Expectations for Learning Outcomes Assessment with CTL
Assessment of learning is a collaborative process owned by the faculty of the department who begin with meaningful questions about student learning outcomes in their program. As such, decisions about what learning is assessed and in which courses or assignments are left to the department as a collective. Moreover, members of the department and specifically teaching teams on the identified courses where data will be collected are responsible for evaluating student work.
If the department chooses to prepare for APR in partnership with CTL, tasks that the department is responsible for include:
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Share your program’s Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) with CTL staff for review.
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Pick 2-3 SLOs to focus on during the assessment process and refine these SLOs if needed.
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Give feedback on a rubric provided by CTL staff that will be used to assess the chosen SLOs.
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Identify culminating assignments from courses in the program to review and assess the chosen SLOs.
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Integrate the use of the rubric into culminating assignments during the next iteration of the identified courses.
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Meet with a CTL consultant to discuss the findings of the assessment process and develop an action plan.
Please note that some individual steps may be delegated out to certain faculty and/or instructors, but it is encouraged that as many stakeholders from the department weigh in during the assessment process. Learning assessment of a program is most impactful when the department seeks consensus on significant decisions.
Expected Commitment
This full process is expected to take one academic year (two semesters) at a minimum. Departments who engage in this process to prepare for their APR self-study should keep in mind that certain milestones must be met by the department to enable data collection during one or more terms before the self-study deadline.
What CTL Provides in This Process
CTL brings significant assessment expertise to this process alongside technical support from teams in RTL for departments as they use the necessary tools in bCourses and source the resulting data.
For departments that choose to prepare for APR in partnership with CTL, our staff will be responsible for the following tasks:
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Review the program SLOs provided by the department for appropriate scope and focus in assessment.
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Identify and modify a rubric that effectively assesses the SLOs chosen by the department.
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Revise the rubric given feedback from the department to reflect program expectations.
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Connect with and train the course teaching teams to use the rubric on identified culminating assignments.
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Gather assessment data from Canvas throughout the semester to generate a report.
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Offer feedback and data to inform the department’s action plan to improve student learning.
An example of the data you might expect from your department’s report is provided below. The assessment process reveals the distribution of student-demonstrated achievement for each SLO separately, allowing departments to talk about student preparation and training in distinct skill/knowledge areas.
