6/28/2010 11:03:25 AM6/28/2010 11:03:25 AM A Editors Published by PRIMER National Communication Association National Communication Phil Backlund and Gay Wakefield Phil Backlund and Gay ASSESSMENT COMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION Backlund AA CCOOMMMMUNIUNICACATITIOONN AASSESSSSESSMENTMENT PRIMERPRIMER and Wakefield NATIONAL COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION www.natcom.org ISBN 0-944811-27-2 NCA00027_Cover.indd 1NCA00027_Cover.indd 1 AA CCOOMMMMUNIUNICACATITIOONN AASSESSSSESSMENTMENT PRIMERPRIMER Editors Phil Backlund and Gay Wakefield Published by National Communication Association All NCA Publication Program materials are reviewed within the spirit of academic freedom, promoting the free exchange of ideas. The contents of this publication are the responsibility of its authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of the National Communication Association, its members, its officers, or its staff. © 2010 National Communication Association. All rights reserved. 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Yep San Francisco State University Editorial Assistant Olga Zaytseva University of New Mexico Associate Editors Kathy Adams, California State University, Fresno Bill Keith, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Melissa Aleman, James Madison University Amy Kilgard, San Francisco State University Bryant Alexander, California State University, Los Angeles Derek Lane, University of Kentucky Brenda Allen, University of Colorado, Denver Wenshu Lee, Loyola Marymount University Karrin Anderson, Colorado State University Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, University of Wisconsin, Parkside James Aune, Texas A & M University Casey Lum, William Paterson University Jay Baglia, San Jose State University Jacqueline Martinez, Arizona State University Barry Brummett, University of Texas, Austin Dreama Moon, California State University, San Marcos Bernadette Calafell, University of Denver Sherry Morreale, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Aimee Carrillo Rowe, University of Iowa Charles Morris III, Boston College James Chesebro, Ball State University Dennis Mumby, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Robin Clair, Purdue University Majia Nadesan, Arizona State University, West Mary Jane Collier, University of New Mexico Thomas Nakayama, Northeastern University Leda Cooks, University of Massachusetts. Amherst Dan O’Hair, Uni versity of Oklahoma Robbin Crabtree, F airfield University Judy Pearson, Nor th Dakota State University Fernando Delgado, Hamline University Elyse Pineau, Southern Illinois University Leigh Ford, Western Michigan University Jim Query, James Madison University Larry Frey, University of Colorado, Boulder Valerie Renegar, San Diego State University Patricia Geist-Martin, San Diego State University Abhik Roy, Loyola Marymount University Craig Gingrich-Philbrook, Southern Illinois University Scott Schonfeldt-Aultman, St Mary’s College of California Alberto Gonzalez, Bowling Green State University David Schultz, Trinity Lutheran College Judith Hamera, Texas A & M University Susan Shimanoff, San Francisco State University Radha Hegde, New York University Cheri Simonds, Illinois State University, Normal Randy Hirokawa, Uni versity of Hawaii, Hilo Anthony Slagle, Uni versity of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Michele Jackson, University of Colorado, Boulder Omar Swartz, University of Colorado, Denver E. Patrick Johnson, Northwestern University Jennifer Willis-Rivera, University of Wisconsin, River Falls Pamela Kalbfleisch, Univ ersity of North Dakota TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword Gust A. Yep.............................................................................................................................................vii Introduction, An Assessment Primer: A Guide To Developing Successful Educational Assessment Programs Phil Backlund and Gay Wakefield...........................................................................................................ix Chapter 1, Assessing Communication Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes Phil Backlund, Timothy J. Detwiler, Pat Arneson, and Mary Ann Danielson .........................................1 Chapter 2, Assessment Expectations from the Regional Accreditation Commissions Scott A. Chadwick .................................................................................................................................15 Chapter 3, Assessment and Planning Re becca Wolfe and Gay Wakefield.........................................................................................................23 Chapter 4, Assessment and Learning Diane S. Krider ....................................................................................................................................41 Chapter 5, Links Between Student-Learning Outcomes and Assessment Tools Diane S. Krider and Timothy J. Detwiler ..............................................................................................53 Chapter 6, End-of-Major Assessment Procedures Sherry Wien ...........................................................................................................................................65 Chapter 7, Linking Assessment Results with Faculty Development Scott A. Chadwick ..................................................................................................................................85 Chapter 8, Demystifying the Programmatic Review Process: Ensuring Quality Control Fostering Faculty Development, and Motivating Faculty, Dacia Charlesworth ..............................................................................................................................95 Chapter 9, Assessing Communication as Part of General Education Ellen A. Hay and Michelle Epstein Garland .......................................................................................107 Chapter 10, Student-Learning Outcome Assessment and Service-Learning in the Communication Classroom Toni Whitfield and Donald Martin.......................................................................................................117 Chapter 11, Assessing Intercultural Communication: Models and Methods Gerald W. Driskill, Sasha Arjannikova, and Tifany Schneider ...........................................................127 Chapter 12, Assessing Communication in P-12 Classrooms Douglas K. Jennings ............................................................................................................................145 Chapter 13, Assessment Resources on the Web Tatyana Dumova and Ann Rosenthal...................................................................................................165 Author Biographies ......................................................................................................................................179 vi FOREWORD ASSESSMENT, EDUCATION, AND NEOLIBERALISM We are currently living in, according to Noam Chomsky (1999, p. 19), the new “global order” of neoliberalism. As public policy, political ideology, and mode of governmentality, neoliberalism is premised on the extension of “free” market relationships characterized by unrelenting push for deregulation, minimal government and the disappearance of “public” goods and services, expanding privatization, and promotion of individual freedom of choice (Giroux, 2008; Lee, 2008). As a result, education is increasing becoming privatized and commodified. As a commodity, education is, in Henry Giroux’s (2007, p. 102) words, turning into an “academic factory.” This new model of education demands that the “product” that universities and institutions of higher learning are “selling” be increasingly standardized (e.g., all public speaking courses should be teaching the same content in terms of knowledge and skills regardless of individual, sociocultural, and historical concerns such as the Eurocentric and patriarchal views undergirding dominant models of public speaking in the U.S.). To ensure this process of standardization, accrediting bodies, businesses, and government institutions are, in the name of public accountability, requiring assessment of the