Valuing Learning Improvement

Jay Dee Martin
Coordinator of Learning Assessment

The primary purpose of academic assessment is to improve student learning. Assessment is the process that evaluates the learning experience in our courses and degree programs with the purpose of continual improvement and has the objective of assuring the accomplishment of the mission of Missouri State University-West Plains.

This handbook is intended to provide information you can use to develop your assessment plans in your courses or programs and assist you in implementing them. It provides a guide to developing learning objectives for your courses and programs. It also provides a model that explains how to link institution goals to program objectives and to course learning objectives. It is intended to be a learning resource to assist you in developing your course and program assessment plans.

This handbook is intended to support the development of our Assessment Program at Missouri State University-West Plains. It should be useful to faculty members who are developing assessment plans in their courses and those faculty members who are designing new courses or developing new programs. As the assessment process matures, it will also provide the essential understanding of how we should revise existing courses and programs to improve learning outcomes. The handbook provides information, helpful suggestions, applicable examples, and selected resource literature on assessment techniques. Faculty members should take time to explore the assessment website to find other useful assessment resources.

What do we value as educators?

We value student learning. We want to know how well our students have learned the material we teach. We want to know how effective our teaching strategies are in facilitating learning. We want to know how we can better assist students in learning our course material and how to do it more efficiently.

The assessment process provides educators an opportunity to explore student learning outcomes with the intent to make ongoing modification and continual improvement in the teaching/learning experience we share with our students. The point of assessment is: what did you, as the professor, learn and what did you do to modify the process? The follow-up question comes when you assess the learning objective again to determine whether learning has improved.

Assessment is an important means to assure that our students learn what we want them to learn. It is also an important element in the desire of the University that we constantly find ways to improve student learning. In addition the assessment process should be transparent to students so they can clearly see our objectives and our standards of evaluating their work. In our assessment tools we demonstrate to them what we value and consider important in their learning. Students learn what we want them to learn if we are clear in our objectives and standards.

Some Student Learning Outcomes We Value:

Learning outcomes may be thought to fall into to four domains of skill achievement. These are as follows:

1. the knowledge domain: the demonstration of knowledge of major ideas and mastery of subject material in a given field of study;
2. the skills domain: the demonstration of the achievement of the skills that typify a proficient practitioner of a given field the content knowledge; For example, in a biology class, students should be able to demonstrate the ability to employ the scientific method to design an experiment to test a hypothesis.
3. the domain of attitudes and beliefs: this domain involves the demonstration that the student has incorporated a particular set of attitudes thought to be central to a discipline of knowledge or a profession.
4. the domain of values and ethics: In today's educational environment, most general education programs strive to achieve well rounded individuals with a strong commitment to ethical standards and to life-long learning. Our commitment to "educated persons" builds on the development of graduates who demonstrate good citizenship, a capacity for leadership in public affairs and a commitment to ethical lives.

Concepts adapted from:

What is student learning outcomes assessment?.(n.d.) Provost Office - Assessment Program Central Michigan University. http://www.provost.cmich.edu/assessment/forms/faq/faqs/WhatIsLearningOutcomes.htm

As you develop your course and program assessment plans remember that your assessment activities should not develop in a vacuum. You should share your plans with your colleagues and examine what they are doing in their courses. If you are in a multi-faculty department, your discipline assessment activities could be coordinated. Assessment should be an ongoing dialogue with our colleagues and our students to bring about the maximum learning potential for our students. Learning assessment should be the most important research activity that we pursue.