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Does Your Academic Program Make a Difference? Knowing What Your Students Learned

This workshop aims to help academic programs link student outcomes assessment to strategic planning. It provides ideas and examples for developing student outcome assessment, focusing on departmental strategic plans and the goal of academic excellence. The workshop also discusses the levels of educational assessment and the planning and assessment cycle. Participants will learn about quality objectives and outcomes, as well as measurement techniques. The workshop concludes with guidance on starting a dialogue with departmental faculty and available resources for assessment.

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Does Your Academic Program Make a Difference? Knowing What Your Students Learned

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  1. Does Your Academic Program Make a Difference?Knowing What Your Students Learned Rosslyn M. Smith (moderator)Katherine A. Austin Valerie Osland Paton T. Gilmour Reeve

  2. Workshop Goals • Linking student outcomes assessment to strategic planning • Provide ideas and examples for developing student outcome assessment for academic programs

  3. Departmental Strategic Plans • “Academic Excellence” goal • Departments must demonstrate that programs have achieved their intended purpose • Key to effective student outcomes assessment is leadership at the departmental level (Nichols, 1995)

  4. Assessment Overview “. . . The systematic collection, review, and use of information about educational programs undertaken for the purpose of improving student learning and development.”Palomba & Banta, 1999

  5. Levels of Educational Assessment • Institutional • Academic programs • Individual courses

  6. Planning and Assessment Cycle Planning (purpose & goals) Assessment (measurement & evaluation) Implementation (academic programs)

  7. Assessment Model: Evaluating Performance in terms of Specific Behaviors • Cognitive • Affective • Skill building • Motivational

  8. Application Activity (Handout)

  9. Quality Objectives • Clear goal • Measurable • Congruent with institutional mission and strategic plan • Congruent with discipline accrediting requirements and standards

  10. Quality Outcomes • Cogent link to learning objective • Measurable • Motivated by institutional mission and strategic plan • Traceable to institutional plan • Congruent with discipline accrediting requirements and standards

  11. Measurement • Formative - To improveQuantitativeQualitative • Summative - To evaluate against criteriaQuantitativeQualitative

  12. Measurement: A few comments • Comparative analysis: group or individual (between groups or within an individual student) • Ability to isolate the amount of impact of teaching method on learning outcome • Ability to control individual difference variables that may cloud the assessment (ability, prior knowledge)

  13. Where to begin Starting a dialogue with departmental faculty • Ask questions about your expectations of graduatesWhat is the department interested in knowing about majors at the point of graduation?What expectations or standards has the department established as exit criteria for graduates?

  14. Where to begin. . . • Ask questions about what students know when they enter your majorWhat is the department interested in knowing about majors when they first begin major coursework (or before if needed)?

  15. Which leads to . . How, where, and when will the department gather information to answer these questions?

  16. Resources • Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center • Office of Strategic Planning • Office of Institutional Research(handout provided)http://www.irs.ttu.edu/CDS/newindex.htm • Internet ResourcesPrinciples of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learninghttp://www.aahe.org/assessment/principl.htmAmerican Association for Higher Educationhttp://www.aahe.org/initiatives/assessment.htm

  17. Questions?

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