Beyond Friction: Automating Academic Assessment Workflows for Real Impact

Academic assessment is often seen as a compliance-driven, “box-checking” exercise, burdened by data silos, approval bottlenecks, and version-control challenges. As institutions face growing pressure to demonstrate impact with limited resources, many are rethinking how assessment work gets done. In this workshop, we share how Bergen Community College transformed a fragmented labor-intensive assessment process into a streamlined automated ecosystem. Using Laserfiche for workflow and document management, and integrating Ellucian Experience to disseminate results, we reduced administrative burden and shifted the focus from data collection to data-informed curriculum improvement. More importantly, we repositioned assessment as a core driver of institutional effectiveness. Designed for assessment leaders, institutional effectiveness professionals, academic administrators, and IT partners, this session explores both the technical architecture and the change management strategies behind this transformation. Participants will examine approaches to faculty adoption, reflect on key implementation lessons, and engage in guided activities to map their own assessment processes, identify inefficiencies, and pinpoint high-impact opportunities for automation. Attendees will leave with a practical roadmap to move from compliance-driven assessment to a more efficient, insight-driven approach.