Student Learning Assessment Team
Jessica Wise
Faculty Assessment Chair
Co-Chair of the Academic Assessment Committee
Kate Evans
Co-Curricular Chair
Co-Chair of the Academic Assessment Committee
School Leads
Cynthia Fletcher
School of Math, Sciences, and Allied Health
Mindy Hodges
School of Technical and Professional Studies
Deena Martin
School of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Course-level report – due September 15
Program-level report – due October 10
Institution-level report – due
April 1
To ensure that assessment is taking place at many levels across the campus, professional development regarding assessment is vital to this process. Our training involves a step-by-step process where faculty are informed about assessment on the section-level, course-level, program-level, and institution-level.
Assessment is what all instructors do on a daily basis when we are in the classroom and when we are at home working on our lesson plan. We are constantly engaged in ongoing assessments as we tweak things here and there in our classrooms through the teaching and learning process. These mini-assessments or section level assessments help us make positive changes in our classrooms to better facilitate the learning process.
We encourage faculty to use Nuventive as an archive for all assessment data whether it is at the course-level or program-level. Please refer to the step-by-step UA-PTC Annual Assessment Guide for more information.
At the section-level
1. Start with a learning objective for the course
2. Teach the lesson (activities, assignments, etc.) to reach that outcome
3. Determine an assessment to measure whether students got the lesson and can do the skill or got the knowledge (the objective)
4. Based on the data, determine whether to teach that lesson that way again or change it
At the course-level reports are due on September 15 (data from the previous year)
1. Assessment methods are chosen and evaluated based on:
a. *The course outcomes
b. *Agreed upon best practices and national standards
2. Assessment data is then collected, analyzed and discussed by instructors of the course.
3. Once data has been evaluated and recommendations have been made, changes at the course level may occur pertaining to:
a. *Rubrics
b. *Assessment methods
c. *Course outcomes
d. *Budget requests
e. *Curriculum/standard changes
At the program-level reports are due on October 10 (data from the previous year)
1. Faculty and program leads in their field look at data collected on the course level to make sure that students are getting all of the skills and knowledge from the individual courses needed for a certain degree, transfer, or employability.
2. This information is analyzed and reported out using the Program Report Form annually. Once the form has been completed the Assessment Committee evaluates the program assessment process. Recommendations to the program assessment process are made by the Assessment Committee to the respective program leads.
3. Program level reports are also given to the provost so that institutional recommendations can be made.
4. For courses housed under “Gen Ed” the General Education Curriculum and Alliances committee makes recommendations. These recommendations may move up to the Assessment Committee (i.e. we have found that we should look at more courses in gen ed to establish that we are communicating effectively) or the recommendations may move down to the department or discipline level (i.e. we need more data to demonstrate quantitative reasoning within MATH 1300)
At the institution-level
1. Changes to ILOs and recommendations for areas of improvement for programs are made by the Assessment Committee and also the administration in December.
2. By February institution-level recommendations are made to the college.
