Charles F. Yokomoto
Revised 3/23/04
1. What is outcomes assessment and why are we doing it?
2. In layman's language, how is the process described?
3. How do others describe the assessment cycle?
4. How does outcomes assessment improve student learning and program success?
5. How does outcomes assessment differ from grading exams and lab/project reports?
6. Is outcomes assessment required, or is it optional?
7. What is IUPUI’s definition of assessment?
What is outcomes assessment and why are we doing it?
Outcomes assessment is a process is intended as a means to improve the quality of an academic program, student learning, and student success based on real evidence. It is a continuous process that involves planning, assessing, feedback, and making programmatic improvements.
In layman’s language, how is the process described?
• Plan it
• Do it
• Check it
• Revise it
• Repeat it
How do others describe the assessment cycle?
Dr. Thomas Angelo, former Director of Assessment Forum of the American Association for Higher Education, defines assessment as an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning, (1) making expectations explicit and public, (2) setting appropriate criteria and high standards for learning quality, (3) systematically gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence to determine how well performance matches expectations and standards, and (4) using the resulting information to document, explain, and improve performance.
Dr. Trudy Banta, Vice-Chancellor for Planning and Institutional Management at IUPUI and nationally known for her activities in outcomes assessment, describe the assessment cycle as follows:
Step 1. Set learning goals and objectives consistent department's goals and objectives which must flow from the mission of the school and the university
Step 2. Identify learning experiences for each goal/objective
Step 3. Select/develop measures of assessing student learning
Step 4. Gather data
Step 5. Analyze and interpret findings
Step 6. Make appropriate changes (assumes that there is a process for feeding results of assessment back into the curriculum development process)
And the cycle is repeated.
Dr. Gloria Rogers, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, describes the assessment process as follows:
Step 1. Identify goals of the department (what is to be achieved?)
Step 2. Identify specific objectives for each broad goal
Step 3. Develop performance criteria for each objective (what will students be able to do, or be, or possess when the goals are accomplished?) This includes setting desired levels of performance to be used in Step 6
Step 4. Determine the practices to be used to achieve the goals (what will be done to achieve the goals and objectives?)
Step 5. Select assessment methods for each objective (choose data collection methods)
Step 6. Conduct assessments: (1) gather data, (2) analyze data, and compare against performance criteria
Step 7. Determine feedback channels which provide information in a timely fashion to facilitate continuous improvement of the practices, to provide information for decision making, and to provide basis for evaluation
Step 8. Evaluate whether or not the performance criteria were met and the objectives were achieved
And the cycle is repeated.
The New Jersey Institute of Technology model, as described by Dr. Jack McGourty, is as follows:
Step 1. Define outcomes to be measured
Step 2. Identify measurement strategies
Step 3. Review existing assessment methods
Step 4. Design additional methods and measures
Step 5. Implement and evaluate.
And the cycle is repeated.
How does outcomes assessment improve student learning and program success?
It improves the teaching/learning process by a continuous assessment process similar to total quality management (TQM.)
It helps you get a better fix on what students are learning through real data.
It helps you make academic and management decisions based on documented evidence from students, employers, and other constituent groups that go beyond the usual test scores and student satisfaction surveys.
How does outcomes assessment differ from grading exams and lab/project reports?
Outcomes assessment provides you with data that helps you point to specific contents or processes where students are having difficulty, while exam scores and report grades generally give broader measures of student success in learning.
Outcomes assessment helps you demonstrate that students are learning what you assume they have learned, not just the grades they have earned.
Grades usually provide feedback to individual students about how well they have learned the course materials, while outcomes assessment provides feedback about across groups of students to faculty members and other constituent groups.
Ordinary exams and laboratory reports may be used as part of an outcomes assessment process, but more attention would have to be paid to some form of item analysis so that statistical evidence on what students are learning can be obtained from the exams.
Is outcomes assessment required, or is it optional?
The assessment of general education and the major is required for North Central Association campus accreditation. The campus had its last visit in 2002.
IUPUI’s Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering programs will undergo accreditation in the year 2004 under the ABET’s new accreditation process that is heavily based on the assessment of student learning.
IUPUI’s Mechanical Engineering Technology, Construction Technology, and Electrical and Computer Engineering technology programs will undergo ABET accreditation in the year 2006. This accreditation visit will also be based on outcomes assessment.
What is IUPUI’s definition of assessment?
From the document, Assessment at IUPUI, it is "a process of describing and documenting progress toward educational goals, with the ultimate purposes of improving students’ learning, experiences and performances, faculty development and performance, and curriculum effectiveness."
This definition "encompasses assessment of individual students, classroom effectiveness, and program and institutional quality."
The document goes on to say that assessment poses questions such as the following:
• Are the questions asked in the plan of interest and concern to those who care about the program, including those who make decisions about it?
• Is the plan based on objectives that are clear, worthy, attainable, and measurable?
• Does the assessment plan consider multiple criteria and have multiple ways of measuring effectiveness?
• Are the assessment instruments used of sufficient reliability and validity to provide useful, credible evidence of effectiveness?
• Are assessment findings presented to various audiences (constituencies) in ways they find
meaningful and helpful?
• Is anything likely to happen as a result of the assessment process? Are findings used to provide direction for improvement?
