Director of MSSP
• Haviland Wright, Professor of the Practice
• Luis Carvalho, Associate Professor
• Allen G. Harbaugh-Schattenkirk, Research Associate Professor of Quantitative Methods
• Sean K. Grogg, Graduate Program Administrator

TBA

Writing Program, CAS

• Aleksandra Kasztalska, Lecturer, Writing Program
• Christopher McVey, Senior Lecturer, Writing Program
• Stephen Hodin, Lecturer, Writing Program

TBA

Music Education, CFA

• Ruth Debrot, Lecturer in Music
• Karin Hendricks, Associate Professor
• Diane Dansereau, Assistant Professor
• Andrew Goodrich, Assistant Professor
• Ronald Kos, Assistant Professor
• Kinh Vu, Assistant Professor

TBA

The Autism Program at BMC, BUSM

• Alexander Friedman, MPH, Project Coordinator
• Belinda O’Hagan, Research Coordinator
• Lauren Bartolotti Busa, Program Manager
• Shari King, Program Director
• Sarabeth Broder-Fingert, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
• Marilyn Augustyn, MD, Director, Division of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics

TBA

PhD Program in Social Work, SSW

• Daniel P. Miller, Director, PhD Program in Social Work
• Jordana Muroff, Associate Professor
• Hyeouk Hahm, Associate Professor
• Yoonsook Ha, Assistant Professor

TBA

Dublin, Ireland, Study Abroad

• Marcus Gatto, Lecturer in Law and Ethics
• Mary McCloskey, Program Director, Study Abroad Dublin

TBA

Genetic Counseling, GMS

• Lillian Sosa, Assistant Program Director, BU Program in Genetic Counseling
• Kathleen Swenson, Assistant Professor, Medical Sciences and Education

TBA

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Wheelock

• Laurie Pohl, Professor of the Practice
• Daryl Healea, Lecturer

TBA

Physical Therapy and Athletic Training Department, Physical Therapy Program, SAR

• Terry Ellis, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training
• Diane Heislein, Clinical Associate Professor
• Diane Dalton, Clinical Associate Professor
• Mary Beth Holmes, Clinical Assistant Professor

TBA

Clinical Practice Department, SSW

• Janice Furlong, Clinical Associate Professor
• Mark Gianino, Clinical Associate Professor

TBA

Academic Enrichment Program, LAW

• Nicholas D. Horan, Esq., Associate Director for Academic Enrichment

TBA

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, CAS

• John “Chip” Celenza, Associate Professor, Biology
• Dean Tolan, Professor, Biology
• Ben Bradbury-Koster, Undergraduate Program Specialist

As an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)-accredited program, BMB (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology) proposes to use the recently developed ASBMB certification exam as a tool to: 1) assess the students’ mastery of fundamental concepts in BMB, 2) determine the effectiveness of assessment-related curricular decisions in the Biology and Chemistry departments that affect BMB students, and 3) use this analysis to inform assessment-related curricular decisions in the Biology and Chemistry departments that affect BMB students. To accomplish these goals, the exam will be given to the majority of our graduating seniors for the next five years. Performance on this national exam is a direct assessment of whether graduates of the program have achieved the learning outcomes of the BMB major.

Chemistry, CAS

• Binyomin Abrams, Master Lecturer, Chemistry

The Chemistry Department teaches service courses in General, Organic, and Biochemistry to students from several departments who require them for their majors, as well as for premedical/
dental requirements. By their nature, these courses rely heavily on the foundation of prerequisite skills taught in previous courses. This project’s goal is to assess content retention by students from course to course. During phase 2, the project team will validate the concept inventory using pre/post data from the incoming class, working with partner institutions through the LASSO network and follow the current cohort as they move in to organic chemistry.

Chemistry, CAS

• Didem Vardar Ulu, Lecturer, Chemistry

The Chemistry Department will create and test a discipline-specific e-Portfolio prototype for chemistry majors using Boston University’s existing Digication platform. Discipline specific elements for the e-Portfolio will be selected based on the accreditation guidelines of American Chemical Society, the departmental mission statement, and input from faculty, students, and pertinent industry professionals. These will then be paired with institutional priorities outlined in the HUB guidelines. As a digitized collection of curricular artifacts representing accomplishments across the curriculum, this e-Portfolio will complement student’s academic transcript and provide a more holistic assessment of his/her learning gains throughout their BU experience.

Chemistry, CAS

• Rosina Georgiadis, Associate Professor, Chemistry
• Didem Vardar Ulu, Lecturer, Chemistry

This travel grant will allow faculty teaching advanced chemistry laboratories to attend the Gordon Research Conference on Chemistry Education Research and Practice, a week-long disciplinary conference featuring assessment in chemistry education.

Romance Studies, CAS

• Alison Carberry, Senior Lecturer, Spanish

To complement previous program assessments using an outside standardized instrument (the SIELE exam), the Department of Romance Languages will carry out an internal assessment of learning outcomes for the Spanish language and literature program. The project will focus on collecting and reviewing oral and written work form targeted student populations (Spanish 212, 300, and 350) and developing collectively-designed rubrics with the participation of the program faculty.

World Languages & Literature, CAS

• Roberta Micallef, Professor of the Practice in Middle Eastern Literature
• Margaret Litvin, Associate Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature
• Sarah Frederick, Associate Professor of Japanese and Comparative Literature

This mini grant will fund a one-day World Language and Literatures faculty retreat to discuss the results of the oral and written exit interviews faculty conducted with graduating seniors, as well as the results of reviewing senior seminar projects. The retreat will take place during the summer of 2019, with the goal of making recommended changes to courses and pedagogy, including any necessary eCAP proposals, beginning in Fall 2019.

CFA

• Tawnya Smith, Assistant Professor of Music, Music Education
• Lynn Eustis, Associate Professor of Music, Voice

This project will build upon CFA’s previous DMA faculty retreat mini grant to further examine the DMA Oral Exam rubric and implementation policy. Initial evidence suggests that both may be applied inconsistently across the program. The project team will collect and analyze data about the DMA oral exam rubric and its implementation, identify necessary revisions to the rubric or policy changes, and facilitate and negotiate consensus of the faculty in order to establish consistent implementation of the modified rubric and policy in the future.

