Academic Assessment

Academic Assessment

Academic Assessment

Student learning assessment includes: defining the academic program goals, student learning goals, and student learning outcomes; designing ways to measure student attainment of those outcomes; setting targets for student performance; collecting and analyzing evidence; and creating and executing plans for improving student learning when the evidence shows that the students did not reach the desired targets.

All undergraduate and master's degree programs report this information in TracDat annually.

The image below explains what is meant by program goals, student learning goals, and student learning outcomes and shows the relationships between them.  (The content of the image is given in text form below the image.)

 Academic Goals and Outcomes

 

Program Goals describe the knowledge, competencies, and attributes graduates of the program will have and apply to their careers.
Student Learning Goals describe the knowledge, competencies, and attributes students will develop through active participation in the academic program.
Student Learning Outcomes describe the specific, observable, measurable behaviors of students in the academic program.
Relationship of Program Goals to Student Learning Goals: Attainment of student learning goals corresponds with students’ level of preparation to attain program goals. There is typically more than one student learning goal for each program goal.
Relationship of Student Learning Goals to Student Learning Outcomes: The learning outcomes, collectively, act as measurable proxies for a learning goal that is, by definition, unmeasurable. There are always at least two student learning outcomes for each student learning goal.