The purpose of this 12 credit hour graduate certificate is to equip postsecondary faculty and administrators in 2- and 4- year institutions with the knowledge and skills to access, manage, and utilize input data, student information system generated data, outcome-based assessment results, and other benchmark indicators of institutional data in their decision-making processes.
Specifically, students who complete this 12 credit-hour certificate will be able to do the following:
- navigate extracts from their institutional databases and national databases to determine which variables will help them inform decisions;
- write descriptive and inferential analysis using variables from their institutional and national databases;
- identify variables gathered from pre-assessment or input data, as well as institutional and national databases that can be used for enrollment planning and planning interventions in order to influence retention and graduation rates;
- define outcomes-based assessment program review (OAPR) and articulate the purpose for OAPR, in particular the assessment of student learning and development;
- identify and critique the benefits of various research methodologies, national surveys and instruments, and national benchmarks used in enrollment management and OAPR;
- identify realistic solutions to the challenges encountered when implementing OAPR at an institutional level;
- draft reports and presentations for various types of audiences for various types of purposes;
- determine what variables may need to be collected and stored in main institutional databases as opposed to departmental databases in order to answer pertinent institutional questions;
- facilitate the request for and interpretation of data needed for specific decision-maker’s questions;
- identify how data may be misinterpreted and identify presentation and reporting techniques that may diminish the opportunities for data misinterpretation;
- identify and propose solutions for data analysis, reporting, and use of data ethical dilemmas; and
- connect faculty or administrator produced data with external benchmark requirements and strategic planning.