Engaging Online Faculty and Administrators in the
Assessment
Process
at theDirect
American
PublicMeasures
University
System
Assessment
and Student
Learning:
and Indirect
of Assessment
Fundamental Questions
•How are your stated student learning outcomes appropriate to
your mission, programs, degrees, and students?
•What evidence do you have that students achieve your stated
learning outcomes?
•In what ways do you analyze and use evidence of student learning?
•How do you ensure shared responsibility for student learning and
for assessment of student learning?
•How do you evaluate and improve the effectiveness of your efforts
to assess and improve student learning?
•In what ways do you inform the public and other stakeholders
about what students are learning---and how well?
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE
How are your stated student
learning outcomes
appropriate to your mission,
programs, degrees, and
students?
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE
Course Syllabus Outline
Week
Topics
Course Objectives
Readings
Stephen M. Walt,
“International
Relations: One
World, Many
Theories” Foreign
Policy (Spring
1998)
1
International
Relations:
General
Theory Part 1
CO-1: Assess and
critique the
validity of basic
theories that
explain the
international
system, power
politics, war, and
diplomacy.
CO-2: Appraise
the realist, liberal,
and constructivist,
perspectives of
international
relations.
Ole R.holsti,
“Theories of
International
Relations” from
Explaining the
History of
American Foreign
relations, 2nd ed.
2004
Stanley Hoffman,
“An American
Social Science”
Daedalus (1977).
Carol Cohn,
“Slick’ems,
Glick’ems,
Christmas Trees,
and Cookie
Cutters: Nuclear
Language and How
We Learned to Pat
the Bomb,”
Bulletin of the
Atomic Scientists
(1987).
Assignments
Discussion Board: Virtual
Introduction
Web Resources: Access
www.irtheory.com/index.htm
Course Materials: Lesson 1
Lecture Notes
By explicitly
stating these
expectations
up front, you
have defined
what your
students will
learn and
how you will
assess their
learning.
J. Ann Tickner,
“You Just Don’t
Understand:
Troubled
Engagements
between Feminists
and IR Theorists”
International
Studies Quarterly
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE
Curriculum Mapping
(I)ntroduces – Student is not familiar with content
or skill. Course instruction concentrates on
introducing students to the content area or skill.
(R)einforces – Student brings reasonable
knowledge/content/skill/competency to the course.
Course instructional activity continues to teach and
build upon previous competency and reinforces
content or skill competency.
(A)pplies – Student brings reasonable
knowledge/content/skill/competency to the course,
and the course instruction applies the content or
skill.
Indicate whether each institutional outcome is
introduced, reinforced, or/and applied in each of
the required and core courses for your degree
program. Please denote this by placing an I, R, or
A in the appropriate box.
Academic Skill
Graduates of
APUS will
possess
academic skill
related to their
specific
discipline. The
graduate will
master the
generally
accepted
theories,
concepts,
principles,
and/or practices
associated with
their discipline.
Communication
Graduates of
APUS will be
able to clearly
communicate
ideas in written
form.
Critical Thinking
Graduates of APUS
will be able to
analytically identify
issues with the
ability to evaluate
problems, formulate
solutions, and
evaluate the
consequences.
Graduates will be
able to express a
variety of other
viewpoints and
methods of inquiry.
Information Literacy
Graduates of APUS
will be
technologically
proficient in accessing
and utilizing
information. The
graduate will be able
to gather information
from a variety of
sources, utilize
information in an
appropriate manner to
address issues and
inform action.
Lifelong
Learning
Graduates of
APUS will
have the
ability to
identify,
pursue and
acquire
specific and
new
knowledge
after the end
of formal
schooling.
They will be
able to
apply this
knowledge
in real world
settings.
Required and Core Courses
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE
What evidence do you have
that students achieve your
stated learning outcomes?
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE
Direct and Indirect Measures
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE
Evidence
In what ways do you analyze and use evidence of student
learning?
• What are the essential skills and knowledge I am trying to
teach?
• How can I find out whether students are learning them?
• How can I help students learn better?
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE
Example
•Choose a student learning outcome to assess
•Choose an assessment technique – direct or indirect
measure
•Administer the assessment to the student
•Analyze the data
•Use data for continuous improvement
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE
Example
•In a particular course, a faculty member chose to evaluate a student learning
outcome relevant to information literacy.
•The faculty member chose the quiz for week two which assesses student’s
proficiency in information literacy.
•After a thorough analysis of the data over a six month period, data demonstrated
that students often missed a specific question on how to conduct basis research in
an electronic environment.
•Lead faculty members of the course met to discuss the data and how the curriculum
could be reinforced to ensure that students gain proficient knowledge on how to
conduct research in an electronic environment.
•A new lesson (e.g., interactive simulation) that reinforces the content was added to
the course.
•Student quiz results were then monitored to evaluate whether the reinforced
curriculum increased the quiz scores of the students, thus enhancing their learning.
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE
How do you ensure shared
responsibility for student
learning and for assessment
of student learning?
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE
ASSESSMENT AT APUS
How do you evaluate and improve the
effectiveness of your efforts to assess and
improve student learning?
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE
APUS Program Review Process
Data
Collection
Follow-Up
Three Year
Plan
External
Review
Analysis
Program
Review
Meeting
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE
Data Collection and Analysis
Library and
Learning Resources
Curriculum
Assessment
External
Reviewer Feedback
• Course books
• Expert reviewer report
• Electronic resources
• Student learning
outcomes
• Learning strategies
• Instructional strategies
• Industry Advisory
Council report
• Evaluation procedures
• Academic rigor
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE
Data Collection and Analysis
Faculty
Students
Learning Outcomes
Assessment
• Analysis of faculty
credentials and expertise
to ensure breadth and
diversity
• Student demographic
information
• Curricular Mapping
• Enrollment History
• Fact book
• Assessment measures
• Growth trends
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE
Data Collection and Analysis
Program Benchmarking
Program Directory
Summary
Review and Findings
• Program benchmarking
with similar programs
and institutions
• Evaluation of findings
• Dean’s observations
• Program recommendations
• Meeting minutes
• Three year proposed
strategic plan
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE
In what ways do you inform the public
and other stakeholders about what
students are learning---and how well?
Transparency by Design
Initiative
APUS Learning Outcomes
Assessment Website
Internal
Communications
• One of fourteen charter
member institutions
http://www.apus.edu/communit
y-scholars/learning-outcomesassessment/index.htm
• Meetings
• College Choices for Adults
website
• Faculty, staff, and student
newsletters
• Faculty and student lounges
http://www.collegechoicesfora
dults.org/
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE
Things you do to contribute to assessment at APUS:
•Be aware of the program and institutional level outcomes and how your
course objectives contribute to them
•If an assignment in your class measures learning in those areas
particularly well, let the PD know
•Use internal assessments (class assignments) to ensure your students are
learning, and review them over time
•Be aware of how students in your areas are performing on external
assessments (MFT and EPP tests)
•Participate in program review processes when they occur (every 3 years)
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM | EDUCATING THOSE WHO SERVE