Music Education, CFA

• Karin Hendricks, Associate Professor of Music, Music Education
• Kinh T. Vu, Assistant Professor of Music

During 2018-2019, members of the BU Music Education Department reviewed student learning outcomes assessment documents as well as BU’s guidelines on “credit assigned to academic courses,” and discovered content overlaps and gaps in six classes offered toward the fulfillment of master’s and doctoral degrees. The mini grant funds will be used to support faculty in creating a comprehensive curriculum map of required courses for on-campus and online graduate programs to improve consistency and scope of course content and to better ascertain how course assignments such as papers and projects affect results of qualifying examinations and master’s capstone curriculum projects.

Writing Program, COM

• Kathryn Burak, Master Lecturer, Writing Program

The College of Communication Writing Program will hold an e-Portfolio Workshop in August 2019 for ten adjuncts and two full-time faculty teaching Introduction to Communication Writing, COM CO 201.  The purpose of the one-day workshop is to introduce writing faculty to the benefits of e-Portfolios and to discuss scholarly research on the pedagogical benefits of e-Portfolios for developing student writers.  As a follow-up to the workshop, faculty will fully implement the portfolios in their courses beginning in Spring 2020.  Other first-year writing programs on campus, including CAS WR and CGS RH, use student portfolios, so this project will bring COM in line with practices university-wide and will also serve the BU Hub, since CO 201 fulfills three Hub areas.

Graduate Medical Sciences, BUSM

• Brigitte Ritter, Assistant Professor, Biochemistry

NIH institutional research training grants (T32s) provide an important mechanism for Boston University to support interdepartmental training programs for predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees. NIH is now placing particular importance on iterative assessment of T32 programs when evaluating grant proposals and renewals. In response, the mini grant project team will develop and validate an instrument portfolio for assessing and evaluating trainee core skills and competencies, as well as the efficiency of training programs to meet training objectives that are integral to all T32 training programs. The instruments will be deposited into a centralized resource for use by the BU training grant community.

Applied Social Sciences, MET

• Karen Metheny, Senior Lecturer
• Mary Ellen Mastrorilli, Associate Professor of the Practice, Criminal Justice

This project will support faculty teaching in online and on-campus master’s and graduate certificate programs in Applied Social Sciences in creating and implementing standard tools and approaches for learning outcomes assessment across all Departmental graduate degree programs and graduate certificates at MET beginning in Fall 2019. Team members will create instructional materials for faculty and students. They will host workshops in which faculty will be introduced to program learning outcomes, will discuss the relationship between those outcomes and their courses, and will be introduced to assessment tools, including student portfolios. Finally, the team will introduce assessment and portfolios to students at Fall orientation in order to build faculty and student engagement in the assessment process.

SSW

• Ashley Davis, Clinical Associate Professor

Stigma, pejorative language and implicit bias prevent people with Substance Use Disorders (SUD) from initiating and succeeding in treatment (Kelly et. al, 2016). This project will assess BU Social Work students’ (CRC, off-campus, and online programs) knowledge of SUD terminology, attitudes and levels of implicit bias concerning addictions. Students will complete a pre-test. Instructors will show a video-based learning intervention followed by a brief in-class discussion and post-test, which will help determine the effectiveness of this intervention on enhancing students’ knowledge and beliefs. The findings will inform recommendations for improving the curricula and learning environment at the School of Social Work.

Study Abroad

• Amalia Perez-Juez, Director, Burgos, Madrid and Menorca
• Debra Terzian, Director, Academic Affairs (Study Abroad)

The team will assess the learning outcomes designed for a Hub study abroad experience which fulfills one unit of Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.  The project aims to foster collaboration between the three Study Abroad sites in Burgos, Madrid, and Menorca alongside BU Study Abroad. The three Study Abroad sites will launch the new course, and BU Study Abroad will identify and share the best practices to evaluate methodology and objectives.

Computer Science, CAS

• Abbas Attarwala, Lecturer, Computer Science
• Vahid Azadeh-Ranjbar, Lecturer, Computer Science

The project team will develop a pedagogical model to assess and support learning in the undergraduate Computer Science program iby pairing top-performing students with their lower-performing peers on lab assignments for CS 103 and CS 112, in order to gauge whether or not this will have an impact on higher retention and comprehension of materials for non-top performing students in the courses. The project team members will randomly select one of the four lab sections and pair students up throughout the term. The other three sections will serve as a baseline with individual lab homework. The team would like to investigate whether or not the empirical data of this semester-long study will suggest that the performance of lower performing students is statistical significant and positively correlated with these student pairings. The project will also examine the impact of these pairings on higher-performing students.The results and findings will aid in the design and future of CS 103 and CS 112.

Mental Health Counseling, GMS

• Carryl P. Navalta, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry
• Thom Field, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry
• Laurie Craigen, Associate Professor, Psychiatry

Grant funds will subsidize the cost of a program retreat to discuss new 2016 accreditation standards and their implications for learning outcomes and assessment of student learning in the Mental Health Counseling and Behavioral Medicine Program.  The program received an 8-year accreditation in 2014 by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (CACREP), based on the 2009 CACREP Standards., The program now needs to update  learning outcomes and better align them with the curriculum and program assessment plan.  As the program plans for a required self-study and submitted written report in 2020 for reaccreditation in 2022, the up-to-date learning outcomes and assessment plan need to be in place by 2019.

Mental Health Counseling, GMS

• Kathleen Swenson, Assistant Professor, Medical Sciences & Education
• Lillian Sosa, Assistant Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology
• Philip Connors, Assistant Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology

The purpose of this project is to strengthen teaching and assessment skills for faculty in the BUSM Genetic Counseling Program through attending the “Harvard Medical School’s Principles of Medical Education: Maximizing your teaching skills” conference.  The faculty have an annual internal retreat to map courses to the learning outcomes and curricular goals of the program and review the success of assessments.    The conference will provide a valuable shared framework for the faculty conducting this work, most of whom have no specific prior training in this area.

