Committee on Learning Assessment (COLA)

Charge

General responsibility for the oversight of the assessment of student learning at Gettysburg College is vested in the Committee on Learning Assessment (COLA). Reporting to the Provost, and through the Provost to the President, the Committee has responsibility for both the implementation and periodic review of the Gettysburg College Assessment Plan for Learning Outcomes (2003, hereafter, the Plan), for the coordination of the assessment activities that the Plan commissions, and for the approval of co-curricular learning goals proposed by CLAG.

Specific Responsibilities

• Monitoring and coordinating all learning assessment activities in compliance with the Plan, by reviewing the goals, means of assessment, and results for each level, while keeping thought for the quality and integrity of the assessment process.
• Conducting the assessment of specific overarching general education learning goals.
• Creating and supporting a "culture of assessment" at the College, by establishing policies related to the publication of assessment results; fostering the sharing of practices and data; encouraging the use of assessment results in the reform of practice; supporting assessment training; and establishing and maintaining a website for assessment activities, policies, and results at Gettysburg College.
• Reporting learning outcomes to the President as the key component of the overall assessment of Gettysburg College's institutional effectiveness.

• Regularly reviewing, emending, and implementing the Plan; and monitoring the relationship of this institutional plan to the evolving standards for assessment of the Middle States Association.

Members (2009-2010)

Salvatore Ciolino, Suhua Dong, Gavin Foster, Barbara Fritze, Sunghee Kim, Laurence Marschall, Jonelle Pool, Julie Ramsey, John Ryan (Chair), Kathleen Sasnett, James White

Former COLA Members 

Major Documents

• Spring 2008 Syllbi Assessment
• Assessing General Education Outcomes (The Gettysburg Curriculum): Protocols  (Short Version)
• Assessing General Education Outcomes (The Gettysburg Curriculum): Protocols (Detailed Version)
• Integration of Curricular and Co-Curricular Goals
• General Education Learning Outcome (outcomes derived from the overarching College Learning Goals, or The Gettysburg Curriculum) 

Resources: Guidelines developed by Middle States Association Commission on Higher Education

• Student Learning Assessment Handbook
• Assessing Student Learning and Institutional Effectiveness: Understanding Middle States Expectations
• Characteristics of Excellence in Higher Education: Eligibility Requirements and Standards for Accreditation (2006) (Standard 14: Assessment of Student Learning) (p. 63-68)

Questions or comments? Please feel free to contact COLA.