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) Implementation (academic programs) Assessment (measurement & evaluation)

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 improve Quantitative Qualitative Summative - To evaluate against criteria Quantitative Qualitative

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 graduates What 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 major What 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 Resources Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning http://www.aahe.org/assessment/principl.htm American Association for Higher Education http://www.aahe.org/initiatives/assessment.htm

17. Questions?