LAW

• Jennifer S. Behr, Lecturer
• Claire Bishop Abely, Lecturer

The goal of this project is to develop an assessment tool to evaluate the writing skills of first-year law students before the start of the first semester.  The assessment will combine a commercially-available grammar test and a writing sample scored using a customized rubric. The project team members plan to assess the validity of the assessment tool on the current first-year law students, comparing their baseline assessment results to their first-semester grades.

LAW

• Brian Wilson, Lecturer & Clinical Instructor
• Bob Burdick, Clinical Professor of Law
• David Rossman, Professor of Law
• Julissa Milligan, Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor
• Sam Taylor, Lecturer & Clinical Instructor

The project team will develop a tool to measure student competence in legal counseling and to assess their contributions as clinical faculty to developing that competence.  The team will use a set of simulations to compare clinical students’ proficiency at the beginning and the end of the clinical experience in order to determine student preparation to counsel others effectively and ethically upon graduation, whether the clinical experience aided his or her development of related skills; and whether substantive changes to clinical curricula are necessary to ensure each student graduates with proficiency in those skills.

MET

• Regina Hansen, Master Lecturer of Rhetoric & Faculty Coordinator of the Online Undergraduate Degree Completion Program (UDCP)
• Jennifer Alpert, Lecturer
• Shalin Raye (Krieger)

This year-long project will assess online learning in the Undergraduate Degree Completion Program, specifically in the writing intensive courses. The project goals are 1) to evaluate how well students’ writing reflects their achievement of the learning outcomes in each chosen course; 2) to evaluate students’ understanding of the course materials, as expressed through their writing; and 3) to evaluate student progress, over time, in using writing to reflect and synthesize what they are learning in the program.

Chemistry, CAS

• Binyomin Abrams, Senior Lecturer
• Anna Manevich, Senior Undergraduate

The Chemistry department offers service based courses in General, Organic, and Biochemistry to students from several departments who require them for their majors, as well as for pre-medical/dental requirements. By their nature, these courses rely heavily on the foundation of pre-requisite skills taught in previous courses. The goal of this project is to assess content retention by students from course to course, and specifically from pre-requisite to subsequent required courses. In Phase 1, the team will meet with faculty to codify their expectations, and prepare and deploy a validated concept inventory (Summer 2018) to assess the students entering the sequences in Fall 2018.

Sociology, CAS

• Catherine Connell, Associate Professor of Sociology & WGS
• Virginia Sapiro, Professor of Political Science & WGS
• Carrie Preston, Professor of English & WGS
• Karen Warkentin, Professor of Biology & WGS
• Gabby Newton, WGS Program Administrator

Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies proposes to conduct a full assessment of the minor courses, through a multi-stage evaluation process. This will include (a) a survey of all current and recent minors, (b) focus groups with current minors, (c) a comprehensive curriculum mapping exercise, and (d) a syllabus review to assess current learning objectives. From these evaluation exercises, WGS will develop program-wide learning outcomes and guidelines for outcomes measurement for revising and refining its core curriculum.

Biology, CAS

• John Celenza, Associate Professor of Biology and Director of BMB Programs
• Dean Tolan, Professor of Biology, Director of Undergraduate Studies for BMB
• Stacy Straaberg Finfrock, Undergraduate Program Specialist for BMB

As an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)-accredited program, BMB (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology) proposes to use the recently developed ASBMB certification exam as a tool to: 1) assess the students’ mastery of fundamental concepts in BMB, 2) determine the effectiveness of assessment-related curricular decisions in the Biology and Chemistry departments that affect BMB students, and 3) use this analysis to inform assessment-related curricular decisions in the Biology and Chemistry departments that affect BMB students. To accomplish these goals, the exam will be given to the majority of our graduating seniors for the next five years. Performance on this national exam is a direct assessment of whether graduates of the program have achieved the learning outcomes of the BMB major.

Music & Art Education, CFA

• Tawnya Smith, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Music, Music Education
• Rebecca Bourgault, Ed.D., Assistant Professor of Art, Art Education
• Karin Hendricks, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Music, Music Education
• Andrew Goodrich, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Music, Music Education
• Ron Kos, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Music, Music Education

Assessment of the online music and art education master’s and doctoral programs at CFA has revealed that many students entering the programs lack the experience and the ability to write scholarly papers at a graduate level. The team is proposing to take action in response to prior-year program assessment results across these programs as follows: (a) create writing assessments to identify particular student needs; (b) design an online support system to address those needs; and (c) assess student writing progress after support implementation.

GMS, Medical Sciences & Education (MSE)

• Fadie T. Coleman, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, MSE
• Theresa Davis-Heerema, Assistant Professor, MSE
• Hee-Young Park, Associate Dean, Professor, MSE

As a result of a full review of its structure, mission, and curriculum, Biomedical, Laboratory and Clinical Sciences (BLCS) is implementing an academic program assessment plan that will facilitate continuous program level improvement by allowing for more organized tracking, evaluation, and review of results.. Grant funds will subsidize the cost of a course educators retreat to discuss new and existing courses, revise course content, and learn about Exam Soft, a tracking tool that will be implemented in the fall (along with four new courses).

GMS, Genetic Counseling

• Kathleen Berentsen Swenson, MS, MPH, CGC, Program Director
• Lillian Sosa, MS, CGC, Fieldwork Coordinator

The Genetic counseling program will use their mini grant funds to help evaluate the impact of the use of patient simulation experiences on the quality of clinical casework done during the academic year in required fieldwork experiences, which are a core aspect of clinical training.  We anticipate that providing opportunities for the students to practice in a simulated setting will enhance their field work experience.  This grant will support a pilot assessment.

MET, Social Sciences

• Mary Ellen Mastrorilli, Ph.D., Associate Chair, Department of Social Sciences
• Shea Cronin, Assistant Professor, Criminal Justice
• Krung-Shick Choi, Professor, Criminal Justice
• Karen Metheny, Senior Lecturer, Gastronomy
• Yesim Sungu-Eryilmaz, Assistant Professor, Urban Affairs/City Planning

This semester-long endeavor will result in the development of learning outcomes and assessment tools and practices geared specifically to four graduate certificates delivered both on line and on campus in Metropolitan College. Mini-grant team members will review and compare their current assessment strategies, explore the literature and best practices associated with Program Learning Outcome Assessment, and find efficiencies associated with program assessment that serve the unique needs of a multi-faceted academic department. In addition, the group will convene a series of focus groups with relevant practitioners to better understand employer needs and expectations. The goal of the mini-grant award is to create straightforward and precise methods to measure learning goals associated with several 4-course certificates, which then can be expanded where needed and applied to entire degree programs in the Department of Applied Social Sciences.

