The Office of Student Affairs Assessment & Planning supports the Division in telling meaningful stories about the impact of co-curricular learning — specifically through assessment-driven storytelling. The office focuses on assessment-driven storytelling, using data to create compelling visuals, summaries, and narratives that support transparency, reflection, and continuous improvement. Explore current and past assessment and impact reports from across the Division.
The Office of Student Affairs Assessment & Planning encourages departments to take ownership of their data stories. Below are resources to help you develop your own assessment storytelling tools — from summary templates to guidance on visualizations and narrative writing.
Power BI is Microsoft’s interactive dashboard tool that enables users to filter, explore, and present live data through dynamic visualizations. There are two versions available:
Other platforms
| Platform | Description | Recommend Usage |
| Tableau | Similar to Power BI, Tableau is a powerful data visualization platform that turns datasets into dynamic, shareable visuals. | Sophisticated dashboards and storytelling for presentations or campus reports. Since we are a Microsoft school, I recommend proceeding with Power BI first for easy data integration. |
| Excel/ Google Sheet |
You can build a functional dashboard using Excel or similar platforms with their data visualization tools and pivot tables. However, since a dashboard is not an intended use for Excel, there will be limitations in customization and processing capability. | While I would not fully rely on these tools for a functional dashboard, they are tools that most people have access to. They are also great for creating quick bar graphs or pie charts for simple findings. |
To support departments in sharing and visualizing their assessment results, the Office of Assessment and Planning has created a customizable assessment report template in Canva. This tool is designed to help departments clearly communicate key findings, learning outcomes, program impact, and future action steps in a visually engaging and accessible format.
While the Office of Assessment and Planning does not currently have the capacity to design or build individualized assessment reports for each department, this template provides a solid foundation that departments can tailor to reflect their unique programs and data.
Use this template to:
One-pager Template: There are 2 templates that departments can adopt to highlight their overall initiatives and impacts.
To support departments in effectively sharing the results of their assessment efforts, the Office of Assessment & Planning has developed a Reporting Guide that outlines best practices, tips, and key considerations for crafting clear, meaningful, and actionable assessment reports.
This guide is designed to help you not only present data but also tell the story of your department’s impact on student learning, engagement, and success. It encourages a thoughtful approach to assessment that goes beyond data collection and promotes reflection, continuous improvement, and strategic alignment.
The Reporting will cover:
The guide is especially useful for annual reporting, program reviews, or departmental retreats where data-informed planning is key.
COMING SOON
Description:
Designed to strengthen communication skills, this workshop guides participants in interpreting, visualizing, and narrating assessment results to internal and external stakeholders in clear and compelling ways.
Learning Outcomes:
Participants will be able to:
Duration: 1 hour
This training will be offered by request.
Upcoming scheduled training(s): TBD
The Office of Student Affairs Assessment & Planning offers support for departments seeking to enhance how they present assessment findings. These services are available by request and based on project alignment and availability, and are limited to projects directly tied to assessment or research data.
Please note that support is only available for projects grounded in assessment or research. General marketing, promotional content, or brand design are not within the scope of services offered by the Office of Assessment & Planning. For communications needs beyond assessment, please contact the Office of Strategic Initiatives and Marketing.
