This document explains in more detail the requests highlighted
in the assessment overview. If you have questions or comments,
please contact the assessment
coordinator for your school or college. You may also
contact Jacquelyn Miller at 206.296.5446 or
jcmiller@seattleu.edu.
Template
1 asks you to list your student learning outcomes for the
department/program at the top of the template and to identify
a direct and an indirect assessment activity
in column 2.
Please
be sure that you list student learning outcomes, not
departmental or faculty outcomes. You may have fewer or more than
6 outcomes. The number 6 is arbitrary and you can delete unneeded
numbers or add more numbers.
We
suggest an embedded senior assignment as the direct
measure of learning. An embedded assignment can
be any student work that is already assigned and graded in a senior
course. A direct measure of learning refers to any actual
work that students produce. We are asking you to focus
on senior work because we need evidence related to program
outcomes, not just course outcomes. If focusing
on senior work is not appropriate or helpful to the department,
or if you are already planning an assessment activity related
to courses or a series of courses that contribute to program outcomes,
by all means follow your plan, reserving senior work focus for
a future year.
An
indirect measure is most often someone's judgment regarding
what has been learned. The judgment can be made by a variety of
people connected to the program, including students themselves,
board members, employers, groups of faculty, and the like.
You will note that the template represents a two-year cycle. You need to fill in only the first 3 columns of Template 1 for both years (2007-2008 & 2008-2009). Columns 4, 5, 6, and 7 will remain blank on both templates at this time because you will not have completed the activities. By October 1, 2008, submit your template for 2007-2008. Every October 1, you will be submitting the following:
-
A
plan/report for the previous year's assessment
activities
(2007-2008) with all seven columns completed.
-
A plan for
the year in advance of the current year
(2008-2009).
If
changes you want to make are substantial, you may want the implementation
of them to be the assessment activity for the following year.
Departments occasionally identify the need for significant changes
but fail to implement them during the following year because faculty
become immersed in another new project or measure. Taking time
to implement the changes agreed upon and to assess whether or
not they actually do improve teaching, learning, or the curriculum
are important steps that warrant serious faculty attention.
•
Indicate connections between departmental student
learning outcomes and university student learning outcomes if you have not already done so or if there are changes.
Template
2 asks you to indicate which of your departmental outcomes
contribute to a university outcome. This template does not ask
you to “fit” all of your departmental student learning
outcomes into one of the university outcomes. Rather, it asks
for connections or relationships. If an outcome is connected only
to the university learning outcome devoted to the major field,
simply check that box. But if a departmental outcome is connected
also to parallel university outcomes, check the appropriate boxes.
We have provided a
sample
of Template 2.
Not
all departments will have as many or as few student learning outcomes
as Template 2 indicates. Leave blanks or add rows as necessary.
•
Be aware that, during each summer, the planning reports
will be posted on the web (InSite only) for others to consult.
Departments/ programs
that are meeting professional accreditation standards or have
been implementing plans routinely will have more detailed assessment
plans/ reports than the basic plan/ report we request. These units may want their
publics to see all of the steps they are taking to learn how their
students are achieving outcomes. In that case, simply add rows
as needed to the template or provide attachments.
To
assist your planning, John Bean has created two documents (“How
to Get the Assessment Monkey Off Your Back,” and “Developing
a Departmental Plan for Assessing Senior Work”), which
explain direct and indirect measures, give examples of different
kinds of senior work which department members are more than likely
already assigning and grading, and describe how to create an effective,
basic plan.