SSW, Social justice in Social Work

• Dawn Belkin Martinez, Clinical Associate Professor and Coordinator
• Judith Scott, Assistant Professor, Clinical Department
• Linda Sprague Martinez, Associate Professor, Macro Department

Prompted by feedback from students who want to ensure that a commitment to social justice– a core value within the social work discipline–is adequately reflected in the curriculum, the aim of this project is to conduct a systematic review of social justice focused content and gaps in coverage in all Clinical Practice courses in the Masters of Social Work program.  The grant team will develop student learning outcomes and assessment strategies to evaluate social justice related competencies and strengthen linkages between the curriculum and student field experiences in anti-oppressive practice.

• Dr. Elisabetta Covento, Director BU Italy Programs
• Dr. Laura Lenci, Assistant Academic Director BU Italy Programs
• Claudia Baldelli, Lecturer BU Padua Programs

The goal of this project is to gather faculty and staff from BU Study Abroad’s European sites to participate in a two-day meeting and training in Venice, Italy led by an expert on intercultural learning and assessment methodology.  This training in teaching and assessing intercultural competence will help sites improve their approach to assessing a distinctive feature of study abroad education.

• Team Geneva
  • Carla Rachman, Program Director, BUSA Geneva
  • Dr. Djacoba Tehindrazanarivelo, Ph.D.
• Team London
  • Dr. Michael Peplar,Academic Director, London Programs
  • Dr. Paul Cousins, Lecturer
• Team Dublin
  • Marcus Gatto

The goal of this project is to foster collaboration in outcomes assessment among study abroad sites.  The project team will set up a jury to look at examples of learning objectives assessment from three or more sites in the area of IR/Law, and to coordinate an ongoing process of collaborative work between three of the smaller sites where these courses are taught. This will involve two group meetings between jury members to launch the project, followed by correspondence through a secure shared drive.

Earth & Environment, CAS

• Diane Thompson, Assistant Professor, Earth & Environment
• Nathan Phillips, Professor, Earth & Environment
• Hussein Sayani, Postdoctoral Scholar, Earth & Environment

We propose to build pre- and post- assessment surveys for BU-AGREED (Allies for Gender/Sexuality, Racial & Ethnic Equality & Diversity), a program to cultivate allies and facilitate diversity and inclusion in STEM. This program is currently being developed by the PIs and modeled after a similar program PI Thompson co-developed at UCAR/NCAR (and supported by NSF grant awarded to PI Thompson). Our first 4-session program will be administered Spring 2018 in the Earth & Environment department. This support will allow us to develop effective surveys to gauge the program’s success and share our findings with the broader community.

Earth & Environment, CAS

• Christine Regalla, Assistant Professor, Earth & Environment
• Diane Thompson, Assistant Professor, Earth & Environment
• Andrew Kurtz, Associate Professor, Earth & Environment

We propose a strategy for implementing in class, electronic assessments in introductory Earth and Environment courses to evaluate student learning in real time and increase student engagement through active learning. We will lead a faculty workshop to discuss in‐class assessment strategies and electronic platforms currently used in E&E courses, and determine a common platform that can be adopted across courses. Using ES107 as a pilot case, ES107 instructors will develop a set of in-­class assessments to be incorporated in the fall 2018 offering. These assessments will be adopted in future course offerings, and will serve as a template for other E&E classes.

History, CAS

• Phillip Haberkern, Assistant Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, History
• Arianne Chernock, Associate Professor and Curriculum Committee Chair
• Lou Ferleger, Professor and Department Chair

This project will allow the assessment team in the history department to develop a half-day, offsite retreat for department members that will focus on three areas of improving our assessment regime and incorporating our assessment/outcome findings into our broader curriculum and classroom practices. In particular, three workshops will focus on creating an exit survey for our graduating majors; incorporating best practices from seminar courses into our broader undergraduate curriculum; and re-imagining traditional lecture courses as hybrid lecture/discussions that feature more interactive learning.

BFA Graphic Design, Sculpture, Painting, Printmaking, Art Education; School of Visual Arts, CFA

• Lynne Allen, Director, School of Visual Arts and Professor of Art, (Painting and Printmaking)
• Beth Zerega, Assistant Director for Administration, Visual Arts
• Dana Clancy, Associate Professor, Painting
• Nick Rock, Assistant Professor, Graphic Design

This grant will help the School of Visual Arts assess learning outcomes for the BFA Art Education, Graphic Design, Painting, Printmaking, and Sculpture programs using the BFA Thesis Exhibition. Faculty for each major will develop a standardized assessment process, including a rubric and video documentation, that will allow for more organized tracking, evaluation, and review of results.

General Dentistry, GSDM

• Michael Slesnick, DDS, Clinical Instructor/Group Practice Leader

Electronic patience surveys at the time of service will provide data for assessing the effectiveness of student communication in achieving specific communication goals. Without patient-centered data, communication competency can only be measured indirectly and unreliably. At the end of designated appointments, patients will electronically answer survey questions linked to the specific goals, communication goals essential for good patient care and professional success. Students will use this data for self-assessment and goal setting. Faculty will use it for mentoring and the course director will use it for curriculum improvement.

Office of Medical Education, Office of Academic Affairs, BUSM

• Priya Garg, MD; Assistant Dean, Academic Affairs; Director, Office of Medical Education; Assistant Professor, Pediatrics
• Sonia Ananthakrishnan, MD; Associate Clerkship Director, Internal Medicine; Co-Chair, Clerkship Curriculum Committee, Assessment
• Lindsay B. Demers, MS, PhD.; Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine; Director, Education Evaluation Core
• Molly Cohen-Osher, MD, MEd; Clerkship Director, Family Medicine; Chair, Clerkship Curriculum Committee

This project is to determine the validity and reliability of an assessment tool called the CSEF, created at Boston University School of Medicine for the 3rd year(clinical year) of medical school. The instrument is a developmental and behaviorally based tool that assesses a student in 14 domains essential for clinical competence. The tool was created in the Spring of 2017 and has been used since May 2017 to assess students in their 3rd year.

