Student Learning Assessment Options and Resources

[arcadius]

Student Learning Assessment Options and Resources
Middle States Commission on Higher Education 2nd edition

Purpose and Scope of this Handbook-This handbook is intended to clarify principles and methods for setting goals for student learning within the context of institutional mission, for using methods chosen by the institution for evaluating the achievement of these goals, and for using the information gathered to continue to improve student learning. It is not an expansion of the Standards for Accreditation described in Characteristics; it is meant only as a resource.
Teams that evaluate institutions at the time of their decennial self-studies and evaluators who review institutions’ Periodic Review Reports, Follow-up Reports, and Substantive Change proposals will use the standards themselves, rather than this handbook, to assess the institution.
The audience for this handbook includes all stakeholders of a college or university, including faculty, students, staff, administrators, and the general public. It is intended to assist directly those responsible for setting goals for student learning and for evaluating the achievement of those goals.

This handbook describes:

How faculty and staff members can define clearly student learning and affective goals appropriate for an institution’s mission;

Various direct and indirect methods of evaluating student learning and the value and appropriate use of each approach;

How student learning can be improved by relating outcomes to the institution’s operations and resources; and

How traditional methods of teaching and learning can be enhanced to produce clear and useful information about how and what students are learning, both inside and outside the classroom, so that faculty, students, the institution, and the general public can benefit from improvements.

The handbook presents various possible means of meeting the Commission’s standards. It describes various contexts and options for assessing student learning, and it provides resources as examples of how institutions might approach the assessment of student learning on their campuses. It also discusses some of the many considerations that should be explored before intensive institutional effort is directed at articulating learning goals, choosing means of evaluating the accomplishment of those goals, and crafting an institutional plan for assessment.

Guiding Principles
This handbook serves as a starting point for institutions beginning or enhancing their self-assessment activities, particularly those activities related to student learning.
It is written for faculty, staff, and administrators-those who will actually be leading and conducting assessment efforts on their campuses.

Its purpose is not limited to providing a route to achieving accreditation or reaffirmation of accreditation, but rather it is intended as a resource and guidebook for institutional self-reflection, improvement, and achievement of the best possible outcomes for students.
It also can be a resource for those who wish to learn about assessment practice in general: what it is, why it is important, who benefits from it, how it is accomplished, and how accreditation supports assessment.

Six guiding principles serve as the framework for this handbook, and they are relied on throughout the handbook. These principles are adapted from AAHE’s principles for good practice in assessing student learning (Astin, 1991) and Assessment in practice: Putting principles to work on college campuses (Banta, Lund, Black, and Oblander, 1996).

While the recommendations, ideas, resources, and perspectives in this handbook are offered as examples and as flexible models and blueprints, there is no “one size fits all” type of institutional assessment or student outcomes assessment. Thus, the principles presented here should serve as the basis and guiding structure for assessment activities and the resources described in the handbook should serve as possible tools-among many-for achieving institutional goals.

Guiding Principle 1: Existing Culture
Begin by acknowledging the existence of assessment throughout the institution in order to ensure that the assessment plan is grounded in the institutional culture.

Guiding Principle 2: Realistic Plan with Appropriate Investment of Resources
Plans for assessment at the program, school, and institutional levels should be realistic and supported by the appropriate investment of institutional resources.

Guiding Principle 3: Involvement of Faculty and Students
Academic leadership is necessary in order to gain the support and involvement of faculty members, staff, administrators, and students across the institution.

Guiding Principle 4: Clear Goals
Assessment activities should be focused by clear statements of expected student learning (knowledge, skills, and competencies).

Guiding Principle 5: Appropriate Methods
Assessment should involve the systematic and thorough collection of direct and indirect evidence of student learning, at multiple points in time and in various situations, using a variety of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods that are embedded in courses, programs, and overall institutional processes.

Guiding Principle 6: Useful Data
Data gained through assessment activities should be meaningful. They should be used, first, to enhance student learning at the institutional, program, and course levels; second, in institutional planning and resource allocation; and third, to evaluate periodically the assessment process itself for its comprehensiveness and efficacy.

The guiding principles are intended to help institutions answer the following general questions:

What should our students learn? (Chapter 2)
What are our institutional strengths and challenges for improvement? (Chapters 1 and 2)
How are we currently organized for evaluating learning? (Chapters 3, 4, and 5)

What activities have we conducted to define and evaluate all of our institutional goals, with special emphasis on goals for student learning? (Chapters 3 and 4)
What existing evidence do we have regarding student learning and achievement, and what have we learned from that evidence? (Chapters 3 and 5)
What actions will we take to build on our strengths and to address our weaknesses regarding student learning? (Chapter 5)

The Organization of This Handbook

Readers of this handbook will be approaching the task of evaluating student learning from many vantage points. Some institutions will have existing institution-wide assessment plans that need refinement or adaptation. Other readers will be embarking on cyclic evaluation of their assessment plans at the course, program, or institutional level.
Still other readers will be just starting to help their institutions set goals for student learning at the course, program, and institutional level.
In order to address the needs of every institution and every reader, this handbook starts with the development of learning goals and individual assessment strategies, builds to the creation of a written assessment plan, and ends with a chapter on using assessment results.
Even readers from institutions that have an existing plan can benefit from the focus in this handbook on setting learning goals and assessing the related outcomes.
Each of the chapters in this handbook focuses on a different component of the assessment process and describes considerations, options, and resources related to that component. The chapters are meant to stand alone or in combination with each other, and the handbook can be valuable to support different approaches.

File Type: PDF File Size: 0.80MB

Download:

In order to download the file(s), you should register an account, registration takes less than 60 seconds and cost you 20$ for 365 days (It helps keep the site running - We appreciate Your Support), give you unlimited access to all resources, JOIN TODAY

Mirror by dancesdj

In order to download the file(s), you should register an account, registration takes less than 60 seconds and cost you 20$ for 365 days (It helps keep the site running - We appreciate Your Support), give you unlimited access to all resources, JOIN TODAY

[dancesdj]

link is not working

[dancesdj]

Student Learning Assessment Options and Resources

In order to download the file(s), you should register an account, registration takes less than 60 seconds and cost you 20$ for 365 days (It helps keep the site running - We appreciate Your Support), give you unlimited access to all resources, JOIN TODAY

my link