TracDat 5 Faculty User Manual

TracDat is the system that stores course, program (degrees and certificates) and institutional learning

outcomes. In February 2016, COS updated the system to version 5. This manual will guide users through

the features.

TracDat at College of the Sequoias

Assessment Overview

Before you begin:

Check with your division chair or dean to find out whether or not you need to have

access to TracDat. If you do, send a request to [email protected] for permission to

access TracDat. Be sure to include the discipline or program for which you need access.

To access COS TracDat, either type the following URL in the address bar or find the link

on the COS Homepage.

https://cos.tracdat.com

Assessment of outcomes is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student

learning. It involves making expectations explicit and public; setting appropriate criteria and high

standards for learning quality; systematically gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence to

determine how well performance matches those expectations and standards; and using the

resulting information to improve performance.

Outcomes Assessment, in its simplest manifestation consists of:

1. Defining the most important goals for students to achieve in a course/program

(Outcomes)

2. Evaluating how well these goals have been achieved (Assessment)

3. Improving the learning experience by using evaluation results to create plans for better

meeting the outcome (Improvement Plans)

Spring 2016

Access to TracDat

TracDat 5

Faculty User Manual

mailto:[email protected]

https://cos.tracdat.com/

PAGE 2 COS TRACDAT USER MANUAL

Navigation:

Logging into TracDat

Use your Universal COS login and password to enter TracDat. If you are having any

difficulty, contact the Computer Help Desk: [email protected].

. Course Outcomes and Assessment

Once logged in, TracDat will display the discipline or program for which you have

access. If you have access to more than one program or discipline, you may toggle

between them in the discipline/program bar.


Top Buttons: General Information, TBD, TBD, Filters

Home: View the outcomes/assessment work of your

discipline or program at a glance.

Discipline: Click the down arrow for menu options.

General Information: This will list information about the

discipline (right now, just the title).

Assignments: If you have been given a specific assignment,

you will be able to view it here.

Personnel: A list of all personnel in the unit, along with their

access levels.

Course Planning: In this menu, you will find the areas in which

to enter or revise outcomes and assessment information for

the discipline.

Course Outcomes and Assessment: Click here to view or

work on course outcomes and assessment plans.

Assessment Results: Click here to add assessment results.

Reports: Run reports on assessments in this area. This also

includes the CurricUNET Outcomes Report necessary for

updating course outlines. Standard reports will be available

to all users. Ad Hoc reports are available to users according

to access levels.

Documents: Store documents, reports, files, etc. in this area.


Adding or Modifying a Course Outcome

There are two ways to get to the course outcomes.

1. From the HOME menu, click on the course title.

2. From the COURSE PLANNING menu, click on Course Outcomes and Assessment.

Note that the “breadcrumbs” of how you got to the page are listed at the top, so you

can easily backtrack.

A blue arrow on the navigation menu alerts you to the current page on display.

To revise a course outcome or add an assessment plan, click on the down arrow to

see the list of current outcomes.

To add a new outcome for the course, click on the on the right side of the page.


Course Level: Adding a Course Outcome

Adding an outcome requires the following steps:

Go to Course Planning, click the down arrow and click on Course Outcomes and

Assessment.

Click the on right side of the page to add a new outcome:

In the next screen, fill out the boxes. The boxes with asterisks (*) are required to

complete the page. There are help guides for each box (click the blue question

mark).

When finished, click the SAVE button.


Modifying an outcome or adding a new assessment plan requires the following

steps:

Go to Course Planning, click the down arrow and click on Course Outcomes

and Assessment.

Click the down arrow next to Course Outcomes. A list of the course outcomes

will appear with their own down arrows. Click the down arrow of the outcome

that needs revision.

You can view the information about the outcome. Find the editing tools on the

right side of the screen (use these to edit, copy or delete the outcome).

Add an assessment plan by clicking on the in the Assessment Plan line.

Faculty members who are working on course outcomes must confer with their

colleagues within their discipline when adding or deleting course outcomes,

creating and implementing assessment plans and creating improvement plans for

the course.

Because outcomes will be included in syllabi, changes to the learning outcomes

need to be completed well in advance of a new semester. New outcomes are

added to Course Search on the COS webpage each semester.

Collegiality and Outcomes

Modifying or Adding an Assessment Plan to a Course Outcome


Assessment

To create an Assessment Plan (or add a new one to a current outcome):

Go to Course Planning, click the down arrow and click on Course Outcomes and

Assessment.

Click the down arrow next to Course Outcomes. A list of the course outcomes will

appear with their own down arrows. Click the down arrow of the outcome that

needs revision.

Add an assessment plan by clicking on the in the Assessment Plan line.

On the next page, select an Assessment Type. This is the general method you will

employ to assess the Course Outcome.

The Assessment Plan in the next field is a narrative of how the division will assign

the outcome, how the division will collect the data, and how this will be measured

to meet the stated outcome goal.

The next field is the Outcome Goal. This is the threshold and standard for

achieving the outcome. How will a successful student perform?

Notes may be added that help clarify details on the assessment, how scoring was

done, or how the measurements were structured.

Once done, click on the Save Changes button at the top of the page.

Once the outcome has been created, it needs an assessment plan. Then, once

the plan is in place, faculty teaching the course will implement the assessment

plan, gather the evidence and report it in the Results area of TracDat. Finally, the

analysis of the results of the assessment will lead to an improvement plan. This will

also be entered into TracDat.

Assessment Plan


Assessment Results

To enter assessment results for an outcome:

In courses that have more than one section, meet with all faculty teaching the

course to gather results and discuss the outcome.

Then, in TracDat, click on the Assessment Result button.

