The Watermark suite of software products will help Lane faculty, staff and administrators excel at teamwork behind the scenes, which will support student success and ensure Lane provides a high quality teaching and learning environment.
- Watermark provides software to higher education institutions to help them collect and use data to gain insights into how the institution and programs can be improved to support student success.
- We will use it to help facilitate accreditation, strategic planning, program review, as well as meaningful continuous improvement activities like programmatic and student learning assessment, our first priority.
- Watermark will help Lane by empowering faculty, staff and administrators to make data-based decisions about teaching and learning. By using this software we will help cultivate a culture of continuous improvement.
Example 1: Watermark can be used to support non-instructional program review. For example, the program review team will use the software to input their self-study report and action plan. Then, they will be able to list and track outcomes as well as progress toward achieving those outcomes. Automated workflows and email communications will be used so that program review teams, managers, and leadership will be able to view the status and progress of program review teamwork. Administrators will be able to use the system to sign off on actions, to allocate resources, and communicate with program review teams. At the end of a program review cycle, the program review teams will be able to assess how well the changes they’ve made impacted student achievement.
We will use the Watermark suite of software products to enhance transparency and communication between program review teams, managers and leadership as well as make data-informed decisions about programmatic changes.
Example 2: Faculty can report student learning achievement on Institutional Learning Outcomes in different courses and easily review reports that aggregate/disaggregate data according to a variety of student characteristics to promote equity, identify gaps in curriculum, and simplify Academic Program Review self-study.
Over the last few years a number of concerns have arisen around institutional accreditation, assessment, program review, and strategic planning from a variety of sources including our institutional accreditor and internal stakeholders. To address these concerns Lane has contracted with Watermark, an integrated, cloud-based software solution suite. A few of the many reasons we are using this integrated software include to:
- Streamline and simplify reporting requirements for accreditation in general and those related to program review, assessment (student learning, programmatic, institutional), and strategic planning
- Support faculty and staff by providing tools for continuous improvement efforts such as program review
- Help create a data system that will support student success in teaching and learning
Watermark software supports a holistic approach to learning and development that will help us to gain key insights into data and information to make strategic improvements.
- Student Learning and Licensure
- Student learning assessment
- ePortfolios
- Planning and Self Study
- Program review
- Programmatic assessment
- Accreditation
- Strategic planning
- Curriculum Strategy
- Curriculum management
- Catalog
- Syllabi
- Faculty Success (on hold)
- Faculty credentials
- Experience, career information
- Teaching and scholarship
- Faculty accomplishments
- Provide easy access to assessment results
- Make it easy for faculty to use assessment results
- Streamline data collection, simplify reporting and reduce reporting burdens
- Increase transparency around plans, goals, outcomes, and results
- Enhance communication between program review teams, managers and leadership
- Support a reflective and continuous improvement culture
- More easily assess learning wherever it happens (classroom, clinical placements, co-curricular activities)
- Support integrated planning college wide
Typical users of the Student Learning and Licensure module dealing with assessment of student learning outcomes will include the Faculty Assessment Coordinator, Assessment Liaisons, Dean of Curriculum, Assessment and Grants Management as well as the Watermark Project Manager. In the mid- and long-term, additional users will have the opportunity to use the system, as described below. Employees who are interested in using the system sooner than later should contact us.
Faculty
Are faculty expected to use the software? Yes, but the level and depth of use will depend on the specific faculty member’s role and the choices made by a given program.
How will faculty use the software? Faculty will use the software for assessment of student learning. Collection of student artifacts will happen in Watermark, and program assessment plans and progress will be tracked there. Faculty who lead program reviews will also be able to use the software to submit reports and track programmatic outcomes. Later on, faculty will have the opportunity to track their accomplishments and list their credentials in the system using the Faculty Success module.
Classified Staff
Are classified staff expected to use the software? Some but not all staff will use the software. Over time most divisions/ departments will select personnel who will use the system.
How will classified staff use the software? Staff may assist managers in creating reports, tracking data and information as well as helping to maintain workflows specific to their areas.
Administrators
Most administrators will likely use the software to view data, and for strategic planning, assessment (student learning, programmatic, institutional), program review, curriculum management and catalog functions.
The Watermark Student Learning and Licensure along with Curriculum Strategy products were implemented. Planning and Study is currently being implemented during the 2023/2024 academic year.
Project Sponsor
Shelley Tinkham, Vice President Academic Affairs
System Administrators
Tammie Stark, Planning and Self Study
Randy Ware, Student Learning and Licensure
Tammy Salman, Curriculum Strategy