Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the internationally accepted standard for evaluating species conservation status. Since 2001, the process of collecting, evaluating, and refining the information that is the basis of the IUCN Red List has increasingly been undertaken through expert-driven global assessments of entire taxonomic/ecological groups. These global biodiversity assessments, implemented via central coordination and regional workshops, represent a significant investment of financial resources, time, and effort. For example, the Global Amphibian Assessment, completed in 2004, assessed ~6,000 species in 3 years and cost ~$2m. The current Global Marine Species Assessment will assess ~20,000 species and cost ~$10m. To date, the costs and benefits of these ongoing assessments have not been systematically assessed relative to the claim that they maximize use of resources for growing the Red List. Understanding the costs requires accounting for workshop expenses, staff time, and expert volunteer effort. The assessment process is clearly beneficial for conservation planning and leveraging funding; the benefits for capacity building, developing biodiversity indicators, informing environmental impact assessments and stimulating research are evident, but more difficult to quantify. Global biodiversity assessments can be better designed by improving knowledge of their costs and benefits and the relationships between scientific process and conservation practice.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The assessment of student learning in general education courses is of critical importance in higher education. Study one examined the utility of a writing assignment (application essays) in a basic communication course as an effective assessment tool. Study two replicates and extends the first study to explore types of mass media events students address in application essays and assesses the revisions made to the assignment based on findings from study one.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The goal of this paper is to show how one Political Science Department at small Midwest university utilized good assessment practices identified by the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) and others in order to effect improvement. We argue that these principles can be followed in a way that is relatively painless for the a department and will produce numerous benefits for the department that go beyond the literal acts of planning and engaging in assessment. We hope that some of our experiences and rationale can be modeled at other institutions.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to provide the reader with the latest conceptual and methodological developments in the field of assessing the linkage between peacebuilding and development. The paper presents an eight step Peace and Conflict Intervention Assessment Systems (PCIAS) model that aims to overcome the shortcomings in this field and give a contribution to a systematic and potentially standardized systems approach to assessing the peacebuilding relevance, impact and sustainability of interventions taking place in conflict prone areas. The PCIA-System as a comprehensive, holistic model also includes the most important existing methodologies in the field from different conflict analysis tools to the above mentioned assessment approaches: it helps to position these different approaches into the PCIA-System and raises awareness of their best utilization. Moreover, the model has elaborated additional, new methodologies and also focuses on the ways and means to enhance institutional and personal learning processes.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Abstract:
The problem for this study was that faculty in the department of Communications were reporting that many students enrolled in the program seem to be under-prepared for the coursework involved with the Communication Arts major. Efforts to alleviate this problem included the design of a minimum standards skills assessment for incoming majors to determine entry levels of preparation. Prior to this exam, there had been no departmental standard of measuring basic skill requirements necessary for the major. However, it was not known what effect administering the exam would have on student success rates and retention.
The purpose of this study was to test the notion that students considering the Communication major might be better served by a departmental performance requirement to enter the major, similar to the entrance requirement of other performing arts majors such as art, theater or music. To test that notion, a study was conducted that compared student success rates in the Communication major, as evidenced by student GPAs in the major, between students who achieved the cutoff score or higher on a minimum standards departmental assessment exam with students who did not achieve the cutoff score on the departmental assessment exam. If students who achieved a cutoff score on a minimum standards departmental assessment exam perform better in the program (as measured by their GPA within the major) than students who do not meet the cutoff score, then the exam might be considered as a new departmental tool in helping to predict student success in the program, and consequently perhaps, graduation rates.