The IR Data Fellows Program is a year-long program designed to expand data usage by implementing measures that facilitate the effective integration of data into planning and decision making across campus. It will provide staff, faculty, and administrators an opportunity to both familiarize themselves with campus data resources and collaborate on formulating a sustainable data literacy strategy that will empower data users and expand use of data. Our ultimate vision is to build a program that enhances data literacy, empowers data users, and cultivates a culture of informed decision-making. 

Who Should Apply?

Faculty and staff with all levels of data experience are welcome to apply. This opportunity would be most relevant for those who have an interest in examining factors related to student success at 91腦瞳 and 91腦瞳 Machias.

Key Program Components

As a Data Fellow, you’ll be part of a select group of 8 to 10 participants who will collaboratively pilot and develop a sustainable data literacy plan. Throughout the 2024 academic year (spring 2024 and fall 2024 semesters), you will engage in monthly meetings and events, including:

• Curriculum Review and Adaptation: Review and potentially adapt the Data Literacy Institute (DLI) materials to tailor them to the needs of our institution.
• Training Sessions: Acquire practical data skills and strategies through hands-on training on navigating and interpreting existing IR reports and dashboards.
• Shared Project Development: Work together on a specific challenge related to student success at our institution to apply the acquired data literacy skills.
• Data-Informed Discussions: Connect with a diverse cohort of colleagues while discussing and interpreting the findings from the data analysis. 

As a Data Fellow, you will also have the opportunity to apply and, if selected, receive funds you can use for additional training, resources, or tools related to data literacy and professional development.

The application deadline has passed, but if you are interested in the program please reach out to Debra Allen (debra.allen@maine.edu), Lisa Applegate (lisa.applegate@maine.edu ) or Simona Mitevska (simona.mitevska@maine.edu). 

The 2024 cohort will meet two hours a month, from January to December during the spring and fall semesters. We will not meet over the summer. We anticipate a maximum of one hour of preparation work (i.e., outside of the meetings) each month. Refreshments will be provided.

Questions?

If you have any remaining questions about the program, please contact the program facilitators:

Debra Allen (debra.allen@maine.edu), Lisa Applegate (lisa.applegate@maine.edu), Simona Mitevska (simona.mitevska@maine.edu)

If you know someone else who would be interested, please forward this along! Open to all 91腦瞳 and 91腦瞳 Machias faculty and staff.

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Workshop Opportunity:

For anyone new to the program assessment process, we are offering an Assessment 101 workshop via Zoom on Oct 17th at 12-1 PM. This workshop will provide an introduction to the program assessment process and how it is implemented at 91腦瞳/UMM. If you are interested, .

The post Undergraduate Assessment Update泭 appeared first on Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

All graduate programs, except those with deferments, are asked to gather program assessment data for at least one program learning outcome during this academic year. Starting this year, we are also onboarding graduate programs to the same 3-year reporting cycle as undergraduate programs. Graduate programs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will submit both their initial data and their first assessment summary reports by June 30, 2024. All other graduate programs submit data from this academic year by October, 2024. We will provide more details on data and report submission in spring 2024.泭

This year we will be offering roundtable discussions to address assessment topics for graduate programs and will focus these discussions around topics selected by participating faculty. A roundtable last spring with NSFA faculty led to a robust and productive conversation about program assessment for research-based programs with no core curriculum.泭

We are also looking for one graduate faculty member from each college to participate on the Assessment Advisory Board (AAB). The AAB supports campus-wide assessment by advising on assessment policies, reviewing assessment reports, and supporting campus communication.泭

Please reach out to either Laura Millay (Laura.Millay@maine.edu) or Ryan Weatherbee (Ryan.a.Weatherbee@maine.edu) if you are interested in participating in a roundtable with other graduate faculty, have questions about graduate program assessment, or if you or one of your colleagues may be interested in serving on the AAB.泭

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After reviewing assessment processes at other institutions, and considering the challenges associated with our process, OIRA, in consultation with the General Education Stewardship Committee, developed a strategy where assessment is conducted by faculty teaching general education courses and then incorporated into the three-year assessment process for the relevant academic unit. The figure below outlines the proposed process.