Urology, BUSM

• Shaun Wason, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine
• Phillip Barbosa, MD, Instructor of Urology
• Archana Rajender, MD
• Hersh Bendre, BS

The goal of this project is to develop a novel surgical curriculum for the training of urologic residents using 3D-printed silicone models of genitourinary pathology. Our secondary goal is to assess the efficacy of the curriculum through measurement of objective parameters of surgical performance, along with review through a standardized crowdsourced platform. Specifically, we plan to study the surgical outcomes for simulated treatment of a ureteropelvic junction obstruction, performed on 3D-printed models of a kidney by urology residents in the Greater Boston area. This will be followed by crowdsourced review through the C-SATS platform, allowing for standardized aggregated feedback and assessment of performance.

Mental Health Counseling and Behavioral Medicine Program, BUSM

• Carryl P. Navalta, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
• John J. Ciervo, LMHC, CAGS, Assistant Director of Field Training

Our program was accredited in 2014 under the 2009 CACREP Standards.  Since then, the 2016 CACREP Standards were placed into effect. The 2009 Standards emphasized the assessment of learning outcomes whereas the 2016 Standards emphasizes student learning development. This change in focus requires our program to revisit how we design and implement program assessment plans and how learning needs to be assessed in the future. Thus, our participation in the workshop will allow us to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the changes in assessment requirements of the 2016 Standards and help us identify options as to how to effectively develop, incorporate, and/or modify our existing assessment practices to satisfy the Standards.

The Standards fall under two general categories: clinical knowledge and clinical skills/practices. Thus, our revised program assessment plan needs to focus on the development of this knowledge and skillset. At a minimum, the information gleaned from the workshop will be used for these three processes: 1) operationalizing at least one knowledge or skill performance indicator in each core and specialty area; 2) identifying multiple measures to assess each indicator (i.e., at least two different types of assessment methods); and 3) defining “multiple points” of assessment (i.e., across at least two points in time for each area).

Department of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery, GMS

• Christopher Brook, MD, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology
• Michael Platt, MD, MSc, Associate Professor of Otolaryngology
• Ann Zumwalt, PhD, Associate Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology
• Ling-Ling Lok, Medical student BUSM Class of 2021

Understanding anatomy of the human skull-base is a challenge due to its vast complexity and limited accessibility. Cadaveric specimens that are currently employed are difficult to dissect without destruction of anatomical structures. Measurement of learning is also limited by these factors. We propose the use of 3D-printed models, video-endoscopic technology, and a novel assessment of learning with video capture techniques to record identification of specified structures.  Measurement of learning will be performed through self-directed digital image capture of anatomical structures in real-time, saved to a digital folder, and scored to verify and quantify learning.

Arts Administration Program, MET

• Dr. Douglas DeNatale, Senior Lecturer, Arts Administration
• Dr. Lanfranco Aceti, Program Director, Arts Administration
• Michael Ibrahim, Lecturer, Arts Administration

Over the past year, the Metropolitan College Arts Administration Program has worked to initiate a more coordinated process for assessing program-level learning outcomes.  We have developed a more detailed statement of learning outcomes, and have established an online faculty forum and shared syllabus repository.  We are also exploring the feasibility of a program-wide ePortfolio program with signature assignments linked to learning outcomes assessment.  We seek funds for a full-day retreat with part-time faculty to review the current assessment plan, consider the feasibility of a curriculum wide ePortfolio program, and establish a faculty assessment working group responsible for curriculum review.

Regional Studies Majors (Asian Studies, European Studies, Latin American Studies, and Middle East & North Africa Studies), Pardee

• William Grimes, Professor of International Relations and Political Science; Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Pardee School
• Adela Pineda, Associate Professor of Spanish; Chair, Council of Directors of the Division of Regional Studies; Director, Latin American Studies Program, Pardee School
• William Waters, Convener of German, Associate Professor of German & Comparative Literature; Associate Director, BU Center for the Study of Europe, Pardee School
• Min Ye, Associate Professor of International Relations; Director of Undergraduate Studies, Pardee School

Graduating seniors in the Pardee School’s regional studies majors will take external language testing. Language proficiency testing by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) is an objective and widely-recognized means of assessing foreign language proficiency. It is also an attractive credential for students who wish to provide evidence of their foreign language proficiency. One of the key learning outcomes for all of the regional studies majors is intermediate-level proficiency in one of the languages of the region in question, and ACTFL testing is an ideal way to assess that outcome.

Occupational Therapy Department/Behavior & Health Major, SAR

• Nancy Lowenstein, MS, OT, Clinical Associate Professor; Program Director, Behavior and Health
• Anne Sullivan-Soydan, ScD, CPRP, Clinical Assistant Professor
• Wendy Coster, PhD, Professor, Chair, Department of Occupational Therapy
• Leanne Yinusa-Nyakoon, ScD, Lecturer
• Susan McGurk, PhD, Professor
• Sarah McKinnon, OTD, Lecturer

This project will develop a mission statement for the program, review pertinent courses, review current course assignments, and create a cohesive and useful outcome assessment plan for the Bachelor of Science in Behavior and Health program in the Department of Occupational Therapy. This plan will replace the current assessment plan, which was written just as the program began. Now that we have graduated our first 4-year class, it is important to review these outcomes and develop a more cohesive plan that uses a greater diversity of assessment methods with faculty input. Grant money will be used to pay for a research assistant, and to pay Part-time faculty for the retreat and additional work not included in their workload.

Occupational Therapy Department/Behavior & Health Major, SAR

• Nancy Lowenstein, Clinical Associate Professor: Program Director; Behavior and Health

The Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (AALHE) annual conference provides professional development for assessment practitioners in higher education and is one of the best resources for advanced assessment practitioners. AALHE is consistently heralded as the best opportunity for assessment networking.

The AALHE assessment conference:

• Provides professional development opportunities for the advanced assessment practitioner;
• Provides professional development for those in the next generation of assessment professionals;
• Connects assessment professionals with others in the field; and
• Leads and advocates best practices in assessment.

