ugh. assessment.

i know, i know. three posts in one day. is it obvious that i'm having trouble concentrating on my assessment and retention paper? this, at least, came to my attention while i was reading the articles for the paper (if that averts any blame) from my course reader. i think it's funny. and it matches my current sentiments about the assessment process.
"Michael Patton relates a curious but notable extra-biblical account of the origin of assessment as follows:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And God saw everything that He made. "Behold," God said, "It is very good."
And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
And on the seventh day God rested from all His work. His archangel came then unto Him asking, "God, how do you know that what you have created is 'very good?' What are your criteria? On what data do you base your judgment? Aren't you a little close to the situation to make a fair and unbiased evaluation?" God thought about these questions all that day and His rest was greatly disturbed. On the eighth day God said, "Lucifer, go to hell."
Thus was evaluation born in a blaze of glory (Patton 1986, 9)."

my thoughts exactly.

SPRING BREAK!!! sort of.

hey, calvin friends! remember when we were in college and we used to drive through campus, honking the horn, hanging out the windows, and yelling, "SPRING BREAK!" at the top of our lungs? remember how it was usually november when we did that? good times.
well, it is spring break around these parts this week, and it's nothing to drive around honking and yelling about. see, it's only spring break for two of the schools i'm associated with, and not for the kids at church. thus, i'm not on spring break. i am enjoying a slower week, and being able to participate in a few activities that i normally don't have as much time for, like having coffee with people from church, helping with beach project interviews, writing a handbook for student ministries here, and going to pittsburgh youth network west quadrant meetings. i'm also supposed to have time to do things like write papers for my assessment and retention class. or, blog! yay!
really though, i oughta get to that paper. if you have any input on the following topic, please send it my way:
"A senior offical at your institution has asked you to develop a "white paper" for discussion at next month's faculty meeting that explores a compelling rationale for assessment, including comment about first steps for an assessmenet program at the institutional, departmental, and general education levels."

no, nobody can help? i didn't think so. alright, back to work!

true or false

1. I am interested in a career in research.
___ True
_X_ FALSE

2. I know how to write a good survey.
___ True
_X_ FALSE

so, it turns out that creating a survey for my higher ed research class is a lot harder than i imagined. it's difficult to ask the right questions to find out what i want to know. i guess part of my problem is that i'm not exactly sure what i want to know. meanwhile, my survey is twice as long as it's supposed to be, and i'm not sure it would even get me the results i want! and so, naturally, i've chosen the ever-popular technique of distraction. unfortunately, i've gotta get back to it... it's due in a few short hours. wish me luck.