www.athensnews.com/news/campusnews/2008/jul/14/ou-and-o -
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Published on: 7/14/2008
Last Visited: 7/31/2008
The system will solve a valid problem, stated Michael Williford, associate provost for institutional research and assessment.The standard report for universities and colleges will make it easier for students and parents to research schools side by side, he explained.
"(The system) gives colleges and universities a common template to allow prospective students to make comparisons," he said.
Fortunately, OU is already doing much of what the report asks for, according to Williford.The VSA asks participating universities to use the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to measure student activity on their campuses."We've been doing the NSSE survey for many years because we've been interested in it," Williford said.
For standardized tests to gauge general learning at the university, Williford said, "We're kind of ahead of the curve on that one."OU had already been administering the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP) exam years before the VSA required it, he said.
For OU's College Portrait, Williford acknowledged that OU won't have to change much to adhere to the guidelines, saying that most of the numbers and figures will be the same — "it's just presented in a slightly different way," he said.
The new system doesn't really ask for much more than what OU is already doing, Williford explained."The nice thing is that (the VSA) is somewhat redundant with other things we do," he said.
However, there are some new elements OU has to add to its College portrait in order to meet the VSA requirements.Although OU already posts tuition rates and costs, the VSA is asking for a standardized "cost calculator," which differs from OU's current method, Williford said.The new calculator will allow prospective students to determine the actual cost of attending the university, according to the Board's report.
Though joining the College Portrait rating system could cost universities up to $100,000, Williford said that OU won't have to eat that kind of cost.Since the university already employs many of the methods the VSA asks for, "in terms of costs, I don't think it's going to be that much, if anything," he said.
However, one major change in the program could end up costing the university.The Board of Regents' Strategic Plan for Higher Education states that the program wants to move toward a common assessment of learning outcomes across the system.
If the Regents insist on having a single standardized test for these assessments, OU might have to change more than it wants to.The board, Williford said, seems to be pushing toward the Collegiate Learning Assessment program, instead of the CAAP test that OU has already been using for years.If OU has to change from the CAAP to another standardized test, "that could run us close to $100,000," Williford estimated.
Some information for the new College Portrait, he said, should be published by the end of the summer.When asked if it's a rating system, Williford clarified, saying it's more like an updated Web site.
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