Practitioners new to assessment are encouraged to attend the AALHE conference. AALHE’s small sessions and networking opportunities provide them the opportunity to connect with leading thinkers in assessment.

Master of Social Work; Clinical Practice, SSW

• Ellen DeVoe, Associate Professor and Coordinator, Trauma & Violence Specialization; Director of PhD Program in Social Work
• Kathleen Flinton, Director, BUSSW Post-Masters Trauma Certificate Program; SSW Lecturer
• Trudy Zimmerman, Director, Social Work Field Department
• Ruth Paris, Chair, Clinical Practice Department

The field of trauma has exploded in the 21st century with advances in neurobiology, intense media exposure to violence, the post-9/11 wars, and recognition of the devastating impact of trauma across the lifespan. Social workers need cutting-edge professional training in trauma-informed principles and evidence-based care to work with populations affected gender and race-based violence, interpersonal and community violence, natural disasters, combat, and terrorism. Thus, the overall aim of this project is to conduct a systematic review of trauma material and gaps in all Clinical Practice courses, and to develop student learning outcomes and assessment strategies to evaluate trauma-relevant competencies.

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (BMB), CAS

• John Celenza, Associate Professor of Biology and Director of the BMB Program
• Dean Tolan, Professor of Biology, Director of Undergraduate Studies for BMB
• Stacy Straaberg Finfrock, Undergraduate Program Specialist for BMB

As an American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)-accredited program, BMB proposes to use the recently developed ASBMB certification exam as a tool to: 1) assess our students’ mastery of fundamental concepts in BMB, 2) determine the effectiveness of assessment-related curricular decisions in the Biology and Chemistry departments that affect BMB students, and 3) use this analysis to inform assessment-related curricular decisions in the Biology and Chemistry departments that affect BMB students. To accomplish these goals, the exam will be given to the majority of our graduating seniors for the next five years. Performance on this national exam is a direct assessment of whether we have achieved the learning outcomes of the BMB major.

Center for English Language & Orientation Programs (CELOP), Global Programs, and GRS International Teaching Fellows Program

• Maria Tomeho-Palermino, Senior Lecturer

This project involves international teaching fellows’ (ITFs) creating videos of their labs and discussions with Kaltura video capture and captioning to raise awareness about pronunciation and speech accuracy. ITFs demonstrate difficulties producing multiple syllables in words and phrases and using appropriate prosody or pronunciation and rhythm, potentially impeding undergraduate students’ understanding. Through recording and video captioning, ITFs will recognize their language problems while watching and editing their scripts. Employing Kaltura’s video caption editing feature, moreover, these teaching fellows will strengthen their pronunciation and speak more accurately. This training will allow them to hold clearer discussions and deliver more effective presentations.

Center for English Language & Orientation Programs (CELOP), Global Programs, and Legal English Certificate Program (LECP), LAW

• Cheryl Pavlik, Senior Lecturer, CELOP
• Amelia Onorato, Senior Lecturer, CELOP
• Lynn Bonesteel, Senior lecturer, CELOP
• Susan Berry, Senior Lecturer, CELOP

Self-directed learning (SDL) can be a powerful method for increasing student learning and engagement. However, incorporating SDL into a rigorous academic program poses assessment challenges. First, how much weight should be given to SDL compared to traditional learning modalities? In addition, how should SDL be evaluated? Should assessment be based only on indirect evidence of general improvement or should student work be evaluated based on the plan and how well it is executed? Finding answers to these questions will help us build a stronger SDL program that includes resources for students and systems for documenting work and assessing progress.

Gastronomy Program, Applied Social Sciences, MET

• Karen Metheny, Interim Faculty Coordinator and Full-Time Lecturer, Gastronomy, MET
• Barbara Rotger, Academic Program Manager, Gastronomy, MET

We propose to hold two workshops for Gastronomy faculty. The first will allow instructors to articulate program-wide learning outcomes. The second will focus on outcomes measurement. Because our faculty is largely part-time, the workshops provide them an opportunity to review, discuss, and contribute to this process. These workshops are also needed to facilitate communication and the exchange of ideas. Many of our instructors are unfamiliar with other Gastronomy offerings or may not have previously articulated learning goals that reflect the interdisciplinary nature of our program. The goal of these workshops is to begin implementing learning outcome measures in fall 2017.

Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training, Sargent College

• Mary Beth Holmes, PT, DPT, NCS, Clinical Assistant Professor, Physical Therapist, Neurological Clinical Specialist, SAR
• Diane Dalton, PT, DPT, OCS, Clinical Associate Professor, Physical Therapist, Orthopaedic Clinical Specialist

The ability to reflect, deliberate and reevaluate are characteristics of lifelong learners. The literature indicates strong skills in reflection and self-assessment are needed by physical therapists to develop excellent clinical reasoning. Structured learning activities to develop student’s reflective practice are warranted. Explicit teaching of these skills need to occur and assessment of a student’s skill level must be included in curricula. This type of teaching and assessment is lacking in professional physical therapy programs. The aim is to develop simulated patient learning activities that will be used to assess the student’s ability to reflect and directly improve these skills.

School of Social Work

• Mary Collins, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, SSW; Professor and Department Chair, Social Welfare Policy; Director, Dual Degree Program in Social Work and Theology
• Jordana Muroff, Associate Professor, Clinical Practice, SSW
• Judith Perlstein, Associate Director Field Education; Lecturer; Advisor, SSW
• Deborah Putnam, Instructor Administrator; Lecturer, SSW

The School of Social Work will pilot the use of simulations as a method of program assessment for its Master of Social Work program. Though commonly used in other professional programs, simulations are relatively new in social work education and provide opportunity for an observable, holistic and multi-dimensional assessment of student competence. SSW will collaborate with the College of Fine Arts Theatre Department to hire actors who will act as standardized clients and professional social work practitioners will provide ratings and feedback to students. Simulation results will be used as an indicator within SSW’s program assessment plan.