During the pilot period for this new process, a group of six faculty fellows will work closely with faculty teaching within a particular general education category to find an assignment that aligns with the general education learning outcomes, apply the appropriate assessment rubric, and submit data to OIRA. This semester the Writing and Ethics categories are being assessed.

We plan to share periodic updates about this new general education assessment process with the wider campus community over the next two years. We look forward to engaging discussions about the future of general education assessment and the overall evolution of our general education curriculum.

The post Gen Ed Assessment appeared first on Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

• Ryan Dippre (ENG): ���College Composition Rubric Revision���
• Kate Ruskin (EES) and presented by Holly White (EES Graduate Student): ���Revising a Novel Tool for Program Assessment���
• Jessica Ricardi (CSD): ���Course-Based and Comprehensive Assessment of Graduate Students in Communication Sciences and Disorders���
• Kelsi Hobbes (ECO): ���Brightspace Learning Outcomes Course Pilot���
• Lizou Zhang (MBS): ���Brightspace Learning Outcomes Course Pilot���

We look forward to our next round of assessment grants being awarded this fall! You can find the call for proposals at umaine.edu/oira/assessment/current-assessment-activities/. The priority deadline is October 1 and the final deadline is October 31. Please consider how this grant could be used to help your program investigate new avenues in assessment, strengthen existing assessment designs, or assist you in implementing action plans for assessment in your unit.

The post Assessment Mini Grant Showcase appeared first on Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

1. Enrollment Page:

• Displays enrollment data for the past two fall terms, categorized by class level/degree (undergraduate, graduate, and total enrollment).
• Enables data filtering by campus, residency, academic group, and honors.

2. Newly Enrolled Page:

• Offers an overview of student enrollment changes between the current week and the previous one.
• Provides insights into newly enrolled students and leavers data for both Fall 2023 and Fall 2022, allowing you to assess the net change in enrollment as of the current week.

3. Financial Terms/Conditions-Math Placement Exam (FTC-MPE) Page:

• Presents 91腦瞳’s new FYR enrollment data for Fall 2023, with a breakdown by college and FTC-MPE indicators.
• Provides information on confirmed students, enrolled students, and those who completed the financial terms/condition and passed the math placement exam.

4. Retention Page:

• Displays retention data for the last two fall terms (Spring-to-Fall), categorized by class level/degree for degree-seeking undergraduate, graduate, and total students.
• Offers data filtering options by campus, residency, academic group, and honors.

5. Student Credit Hours (SCHs) Page:

• Provides SCHs data for both Fall 2023 and Fall 2022, up to the current date.
• Offers insights into Fall 2023 Budgeted SCHs and Fall 2022 Census SCHs.
• Allows filtering for both 91腦瞳 and 91腦瞳 Machias.

We hope the Weekly Enrollment Dashboard will serve as a valuable resource for administrators and academic leaders, offering real-time insights into enrollment, retention, and SCHs. That said, your feedback is crucial as we continue to enhance this resource to better serve our university community.泭 Please reach out to Deb Allen or Simona Mitevska with any feedback.

The post Introducing the Weekly Enrollment Dashboard appeared first on Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

Data collection for Summer 2022, Fall 2022, and Spring 2023 graduates will continue through November, via reminder emails, phone calls, and data from National Student Clearinghouse and LinkedIn. More than 300 University of Maine and University of Maine-Machias graduates have responded, and we hope to improve on the knowledge rates we achieved last year (48.9% for University of Maine, 47.0% for University of Maine at Machias, and 44.4% system-wide).

