Enhancing Student Learning Outcomes Through Effective Program Assessment Strategies

1. Academic Assessment Workshop Series Spring 2014 Carlota Ocampo, PhD Elements of a Good Program Assessment

2. Using mission statement, develop program goals • Based on goals, identify student learning outcomes: (SLOs) • Create curriculum maps to chart students’ learning (use Bloom’s taxonomy) • Choose one or two program goals and write a plan to assess these goals (research proposal) • Collect and evaluate data • “Close the loop”: use results to inform program changes that will improve student learning outcomes Overview

3. Trinity’s mission statement: http://www.trinitydc.edu/mission/ • Goals for the College of Arts & Sciences: http://www.trinitydc.edu/catalog-13-14/gen-ed-cas-firstyear/#Goals_General • Your program goals? Are these goals embedded as learning goals in program materials and in your syllabi? Developing Goals & Objectives

4. Think about your ideal program graduate. Who has she become? • Knowledge outcomes: What does she know? • Skills and abilities outcomes: What can she do? What tasks is she prepared for? • Values outcomes: What does she care about? Student Learning Outcomes

5. Formulate research question and state why this question interests the program; do you have an educated guess or an hypothesis? (WHY?) • Identify your methods: what instruments will you use to collect data? Where in the curriculum will you collect it? Who will be sampled? How will you go about it (protocol?) • Collect data (direct or indirect) and evaluate the evidence of student learning • Interpret results and make recommendations for program improvement Assessment Plan Structure

6. Data Collection Tools: Direct Measures

7. Data Collection Tools: Direct Measures

8. Data Collection Tools: Indirect Measures