BUSA Dresden, Germany Program

• Silke Fimmel, BUSA Dresden Director
• Ulrich Zeuner, BUSA Dresden Academic Advisor; uzeuner@bu.edu, Ulrich.Zeuner@tu-dresden.de

The free-lance nature of faculty employment in the BUSA Dresden Science and Engineering programs and financial constraints have made it difficult to directly involve our course instructors in the Learning Outcomes Assessment, as their contracts provide payment for each taught lesson on an hourly basis. The Assessment Practice and Innovation Mini Grant would allow us to engage our faculty in the process by paying them for the development and application of assessment rubrics for their courses in cooperation with their colleagues at the Charles River Campus. This approach will enable us to better assess our general learning outcomes for the BUSA Dresden Science and Engineering Programs with regard to students’ academic achievements and cultural learning and to use this information to implement changes effectively.

Department of Archaeology, CAS

• Catherine West, Research Assistant Professor, Archaeology, CAS
• John Marston, Assistant Professor, Archaeology, CAS
• Maria Codlin, Ph.D. Student, Archaeology, GRS

Archaeological science represents a synergism of the natural and social sciences, and its goal is to understand temporal and spatial changes in human behavior using the scientific method. While this is one of the core foci of the Department of Archaeology, the goals of the program remain underdeveloped. We propose a two day retreat for the Archaeological Science faculty to: (1) outline the program goals and future growth; (2) brainstorm ways to integrate our existing courses and potential new courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels; and (3) develop assessment protocols and methods for the program.

Department of Romance Studies (Spanish), CAS

• Alan E. Smith, Professor, Spanish; Associate Chair, Romance Studies, CAS
• Christopher Maurer, Professor, Spanish, CAS
• Susan Griffin, Head, Spanish Language Program (interim); Senior Lecturer, Spanish, Master Level, CAS

The Department of Romance studies will conduct the first­‐ever standardized test of proficiency in reading, speaking, listening and writing at a key level (fifth and sixth semesters) of its Spanish language program. At the end of spring semester we will administer the exam of the Servicio Internacional de Evaluación de la Lengua Española (SIELE) of the Instituto Cervantes to a sampling of 30 students who are taking their second 300-­level language course. The results will be compared with a variety of other already-­existing indicators (e.g., course grades, AP and SAT scores, placement test results) in order to help us set appropriate goals and measure outcomes in this set of Spanish courses, which form the basic linguistic component of the B.A. in Spanish and the Minor in Spanish.

Department of Biology, CAS

• Elizabeth Co, Lecturer, Biology (CAS)
• Kathryn Spilios, Director of Instructional Labs; Director of the Learning Assistant Program; Senior Lecturer, Biology (CAS)

The Biology Department will implement ExamSoft, a digital Exam Software, to administer exams in several key courses. Each question within an exam is tagged during its creation with Bloom’s taxonomy level as well as subject matter. The tags are of the instructors design, but additional tags can be added after the exam is taken; for example, by the assessment committee. ExamSoft will provide two key outcomes:

1. Students will be able to self-assess their progress by understanding their performance on an individual exam in terms of Bloom’s taxonomy. They will be able to engage in meaningful conversations to improve their own progress by understanding the process behind learning.
2. The Department will be able to track student progress longitudinally and ask key questions regarding program outcomes. We will track a cohort of CAS Biology majors as they progress through 4 semesters of the Biology major curriculum and a cohort of Sargent students as they progress through 3 semesters of their basic biology curriculum. The software allows administrators to longitudinally track individual students as well as student groups (for example by major or concentration). Using the resulting longitudinal data, the assessment committee can create a very detailed snapshot of how the courses are enabling students to perform within learning outcomes.

School of Music, CFA

• Karin Hendricks, Assistant Professor of Music, Music Education; Co-Director of Undergraduate Studies in Music (CFA)
• James Demler, Assistant Professor of Music, Voice; Co-Director of Undergraduate Studies in Music (CFA)

This grant will fund three half-day retreats for School of Music program chairs to discuss, clarify, and realign the learning outcomes and assessment tools used in each of the four Music BM programs. The intent of these retreats will be to: (1) clarify and better define the learning outcomes for each program; (2) ensure that the assessment tools are in better alignment with the stated outcomes for each program; and (3) develop an exit survey to provide a holistic, culminating assessment of students’ views regarding the effectiveness of the School of Music programs.

Mechanical Engineering Department, ENG

• Elise Morgan, Professor, Mechanical Engineering; Materials Science & Engineering; Associate Chair for Graduate Programs (ENG)

The Mechanical Engineering Department plans to hire an assessment consultant to create a survey instrument to assess the overall intellectual and social climate of our Ph.D. student population. Currently, there is no metric to assess the quality and effectiveness of research mentorship, career advising, and academic advising as it relates to our Ph.D. program. This annual climate survey will provide the Department Graduate Committee with metrics necessary to develop effective support strategies for Ph.D. students.

Division of Graduate Medical Sciences, BUSM

• Stephen Brady, Assistant Dean & Director, Mental Health Counseling & Behavioral Medicine Program; Associate Professor of Psychiatry (GMS)
• Hee-Young Park, Professor & Chair, Medical Sciences & Education; Professor, Dermatology; Assistant Dean (GMS)
• Samantha Straitz, Graduate Affairs & Data Administrator (GMS)

GMS offers 18 master’s programs and to maintain the quality and the rigor of each program, GMS conducted internal program reviews of each program, except those requiring discipline specific accreditation. To continue to build on the program reviews, we are developing a comprehensive metric-based, assessment-based evaluation and launching the GMS Program Metrics Initiative. Specific goals for this project are to (1) hold retreats to provide faculty developments in the area of program assessments with invited the internal and external assessment/evaluation experts; and (2) enable each program to establish metrics-based program performance management plan.

Study Abroad, Global Programs

• Elisabetta Convento, Director Boston University Study Abroad Italy Programs; Adjunct Associate Professor, Italian, Department of Romance Studies (CAS)
• Claudia Baldelli, Lecturer, Italian, Boston University Study Abroad Padua Programs and Venice Programs
• Laura Lenci, Assistant Academic Director, Boston University Study Abroad Italy Programs

The engagement of BU Global Programs and Study Abroad, in the process of assessing learning outcomes, is key to measuring global learning.

Conducting the assessment in BU Italy sites reveal that gaining better understanding of how assessment is done on the BU campus would be crucial to improve the quality of assessment and overall curricular cohesion between BU’s Italian Program and BU’s Italy sites.

