Each UVI academic unit follows the University's approach to outcomes assessment consisting
of the following five step cycle:
Steps of the Assessment Process
- Identify Institutional Mission Statement and Institutional Goals;
- Develop Academic Program Learning Outcomes;
- Develop Means of Assessment and Criteria for Success;
- Collect and Analyze Assessment Data and
- Interpret, Use and Report Assessment Results.
The 5 Step assessment approach we are using assures that specific reactions and actions
occur with respect to the assessment results reported. Once the fifth step in the
process, i.e., the Use of Results, is completed and documented, then the assessment
report is filed. The Use of Results, and related discussions, decision-making and
actions, occur within the respective academic divisions.
Source:
- Nichols, J. O. (2005). A Road Map for Improvement of Student Learning and Support Services Through Assessment, New York, Agathon Press.
Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Characteristics to be Achieved by 2012
UVI's assessment initiative will achieve strategic alignment with Vision 2012. The section below lists these ambitious milestones to be achieved by 2012. For universities
early in their evolution of implementation of assessment culture of evidence, the
Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of North Central Association (NCA) provides a set of attributes characteristic of more advanced development. The HLC's
list of served as a useful guide for the specification of the following characteristics
UVI will strive to attained by 2012.
By UVI's 50th Anniversary in 2012:
- Assessment will become an institutional priority and a way of life;
- Students, faculty, and staff will view assessment activities as a part of the institution's
culture and as a resource and tool to be used in improving student learning at all
degree and program levels;
- Faculty and Administration will understand and value the purposes, advantages, and
limitations of assessment ;
- All academic degree programs will have devised and implement assessment plans;
- Each assessment plan devised will specify learning or program outcomes, measures and criteria for success
and changes made as result of using the data;
- Assessment of general education skills, competencies, and capacities will be fully
implemented;
- Faculty, administrators and staff at UVI will realize that assessment efforts are
for improving student learning;
- Led by Division Chairs (Deans), UVI faculty in many or most departments will have
developed measurable objectives for each of the program's educational goals;
- Led by Chairs (Deans), UVI faculty members will actively ensure that direct and indirect
measures of student learning are aligned with the program's educational goals and
measurable objectives;
- Led by Division Chairs (Deans), faculty will be actively involved in interpreting
the assessment results and recommending improvements based upon these results (i.e.,
"closing the loop");
- The UVI Faculty Governing Body, Assessment Committee, Curriculum Committee, other
faculty bodies, and individual faculty leaders will all be committed to becoming knowledgeable
and remaining current in the field of assessment;
- There will be student representation on the university-wide assessment committees
and on all Divisional (School) assessment committees;
- UVI will routinely and effectively communicate to students the purposes of assessment
efforts and their roles in these efforts, beginning with the Freshman Orientation
Program and continually until they graduate;
- The Provost and Chief Academic Officer will annually negotiate a budget for the assessment
program that is enough for the technological support, physical facilities, and space
needed to sustain a viable assessment program and to make professional development
opportunities available;
- Chairs will use Divisional funds for faculty professional development, faculty release
time and other expenses associated with the Division's assessment activities and initiatives
that are determined by the Division's assessment findings aimed at improving student
learning;
- UVI will provide Chairs (Deans) with resources to fund their improvement needs identified
from use of assessment results;
- Assessment information sources such as an assessment newsletter and/or an assessment
resource manual will be available to faculty to provide them with key assessment principles,
concepts, models, and procedures;
- All Divisions and the Curriculum Committee will require that faculty members indicate
on the syllabi of previously approved courses and in the proposal for new courses,
and for new or revised programs, the measurable objectives for student learning and
how student learning will be assessed;
- Considerable program-level data about student and program performance will be available
and "
- Assessment data will be consistently used as the basis for making changes across the
institution;
- Assessment findings about the state of student learning will be incorporated into
reviews of the academic program and into the self-study of institutional effectiveness.
- The conclusions faculty reach after reviewing the assessment results and the recommendations
that they make regarding proposed changes in teaching methods, curriculum, course
content, instructional resources, and in academic support services will be incorporated
into regular Divisional and institutional planning and budgeting processes and will
be included in the determination of the priorities for funding and implementation;
- Assessments of student learning will be conducted from at each transition point from
the students' entry to exit: Admissions; Developmental Skills; General Education;
Degree Programs; Career Placement; Alumni/Stakeholder Relations.
Source:
Higher Learning Commission NCA (2003). Restructured Expectations: A Transitional Workbook.
"Assessment of Student Academic Achievement: Assessment Culture Matrix" Higher Learning
Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