On this screen, you’ll see a list of outcomes. If there have been previous results

recorded, there will be a black circle with a number in it to note that work.

Find the outcome for which you have results and open it by clicking the down

arrow.

Find the assessment plan for the outcome (in a gold box).

Click to add a new assessment result (note that editing an old result is also

possible using the editing tools).


Assessment: Improvement Plan

Once the assessment results are entered, an improvement plan is next. With a

statewide and campus goal of continuous improvement, each course

assessment should include plans to better the course. To enter the improvement

plan:

In the Assessment Result tab, find the outcome and outcome results

(remember to use the down arrows if these are not immediately visible).

Next find the section for Improvements and click to add a new

Improvement Plan.

In the next window, fill in all the necessary information:

o Assessment Result Date: enter the date the assessments were presented

and discussed.

o Assessment Results: detail the results of the assessment, noting what tools

and tasks students were given to complete the assessment.

o Semester Assessed: enter the semester the outcome was assessed.

o Outcome Goal Met: answer appropriately after reviewing the goal.

o Analysis: This is the most important part! Discuss what the results mean to

the overall strength of the discipline. What areas could use further study?

What changes might grow from the evidence? Write a good, descriptive,

long paragraph here.

o Distance Education Courses Included: answer appropriately.

o Remember to SAVE!


In the following window, complete the information:

o Improvement Date: Select the date the improvement plan was

initiated.

o Improvement: Detail the planned improvements including the goals

for the improvement of the course and this particular outcome.

o Changes Planned in Response to Course Outcome Assessment:

Choose appropriately.

o Remember to SAVE!


Program (Certificate/Degree) Outcomes and Assessments

Navigation

The navigation menu on the left side of the page is similar to the menu for

courses with a few notable exceptions:

Once logged in, find the program that needs input from the drop-down menu

at the very top of the page. TracDat will display the programs to which you

have access. If you have access to more than one program, you may toggle

between them in the discipline/program bar. If the program to which you

need access is not listed, contact [email protected] for additional

permissions.

Once you click on the program, you will see the home screen. It gives

information about the program’s outcomes and assessment work at a

glance.

Program outcomes

Courses in the program

mailto:[email protected]


Top Buttons: General Information, TBD, TBD, Filters

Home: View the outcomes/assessment work of your discipline or

program at a glance.

Program: Click the down arrow for menu options.

General Information: This will list information about the program

(right now, just the title).

Assignments: If you have been given a specific assignment, you

will be able to view it here.

Personnel: A list of all personnel in the unit, along with their

access levels.

Program Planning: In this menu, you will find the areas in which

to enter or revise outcomes and assessment information for the

program.

Program Outcomes and Assessment: Click here to view or work

on program outcomes and assessment plans.

Assessment Results: Click here to add assessment results.

Course Planning: Click here to see the related courses and their

outcomes and results..

Related Outcomes: Click here to view the outcomes of the

courses that are part of this program.

Results: Click here to view the assessment results of the course

outcomes related to this program.

Mapping: Tools for mapping program outcomes to institutional

outcomes, course outcomes and to District Objectives.

Outcomes Mapping: Connect program outcomes to District

Objectives or Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs).

Course Outcomes Mapping to Outcomes: Map course

outcomes to the program outcomes here.

Curriculum Mapping: Select the level to which the course’s

outcomes support program outcomes.

Reports: Run reports on assessments in this area. This also

includes the CurricUNET Outcomes Report necessary for

updating course outlines. Standard reports will be available to

all users. Ad Hoc reports are available to users according to

access levels.

Documents: Store documents, reports, files, etc. in this area.


Adding or Modifying a Course Outcome

There are two ways to get to the program outcomes.

1. From the HOME menu, click on the program outcome.

2. From the PROGRAM OUTCOMES menu, click on Program Outcomes and

Assessment.

3. To see the program outcomes (if they are not visible), click the down

arrow.

4. Continue to click the down arrows to drill into the outcome’s

assessment plans and assessment results.

5. To revise a current outcome or to add a new assessment plan, click

on the edit icon for the outcome or the assessment plan.

6. To add a new program outcome, click on the on the Outcomes.

7. The information required for programs is similar to that of courses, see

pgs 4-6.


Assessment Results:

The assessment results page for programs functions similarly to that of

courses (see pgs. 7-10).

Course Planning:

This area provides easy access to the program’s course outcomes and their

assessments for purposes of aligning course and program outcomes

without having to exit the program area and call up the course area.

Mapping:

This section provides the tools to complete outcomes maps. The purpose

of the maps is to allow faculty to assess how well course/program/institution

outcomes are in alignment and to ensure that students are being provided

the necessary steps toward learning. In this section, there is a variety of

mapping tools to use.

1. Outcomes Mapping

This section allows users to map program outcomes to

Institutional Learning Outcomes and to District Strategic Plan

Objectives. Check the boxes where there is clear alignment

between the program outcome and an ILO or DSPO. Don’t

forget to SAVE!

Add new assessment result

Edit or delete an assessment result

Number of assessment results that

have been entered.


2. Course Outcomes Mapping to Outcomes:

This section allows users to map program outcomes to those of

courses that are part of the program. Additionally, course

outcomes can be mapped to ILOs and DSPOs by clicking the

down arrow in the first column.

3. Curriculum Mapping:

In this window, users can select the level to which the program

outcomes are addressed within each course. The levels are 1

Introduced, 2 Reinforced, 3 Emphasized, 4 Achieved. Click on

the appropriate number to select the level of attainment for

the outcome.

Change between ILOs and

DSPOs by using this drop-down

menu.

Change between courses within

the program here.


Coming up…

Reports

Documents

Program outcomes Courses in the program