We would like to send our instructor of Italian to meet colleagues in the Italian department, collaborate with BU language assessment experts, and share expertise on learning outcomes, and also to send the Assistant Academic Director to participate to a conference on Global Learning and the Study Abroad Curriculum.

Arts & Sciences Writing Program, CAS

• Deborah Breen, Senior Lecturer, CAS Writing Program
• Jason Prentice, Lecturer, CAS Writing Program

This project will assess the current depth and breadth of approaches to multimodal composition within the CAS Writing Program. The work will involve collecting and assessing assignments and curricular approaches and examining these current practices within the national context of multimodal composition in higher education.

Arts & Sciences Writing Program, CAS

• Justin Cubilo, Lecturer, CAS Writing Program
• Soomin Jwa, Lecturer, CAS Writing Program
• Kimberly Shuckra-Gomez, ESL Curriculum Coordinator & Senior Lecturer, CAS Writing Program
• Maria Zlateva, Associate Director of ESL & Assistant Professor of English, CAS Writing Program

Mediated Integration (MI), is an innovative format for mixing NES (native-speaker) and ESL (English as a Second Language) students across two sections; the ESL and mainstream instructors share a theme and a syllabus, co-plan, and occasionally co-teach classes. This integration exposes general writing faculty to ESL-specific methods and principles, and fosters a fresh pedagogical perspective. This project will use analytical rubrics, classroom observations, surveys, and interviews of both students and instructors to assess the impact of MI on both student populations, faculty, and the Writing Program as a whole.

Office of Student Programs and Leadership (OSLP), CAS

• Stacy Ulrich, Director of the Office of Student Programs & Leadership, CAS
• Matt Lengen, Program Manager, Office of Student Programs & Leadership, CAS

The FY101 program seeks to ensure that all first-year students undergo a successful and supported transition to college life, through a focus on community building, academic pathways and success, health and wellness, and identity development. This project will use the Your First College Year (YFCY) Survey, offered by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI), to compare the college adjustment of FY101 students and non-FY101 students to students at BU’s peer institutions. Data will be collected on study habits, extracurricular involvement, social commitments, and so on in order to understand the impact of BU’s FYI101 program.

School of Music, CFA

• Lynn Eustis, Director of Graduate Studies & Associate Professor of Music, Voice; CFA

During the 2015-16 academic year, the School of Music assessed the structure, format, and projected outcomes of the Doctor of Musical Arts oral qualifying exams. The two exams—one taken at the beginning of the student’s DMA path, the other the other at the end—are used as capstone requirements for the degree. This assessment mini grant will be used to hold three one-day retreats for a small group of key faculty stakeholders to discuss the entire DMA degree, with specific attention to the learning outcomes at the qualifying exam level.

Social Sciences Division, CGS

• Sandra Buerger, Lecturer, Natural Sciences & Mathematics (CGS)
• June Grasso, Associate Professor, Social Sciences (CGS)
• Kathleen Martin, Senior Lecturer, Social Sciences, CGS
• Megan Sullivan, Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development, CGS

CGS’s Social Science 101 course focuses on the behavioral sciences, provides the analytical background students will need to understand contemporary and historical society, and guides students towards mastery of the Quantitative Literacy or Quantitative Reasoning (QL/QR) learning outcome. This project will support the work of Dr. Kathleen Martin in examining the ePortfolios of one team of students (approximately 80 freshmen) to assess how and what they learned regarding QL/QR. Once she completes her analysis, Dr. Martin will offer one workshop on her findings, and one faculty team will create and implement a collaborative QR assignment.

Questrom School of Business

• Marie Burrage, Director, Program Initiatives & Assessment, Questrom

Through collaboration between the Dean’s Office, the faculty director, and the course and module coordinators in the MBA program, this project will focus on two learning goal areas: (1) core business knowledge and skills, and (2) management-systems perspective. The objective will be to identify key concepts introduced early in the program, and to determine if and when they are reinforced throughout the second two modules of the required curriculum, helping students to adopt a cross-functional, management-systems perspective. Additionally, methods for assessing the key concepts later in the curriculum will be defined and shared with faculty.

Masters of Public Health Program, SPH

• Jacey Greece, Clinical Assistant Professor, Community Health Sciences, SPH
• Vanessa Boland Edouard, Director of Strategic Educational Initiatives, SPH
• Emily Neuberger, Program Manager, Educational Initiatives, SPH

This mini grant will fund attendance at the 7^th Annual Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (AALHE) Assessment Conference, in order to help to provide educational support staff with the relevant skills and training to conduct quality learning assessment. SPH representatives will attend workshops that will aid with three ongoing projects: (1) the design and implementation of end‐of‐course evaluations that successfully measure student learning; (2) the creation of competency maps for all certificate programs; and (3) the examination of results of the annual School Survey, where alumni provide feedback on their ability to perform competencies for their degree program now that they are working in a professional setting.

MSW Program, SSW

• Mary Elizabeth Collins, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs; Professor & Chair, Social Welfare Policy Department
• Julia Kantner, MSW/MPH Graduate Student (SSW)
• Deborah Putnam, Instruction Administrator; Lecturer (SSW)

This assessment mini grant will assist in the development of measures to assess two core competencies identified by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), specifically: (1) diversity and difference; and (2) human rights and social, environmental and economic justice. The faculty-led project will consist of a literature search for assessment instruments, solicitation of input from key stakeholders, the development and piloting of assessment measures, and a mini-summit to share findings and plan the implementation of measures into existing learning assessment activities.

STH

• Steven J. Sandage, Professor of Psychology of Religion and Theology, STH
• Bryan P. Stone, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, STH

The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) is a questionnaire that measures an individual’s “orientations towards cultural differences” or intercultural competence, and is recommended by STH’s accrediting body, the Association of Theological Schools. This assessment mini grant will cover the cost of piloting the IDI to incoming Fall 2016 and Fall 2017 cohorts of PhD and DMin students, as well as individual feedback sessions, where students discuss their scores with an IDI-certified consultant and then develop individual plans for growth. If the IDI proves to be helpful in this pilot, then use of the questionnaire will be extended to students in all STH degree programs at both the beginning and end of their programs.