Forum BEVI Project

The Forum is pleased to announce the BEVI Project, a special collaboration with the International Beliefs and Values Institute (IBAVI) and the Office of International Programs (OIP) at James Madison University.  This project offers selected Forum member institutions the state-of-the-art opportunity to validate a new outcomes assessment instrument, and then benefit from its first formal application. 

The BEVI Instrument

The project uses the Beliefs, Events, and Values Inventory (BEVI), an instrument developed by Dr. Craig Shealy, Executive Director of IBAVI. Shealy describes the BEVI as "designed to assess a number of relevant processes and constructs including, but not limited to:

• Basic openness;
• Receptivity to different cultures, religions, and social practices;
• The tendency to (or not to) stereotype in particular ways;
• Self- and emotional awareness; and
• Preferred strategies for making sense of why 'other' people and cultures ‘do what they do.’”

Institutions will be able to use BEVI results for a variety of assessment goals:

• To comply with accreditation requirements, such as substantive assessment,
• To evaluate specific international learning experiences, including study abroad; and
• To better understand how, why, and under what circumstances students learn.

“The web-based BEVI may also be used flexibly with other assessment measures and approaches,” says Shealy.

Eligibility

The Forum expects to select eight to ten institutions for this project.  The selection committee is composed of Forum staff, a representative from the Forum Council’s Outcomes Assessment Committee, and the Executive Directors of the IBAVI and OIP at James Madison University.  Selections will be based on a variety of factors, including: 

• Commitment, as demonstrated by the identification of specific international learning experiences to be assessed, allocation of appropriate institutional resources, and support from institutional leadership;
• Strength of rationale for participating in the project and how the project will benefit the organization/institution; and
• Diversity of institutions and organizations represented in the study.

In order to be eligible for participation, each institution must complete the following steps:

1. Be an institutional member of the Forum on Education Abroad.
2. Complete and return application by January 26, 2007.  The application must be a completely electronic submission, with supporting documents in MS Word or PDF formats. The most important component is a description of the international learning experiences that an institution would like to assess.  Such experiences might include the education abroad experience in relation to specific program variables, international service learning, or participation in specific courses or seminars. Outcomes that the BEVI is designed to assess can be reviewed at the IBAVI Feature of http://www.jmu.edu/ibavi. These specific questions will be identified and refined as necessary at the outset of the project, in order to ensure that questions asked are able to be answered by this project, and that analyses are conducted in an efficient manner both within and across participating institutions.  At the conclusion of the project, participating institutions will receive an assessment report that provides data and analysis regarding the questions for which the institution had indicated their interest.
3. Appoint a project coordinator who will assume responsibility for implementing the project at the institution/organization.  This individual should possess the ability to work in a collaborative manner with faculty and administrators across the institution and have a demonstrable interest in the assessment of learning outcomes.  The project coordinator will participate in an orientation program. Institutions selected for the project will be provided with additional guidelines for this step.
4. If selected, complete and abide by all relevant Institutional Review Board (IRB) requirements.  Assistance and information regarding IRB will be provided during the orientation process.
5. If selected, pay a base fee of $2,000, plus an additional $2.00 for each use of the research instrument during the formal phase of the study. These fees will cover programming, data management, statistical analysis, staffing, and overhead, and are much less than what an institution would spend to conduct such a study on its own.

Timeline

To be eligible for participation, we must receive your completed application no later than Friday, January 29, 2007. The application must be a completely electronic submission, with supporting documents in MS Word or PDF formats.  It must be submitted by email to info@forumea.org.

The Forum plans to notify institutions about the outcome of the selection process by Monday, February 12, 2007. The pilot phase is expected to be completed during 2007, and the formal phase is anticipated to begin shortly thereafter.  

Download a BEVI Application

Direct questions to 717-245-1031 or info@forumea.org.