This is the second cohort of graduates about whom we have collected data using a unified system-wide process. 91腦瞳 and 91腦瞳 Machias results from the 2021-2022 cohort can be found on this page. College summaries have been provided to deans.泭 For more detailed requests, please submit through the OIRA Data Request Form.泭泭

For the first time this year, a few academic departments included泭 custom survey questions to meet accreditation needs. We are hopeful this collaboration will lead to higher response rates. For more information on how to add custom questions for your unit, please contact Nate Flint (nathan.flint@maine.edu).泭泭

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Here are their brief biographies and the different projects to which they are contributing:

Allison Brown will be working on the general education assessment pilot and is funded by the Davis Family Education Foundation Grant.泭

I泭have lived in Connecticut my entire life and have not yet traveled far beyond the Northeast, but I take every opportunity to explore this region and the variety of landscapes and people that compose it. I received my BA in Anthropology from Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) and have come to Maine to obtain my Master’s in Anthropology and Environmental Policy. My interests lie specifically in environmental education policy reform, and my hope is to move environmental education towards a more systems-based approach in a K-12 setting. Working as an educator for the Connecticut State Parks system for three years, I have tried to bring more socio-cultural discussions of climate change into the world of scientific practice.泭 Besides my professional aspirations, I have an interest in music and the arts. I play guitar and have been dancing for 20 years (tap is my favorite). I have performed in a variety of contexts throughout my life from competitions, art gallery openings, and charity events for childhood cancer hospitals, domestic violence awareness groups, and maternal health organizations. I pursued fine art and art history academically as an art minor at CCSU, and I continue to turn to the arts during my free time.

Kaitlyn Groh has joined the Assessment team and will be working on supporting program assessment at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

I am originally from Pismo Beach, which is a small coastal town in central California. I have an AA in Anthropology from Monterey Peninsula College and a BA in Anthropology from UC Davis. I miss the proximity to the ocean, which has dominated most of my life, but I am thoroughly enjoying all of the trails and rivers of Maine! After finishing my undergraduate studies, I moved to China to teach English. I lived in Shanghai for 4 years, which is where I met my husband and countless friends from all over the globe, as well as learned to speak Mandarin. While living abroad I visited Greece, Laos, Thailand, Hong Kong, and many cities and villages within China such as Beijing and Xian. My husband and I (along with our 3 cats) moved back to the US in 2021 so I could pursue a graduate degree. I am attending the University of Maine as a Master���s student of the Anthropology and Environmental Policy program with the goal of understanding how human activity is affecting our climate, as well as exploring solutions to the global crisis. In my free time I love to teach yoga, read, bike, paddle-board, and watch The Office with my husband.

Afua Kwarteng is conducting work for the UMS Transforms grant. Right now, she is working on meeting all the faculty at 91腦瞳 who are leading the Gateways to Success pilot projects to identify their specific needs with respect to assessment, data analysis, and reporting. These conversations will define the scope of projects she will work on throughout the rest of the year.

I come from the Western North region of Ghana which is generally different from the US and more specifically Orono in terms of culture and languages spoken. I have an MA in Applied Linguistics from Ohio University and a BA in Political Science and Swahili from the University of Ghana. I also hold an Exchange Students Program Certificate in Swahili from the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate and Computer Assisted Language Learning Certificate. During my time in Tanzania, I visited places like Mount Kilimanjaro, Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, and Zanzibar. I enjoyed my time in all those places, made new friends, and ate delicious Tanzanian cuisines. My time in the US has also seen some adventure, and I especially enjoyed my visit to Chicago, Millersburg Amish Country in Ohio, Lexington, KY, and Cincinnati, OH. I am currently pursuing a dual master���s degree in Global Policy and Business Administration at the University of Maine, with the goal of establishing an NGO in Ghana to help less privileged children get quality education. I am a language enthusiast and can speak three international languages: English, Swahili, and Chinese (on an intermediate level), and two Ghanaian languages. In my free time, I like to watch movies, visit new places, and chat with friends on social media.泭

