University of Mississippi Deploys TracDat to Help Transform Institutional Assessment and Continuous Improvement Programs
TracDat Helps Ole Miss Manage, Document, Share,
and Report Evidence of Student and Institutional Achievement

PITTSBURGH, PA, January 07, 2008 – Nuventive, a leading provider of individual and institutional assessment solutions, today announced that the University of Mississippi is implementing TracDat®, an enterprise assessment management solution, to help transform the institutional assessment process.

Chartered by the Mississippi Legislature in 1844, The University of Mississippi opened its doors to 80 students in 1848. Today the total enrollment on all of The University of Mississippi's campuses, including The University of Mississippi Medical Center, is over 17,000.

The University of Mississippi has long been recognized as a preeminent institution with regard to assessment. The University identified the need to find a software solution to continue to improve the overall assessment process and make it more meaningful at every level of the organization. In the past, the process was entirely paper based. Data was difficult to assemble, analyze, and share. Reflection was difficult to capture and evaluate. The entire assessment process was constrained by the fact that data resided in different departments within the institution and was not easily accessible. Ongoing review of goals and objectives from prior assessment programs was difficult to tie back to outcomes.

TracDat provides the University with an entirely new way to collect, manage and report data. For the first time, information gathered during the assessment process is available 24 x 7 to any authorized individual and all the data is collected, stored and managed within a single solution. TracDat enables:

• Support for assessment of student learning evidence
• Institutional alignment of goals and outcomes
• Powerful ability to import external data, including summary tables, charts, graphs, and statistics
• Reporting capabilities that support the decision-making process and create visibility for progress on campus projects and assessment initiatives

TracDat provides a university-wide assessment management solution which is helping to establish consistent processes for overseeing program improvements that are aligned with the University’s goals and values. The web-based process solution provides users with a real-time means of updating, tracking, storing, retrieving, and sharing assessment data that supports the institution’s continuous improvement processes. TracDat also enables the University to quickly and effectively respond to the increasing expectations of accreditation bodies for outcomes-based assessment and accountability by demonstrating how program improvements are being used to enhance learning and document progress toward its mission and goals.

The Assessment Report utilized by the University shows how each assessment unit is supporting the goals of the institution or reporting unit. This report is presented in a model that includes:

• Goals
• Objectives
• Means of Assessment & Criteria/Tasks
• Observations
• Action and Follow Up

“While we are very pleased that we now have a single solution for collecting, storing and managing all of our assessment data, Ole Miss is truly excited about our ability to conduct thorough analytical reviews of all of the data that is collected in the system”, said Margie Hobbs, Ph.D., Associate Director, Institutional Research and Assessment. “The ability to quickly and easily access data going back many years and analyze the progress that has been made on individual initiatives gives us the opportunity to deepen and extend a culture of continuous institutional improvement.”

The University sees a real opportunity to improve assessment and continuous improvement processes and to help transform the culture of assessment at the institution. Data and information can be viewed from within the system assisting specific assessment committees in improving their effectiveness. When a new chair takes over a department, for example, TracDat can help smooth that transition with real data and specific information about the current assessment plan and results.

“Given the longstanding deep commitment to assessment that the University of Mississippi is well known for it was especially critical that we select the strongest possible solution to support our continued progress in assessment”, said Mary Harrington, Director, Institutional Research and Assessment.

As a part of the plan to engage participants throughout the organization, the University will sponsor a series of workshops on the use of TracDat in the assessment process. These workshops will help users structure the format in which data will be captured and then educate users on how to successfully contribute, manage and report on that data. Administrative teams will clearly define the measurable outcomes to which the University will hold itself accountable and how that data will be entered and managed in TracDat.

“We salute the tremendous vitality of the University of Mississippi and its longstanding commitment to an institution-wide culture of continuous improvement”, said Dr. David Raney, Nuventive CEO. “We are proud that Nuventive was chosen to help achieve and sustain the mission, goals and objectives of the University.”

About Ole Miss

The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1848, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford and three branch campuses located in Booneville, Tupelo, and Southaven. UM maintains a field station in Bay Springs as well as the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. Additionally, it is both a sea-grant and space-grant institute. Sixty-seven percent of undergraduates are from Mississippi, and nineteen percent of all students are minorities. International students come from sixty-six nations. http://www.olemiss.edu

About Nuventive

Nuventive is a leading provider of comprehensive, integrated real-time solutions that enable its customers to support the continuous process of assessing, managing and improving learning. Nuventive customers are institutions, faculty, administrators, students and private sector users in over 20 countries. Nuventive is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with distribution in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific regions. For more information, please call +1.412.847.0280 or 1.877.366.8700. Nuventive, the Nuventive logo, and marks relating to other Nuventive products and services referenced herein are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuventive LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.