“Are our graduates learning what we want them to learn?”
This question is critical to enhancing the effectiveness of our programs and teaching, which in turn advances student learning. Assessing student learning involves articulating measurable learning outcomes, designing valid measures, sharing the results, and using the findings to improve our curricula.
The process of evaluating degree programs seeks to understand the ways in which all degree components (e.g., required and elective courses, Cooperative Education) come together to produce cumulative learning outcomes. During this process, a program collects and analyzes data to answer questions about how its curriculum supports (and could further support) students’ achievement of identified programmatic student learning outcomes. This process enables the active and strategic iteration of a program’s design to enhance student learning. A complete assessment plan addresses each element of the full assessment cycle below.
