Periodic Program Review and Assessment

of Student Learning

Preparing the Assessment Section for the

Program Review Self-Study

Assessment is one of the areas that academic units are required to address in their self-studies, but it is consistently one of the more underdeveloped sections.  Programs discuss CATEs and grades, and occasionally surveys, as their on-going assessment activities, but rarely describe more direct measures of student learning.

To increase our familiarity with how departments are assessing student learning and to improve the overall assessment of student learning across programs, the Office of Periodic Program Review will be working with academic units to enhance the assessment sections of their self-studies.

Units scheduled for PPR in 2008-09 or later are being asked to include the following information in the assessment section of their self-studies:

Learning outcomes for undergraduate and graduate programs (Learning Objectives and Goals)

• What are students expected to know and do when they complete your degree program(s)?
• Are there any school/college competencies that students are expected to meet/demonstrate?
• Are there any learning objectives mandated or recommended by external associations or accrediting bodies?

Curriculum map demonstrating alignment of learning outcomes and courses (Learning Opportunities)

• How are learning objectives met across the curriculum?
• By course, how are learning objectives addressed?

Description of assessments used to assess student learning (Measurement and Approaches)

• How do you assess student learning at the course level? Program level?
• What tools do you use to assess student perceptions or satisfaction with their degree program(s)?

Summary of evidence collected to demonstrate student learning (Findings)

• What reports or documents have you compiled demonstrating student progress in meeting learning objectives?
• How do you collect, review, and share evidence of student learning?

Overview of how assessment is used to strengthen or improve programs (Use of Results)

• What have you learned about your program?
• What changes (to courses, curriculum, and assessment tools) have you made as a result of assessment?

NOTE: As programs are developing assessment processes, academic units can indicate how they plan to develop and incorporate assessment of student learning into their academic programs.

Blackboard Outcomes

Toward the end of tracking your assessment projects, Blackboard Outcomes is a place to hold the information used throughout assessment cycles, which makes for easier reporting and analysis over time, while creating an institutional memory that will help new faculty, chairs, and deans.