Natalie Robinson is assisting with a variety of Institutional Research projects and the National Survey of Student Engagement results.泭

I���m Natalie and I���m one of the new Institutional Research graduate assistants! I���m from Wells, Maine, and I���m a 4+1 student working towards my M.S. in Data Science and Engineering. I graduated from 91腦瞳 in May 2023 with a B.A. in Mathematics and a minor in Economics, and I���m also an Honors College graduate. My Honors Thesis focused on the mathematics of queuing theory and writing an R simulation to model the queue behavior of a restaurant in my hometown that I���ve worked at for the past five summers. In addition, I���m an active member of the Society of Women Engineers, and I���ve held multiple executive positions and traveled to national conferences in Indianapolis and Houston with the 91腦瞳 section. Overall, I���m really interested in learning more about data analysis techniques and programs in my work. I love working with spreadsheets in particular (one might say I Excel at them), and I���m known to create them for any excuse I can think of. In my free time, I love watching shows and playing games with friends, reading, listening to music, and taking walks around campus!

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In the spring, we convened a small faculty pilot group to get feedback on a new PowerBI dashboard that provides faculty longitudinal access to their SET results across semesters. Using that feedback, the dashboard was finalized this summer. Once logged in, faculty will see only their own results associated with the standard university SET questions for any of their courses that were evaluated back to fall 2020. Visualizations and filters on the dashboard allow viewers to explore how their results have changed over time and among their courses. This tool can also be used to compile results needed for P&T applications, avoiding the need to open all the reports individually within the Blue portal.

Faculty who received SET reports for summer courses were notified how to access the dashboard, and we will continue to direct people to the dashboard in fall report notifications at the end of the semester. For anyone interested in viewing the dashboard now, it can be found at /oira/interactive-data/internal-reports/#Eval – look for the link called 91腦瞳 Student Evaluations Faculty Dashboard. A short video orientation to the dashboard is also available at this link: .

The post Student Evaluations of Teaching Update appeared first on Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

1. Degrees Conferred

• Provides the total number of degrees conferred by College, Academic Unit, Major or Minor, and Level.
  • In the 2022-2023 academic year, 91腦瞳 awarded 2,895 degrees, including 25 undergraduate certificates, 1,977 bachelor’s degrees, 158 graduate certificates, 647 master’s degrees, 26 post-master’s certificates, and 62 doctoral degrees.
  • 91腦瞳 Machias awarded 97 degrees in the same period, spanning 16 early college degrees, 5 associate’s degrees, 17 undergraduate certificates, and 59 bachelor’s degrees.

2. Student Credit Hours

• Displays student credit hours by college, department, and career (undergraduate/graduate) from 2018-2019 to 2022-2023.
  • 91腦瞳 provided a total of 255,862 credit hours in fall and spring of 2022-2023, with approximately 90% at the undergraduate level and 10% at the graduate level.

3. FTE faculty

• Displays Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) faculty numbers by college and academic unit.
  • In 2022-2023, 557 total FTE faculty (392 tenure/tenure-eligible) were associated with the six academic colleges.

4. 91腦瞳 Undergraduate Majors

• Provides a ten-year summary of fall enrollment for undergraduate baccalaureate degree programs.
• The report includes trend lines, mean change in enrollment, percentage change from 2013 to 2022, and compound annual growth rates (CAGR).
  • Notable growth in such programs as Surveying Engineering Technology, Computer Science, Sports Management, and certificate programs is evident.

5. 91腦瞳 Graduate Majors

• Similar to the undergraduate majors report, this report provides a ten-year summary of fall enrollment for graduate programs.
• The report includes mean change in enrollment, percentage change, and CAGR for the most recent five and ten years.
  • Remarkable growth is seen in programs such as MBA, Master’s in Information Systems, and online programs.

Please contact Deb Allen (debra.allen@maine.edu) or Simona Mitevska (simona.mitevska@maine.edu) with any questions about these updates.

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