Departmental/Programmatic Learning Assessment Plan
*all of this material is taken with permission from Barbara Walvoord, 2010 Assessment Institute
I.
Develop Student Learning Outcomes Objectives for each program
II.
Map program courses to those objectives
III. Select one** of the department’s learning goals (at the end of the program, students will be
able to...)
B. Usually 3-10 goals/objectives per program
C. Which goal is being least achieved?
D. Which goal is most important?
E. Which goal is feasible to measure?
IV. Review of student work by faculty teaching students near the end of their course of study
A. Two measures
1. One direct measure (student performance directly evaluated: tests, exams, projects,
presentations, etc.)
2. If students take a licensure or certification exam, this will be added as a second direct
measure
3. One indirect measure (what students think they learned, graduate school placement,
careers, etc.)
a. Preferred: student surveys that ask:
 How well did you achieve each of the following departmental learning
goals (scale: extremely well, very well, adequately well, not very well,
not well at all)? List each department goal with scoring scale for each.
 What aspects of your education in this program helped you with your
learning, and why were they helpful?
 What might the department do differently that would help you learn
more effectively, and why would those actions help?
b. Second choices: Alumni surveys, Job placement
V. Annual meeting to discuss data and identify action items
A. Set aside at least two hours to discuss one degree program (can rotate, discussing only one
each year, or address several during the year)
B. Consider all data, regardless of its completeness or inadequacies
C. Meeting outcomes:
1. ONE action item to improve student learning with timeline and assignment of
responsibility
2. ONE action item to improve the quality of the data with timeline and assignment of
responsibility
C. Keep minutes of meeting
1. To serve as internal record
2. To use in student learning assessment report
VI. Action items
A. Faculty development
B. Curricular changes, from tweaking courses to full program revision
C. Logistics/resources shift
D.
E.
F.
G.
New hire
Class size
Course order
Lab reconfiguration
VII. Report
A. 1-2 pages
B. If externally accredited:
1. We are accredited by X agency
2. Date of our last accreditation
3. X agency’s recommendations for our program
C. If not externally accredited:
1. What goal(s) were assessed?
2. How were they assessed?
a. Direct measure(s)
b. Indirect measure(s)
3. Assessment results and analysis
4. Action Items
a. For Assessment results
b. For Assessment tool
5. Implemented Action Items from previous year
6. Goals to be assessed in upcoming year and assessment methods
VIII. Other Resources
A. http://www.planning.iupui.edu
B. http://www.msche.org/publications/Assessment_Expectations051222081842.pdf
C. http://www.msche.org/publications_view.asp?idPublicationType=5&txtPublicationType
=Guidelines+for+Institutional+Improvement
D. http://learningoutcomesassessment.org/documents/Wabash_000.pdf
E. www.learningoutcomesassessment.org
**In small programs, all objectives should be measured each year, with preliminary analysis in yearly
meetings and overall assessment of data each five or so years