To ensure that The University of Tennessee Volunteer Core program delivers intended outcomes, all courses approved for Volunteer Core must be assessed on a regular basis. This assessment will also be utilized for SACSCOC.
The process for the assessment is described in the following document: ASSESSMENT PROCESS FOR VOLUNTEER CORE COURSES
Each Volunteer Core Course will be evaluated for each category it belongs to (e.g., WC, OC, AOC, QR) once every three (3) years. All learning outcomes for the category must be assessed at this time.
Assessment years are as follows:
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
2023-2024 2024-2025 2025-2026
2026-2027 2027-2028 2028-2029
2029-2030 2030-2031 2031-2032
You can find the year (i.e., 1, 2, 3) of assessment for each Volunteer Core course at the Master List of Courses for Assessment
Assessment Training and FAQs
Please see the PowerPoint for the Volunteer Core Assessment Process.
A recording of a training session can be found here.
Frequently Asked Questions About Assessment
Click on the link for the Master List of Courses for Assessment above. The linked Google sheet shows all Volunteer Core classes and which year they are to be assessed.
Yes. Just email the Volunteer Core Assessment Subcommittee chair.
Yes. We would recommend doing all assessments for one course in one year.
If a course with different category designations is in the Master List as being assessed in different years and you would like to do all assessments for the course in one year, just let us know.
A course might not show up in the master list depending on when it was proposed and approved. New courses are constantly being added. We will update the Master List one to two times per year – after we assign your year for assessment. Please let us know if the class is not there so we can make sure it is on the update list.
Yes. We plan to send reminders for upcoming assessments in the fall before the next fall’s timetable is due, in late spring, and in early August. The reminders will be sent to the department head and the Volunteer Core Assessment coordinator in each department who may be the department chair or some other designee.
The student work will not be submitted with your assessment; only a description of the assignment and the number of students receiving each rating will be reported.
You should save the student work at least until your report has been reviewed by the Assessment Subcommittee (i.e. for about 2 semesters). You may need to keep it longer if you want to make changes to the assessment or if the benchmark is not met; in this case, TLI would need to see the student work to help you come up with an action plan.
As for recordings of OC and AOC presentations (or other presentations or performances done for other categories), recording provides a student work product equivalent to what is required for other categories.
Through Qualtrics surveys. There is one survey for each category. The links to these surveys are in Appendix A of the Volunteer Core Assessment Process document.
The reports are due as follows:
- Fall assessments are due March 1
- Winter, Spring, and Summer assessments are due September 15
The contacts we have are in the Master List of Courses for Assessment in the tab at the bottom marked VC Contacts. Please let the Assessment subcommittee know if there are changes to the people who should be notified.