Momentum - Nuventive News and Information

I am very excited to discuss TracDat 4 in this month's issue of Momentum. The newest release of our flagship TracDat solution contains many groundbreaking new capabilities. TracDat 4 represents an entirely new approach to higher education institutional assessment.

For the first time, institutions can easily extend the power of the solution throughout a campus. Now you can support and extend broad participation in the assessment process without contributors having any knowledge of the software application. We believe this will make a positive impact on instilling a sustainable culture of assessment.

I invite you to take a look at all of the new capabilities of TracDat 4. I think you will find it to be a powerful, easy to use, and compelling solution that will make a significant contribution to your institution's continuous improvement initiatives.

David F. Raney, M.D.
CEO

Read the Full Text
of the Letter from the CEO

Faculty Participation in the Assessment Process

Tangible Solutions for Progress

Trying to increase participation in the assessment process across the institution? Having a hard time getting faculty engaged? Have you heard, "I already assess students regularly and I don't have time to learn yet another application" ?

Wouldn't it be great if you could get assessment data from faculty and staff without having to train them on a new application?

TracDat simplifies and encourages broad participation from faculty and staff in the assessment process by using email to gather data and assign and monitor task completion regardless of whether the assessment participant is a TracDat user. Available integration with Outlook, Lotus Notes, etc. facilitates campus-wide adoption within an institution.

From the Desk of the Chic Geek

Using Email Data Collection in TracDat 4 to Dramatically Improve Information Quality

When the Momentum staff asked Gary Choban, Nuventive CTO, to share some of his favorite TracDat 4 features, well lets just say the tape ran out...

With the new Task Assignment and the Data Tools capabilities in TracDat 4, it is now easier than ever to collect ANY kind of assessment data. No need to know how to use TracDat or even have a TracDat user account. Both of these new features enable data collection via email. Now anyone with an email account can participate in the assessment process.

Task Assignment

Dramatically simplifies and encourages broad participation from faculty and staff in the assessment process. Email is used to assign and monitor task completion.
Allows a coordinator to assign planning tasks, data collection for measures, request observations (what you observed from the data), action items, and follow-up.
Provides a mechanism to get more input and "thinking" about the data and plans.
Adds an item to the recipients email calendar (Outlook, Lotus Notes, etc.).

Data Tools

Enables forms-based email collection of data for any set of measures to any cohort (such as Faculty member reporting on students in a course regarding competencies or a Dean reporting on faculty members in a Division regarding tasks).
Supports data aggregation for "like" cohorts. This is a powerful way, for example, to gather course level information across many sections of the same course taught by multiple faculty members.
HIghlights of key TracDat 4 Capabilities

The Most Sought After Assessment Management
Solution Capabilities

Assessment Managment Solutions Tool

Knowing what to look for when choosing an Assessment Management Solution can be confusing. Use this tool to help you assess if the Outcomes Assessment Management solution your organization is reviewing meets your needs.

Nuventive staff will be happy to work with you and help interpret the results of this product analysis. If you have questions or comments about this document, please call us at 412-487-8700.

Outcomes Assessment Management Solutions
Performance and Requirements Analysis

SPOTLIGHT: SAIR
Southern Association for Institutional Research

Highlighting Specific Sectors of Higher Education

The Southern Association for Institutional Research (SAIR) is dedicated to the advancement of research leading to improved understanding, planning, and operation of institutions of post- secondary education. SAIR provides a forum for the dissemination of information and interchange of ideas on problems of common interest in the field of institutional research.

In addition, SAIR promotes the continued professional development of individuals engaging in institutional research and fosters the unity and cooperation among persons having interests and activities related to research.

The SAIR 2007 Annual Conference will be held October 7 - 9 at the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas. Nuventive customers Henderson State University and Arkansas Tech University welcome you to Arkansas and hope you will attend the special event at the Clinton Library. Stop by the exhibit area and meet Nuventive representatives.

Nuventive is proud that many of its customers are SAIR members. Some of these include: The University of Mississippi, Eastern Kentucky University, Our Lady of the Lake University and Toccoa Falls College.

For more information on SAIR, visit http://www.sair.org

Call for Proposals - Upcoming Conferences

League for Innovation

The League for Innovation in the Community College invites proposals for the
2008 Innovations conference to be held March 2-5, 2008, at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Denver, Colorado, and hosted by the Community College of Denver. The deadline for submitting proposals is September 14, 2007.

AIR Forum AIR Seattle

Submit a proposal for the 48th AIR Forum, May 24-28, 2008 in Seattle, Washington. The deadline for proposals is October 1, 2007. The Call for Proposals is available on the AIR website.