The first annual report of the College of
DuPage
Student Outcomes Assessment Committee
This document addresses learning more than it addresses teaching. As some paradigms shift from teaching to learning, the assessment movement has been an instrumental way of taking the pulse of student learning and outcomes. This document was written in large part by the faculty of College of Du Page. It is hoped that this document will serve as a workbook and stepping stone to increase dialogue about teaching and learning. It is also hoped that this will serve as an initial linkage between all faculty members at the college, full-time and part-time, and across all disciplines. As the reader explores the many assessment techniques in this document, it is hoped that cross-discipline ideas will be generated and increased dialogue will result.
"Reaching through Teaching," and "All within your Reach" are very current themes in the College of Du Page catalogues. These are important themes for the college-wide community, and an important theme for the first annual report of the Assessment Committee. The committee chairs selected the theme of Linkages because that will be an important effort during the '97-'98 academic year. The linkages to the mission, vision, goals, and enduring purposes of the College are already evident. However, additional linkages are in the process of being formed, and still others need to be established. These include linkages to:
Student Learning
Curriculum Development and Modification
General Education
Program Review
Part Time Faculty
Classroom Research
The Assessment Initiative: National in Scope
Institutions of higher education across the country are becoming increasingly
involved in the assessment initiative. Some community colleges have taken the vanguard of
leadership in this endeavor. In addition, community colleges may be in a better position
to be responsive to both the issues and solutions regarding many of the areas in which
College of Du Page has already demonstrated leadership. These areas include institutional
effectiveness, enduring purposes, retention, and encouraging student success.
The assessment plans currently being implemented by colleges across the country began from a variety of changes in statewide mandates, regional accrediting organizations, and legislative interest. Those are external reasons for involvement. Many internal reasons emerge which center on teaching, learning, and increasing the success of the learning experience for all of our students. Currently about 60% of states have become involved in some assessment strategies or designs. The Commission on Institutions of High Education - North Central Association of Colleges and Schools mandated that all of its affiliated institutions develop formal programs to assess student academic achievement.
Assessment: An Official Definition
"Assessment is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning. It involves making our expectations explicit and public; setting appropriate criteria and high standards for learning quality; systematically gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence to determine how well performance matches those expectations and standards; and using the resulting information to document, explain, and improve performance." [A.A.H.E. Bulletin, November,1995]
Assessment: A local (working) definition
Assessment refers to two different activities:
The result of these activities will document that we take educational values seriously, that we put student learning first, and that we are proactive in helping to create a nation of life-long learners.
The Assessment Initiative - Locally at College of Du Page
The next section on where we've been offers a timeline of activities surrounding the
assessment initiative at College of Du Page. This section provides the principal rationale
for establishing the assessment process as it is currently in place.
Why do Outcomes Assessment?
Many reasons emerge as valid and important ones. Some of those reasons are illuminated
below:
- Help students learn more by:
- Improving the curriculum
- Directing attention to learning
- Improving the learning process (and teaching)
- Modeling a scholarly approach to decision-making
- To give the institution a competitive edge in:
- Fund raising
- Student recruitment and retention
- Faculty recruitment and retention
- Responding to requests for accountability
- Strengthen the institution by:
- Defining and measuring academic mission and goals
- Justifying funding
- Increasing cost effectiveness
- Meeting accreditation, federal, state, and other requirements
- Providing a context for planning and budgeting
- Establishing baseline data
- Securing grants
- Increasing ability to serve our student population by:
- Documenting student progress and development
- Measuring program effectiveness
- Identifying special needs
- Improving public relations
- Increasing student success
Making certain that the results of your assessment efforts are used:
One of the most important ways to be certain that the results are used is to share the
results of your own efforts with members of your discipline and department. Another
important way is to contribute at least one "Individual Assessment Report" form
annually to this document. A third way is to review and read this document and use it as
an assessment workbook. A fourth way is to work pro-actively with your own discipline's
annual assessment project. The results of all of these efforts can be used to generate
discussion among the faculty about the learning process and how to make it better.
The Potential Impact
Classroom assessment relates directly to institutional assessment and
effectiveness. Assessment says that learning can be measured and monitored, and that
feedback should increase instructional effectiveness and ultimately improve the learning
process. The assessment process at College of DuPage is an assessment-for-improvement
design. This says that the results of the assessment go directly to those who can use the
data to make improvements in the learning process, namely the faculty of the college. The
faculty are directly involved in instruction, and can through their own pro-actions
increase the quality of teaching and learning in the classrooms. This leads to faculty
satisfaction in helping students learn, encouragement of intellectual dialogue about the
learning process, and increased professional knowledge and self-esteem. This is how
institutions of higher education grow, develop, and flourish.
Respectfully,
Russell J. Watson, Ed.D.
Co-Chair, Assessment Committee
Copyright © 1998 College of
DuPage
Student Outcomes Assessment Committee
klassen@cdnet.cod.edu · (630)-942-2081
Updated March 06, 1998
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