Assessment and Program Review


As of July 1, 2009, the responsibility for Assessment and the Top 25 Project has moved to the Center for the Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and University Assessment (CELTUA). CELTUA is responsible for the Student Success Plan, Assessment Luncheons, Assessment Briefs, the Top 25 Project, and multiple other learning, teaching and assessment-related activities. For information on any of these projects, please visit the CELTUA website at: http://www.units.muohio.edu/celt/

As of December 2011, changes in the university’s assessment procedures allow for programmatic rather than course-based assessment of the Global Miami Plan.  In the past, Liberal Education Council has required a 3-tiered plan of assessment for every MP offering (see links below); while these assessment practices might still inform individual programs’ and instructors’ approaches to assessment, new requirements embed assessment of liberal education principles within program review procedures, reducing considerably the information that programs will be required to report to LEC as part of the annual review process and allowing LEC direct access to data needed to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the Global Miami Plan.

With the new guidelines, LEC trusts that programs will regularly reflect on the effectiveness of their Global MP offerings as part of their curriculum committee agendas, audit syllabi to ensure they adequately represent MP principles and courses’ roles in the MP, and consult when needed with the Director of Liberal Education to assess their contributions to the Global MP and, reciprocally, the Global MP’s effect on their program. 

In addition, submission of courses for Global MP status implies a program’s willingness to collaborate with LEC to indirectly and directly assess the courses for the purpose of examining the overall success of the Global Miami Plan.

For example:

  • LEC may use the online course evaluation system to embed questions that will assess: (a) students’ perceptions across the Global MP’s specific Foundation and Focus areas; (b) the degrees to which liberal education principles are being met; and (c) how students’ work connects to broader liberal education aims regarding personal moral commitment, ethical understanding, and civic action. (See list of questions at end of this form.)
  • As part of the University’s review process, programs are required to include at least one student learning outcome that is linked to a MP principle as part of its program-level assessment.  As a result, a program may conduct direct assessment of student work in any Global MP offering to help the program fulfill its obligation and make the results of this assessment available to LEC. 
  • As part of assessments related to the overall effectiveness of the Global MP, LEC may ask the program to submit a copy of an assignment and anonymized student papers from its Global MP courses in order to assess student achievement of one or more Global MP principles.  For its own assessment purposes, LEC may, for instance, collect samples of student work from similar assignments in different courses within a Global MP Foundation category and collectively assess their achievements using one rubric or other measure.
  • LEC may arrange for focus groups of students on their perceptions of their mastery of learning outcomes in MP courses and perceptions of curricular and pedagogical elements that advanced their learning.
  • In collaboration with programs, LEC may also audit and conduct thematic analysis of Miami Plan course syllabi and/or assignment prompts.

For such purposes, instructors of Global MP offerings should retain copies of their syllabi and student papers for at least one year after offering a Global MP course to enable such internal assessments.

Prior to December 2011, the structures described below were in place, and the record is retained here for accreditation purposes:

Global Miami Plan Assessment and Program Review Prior to December 2011

The following resources are provided to assist, 1) departments who are conducting an assessment of their Miami Plan courses as part of the Program Review process, and 2) faculty who are crafting an assessment plan as part of their submission of a new Global Miami Plan course proposal.

Assessment Guidelines

Guidelines and suggestions on how to assess Global Miami Plan courses as well as information on the Multi-Tiered Model of Assessment, the recommended model for Global Miami Plan assessment. Read more

Assessment Reports

For departments that are completing a Global Miami Plan Assessment as part of Program Review, this page provides information on the specific details of the Global Miami Plan Assessment report, such as the due date and formatting guidelines. Read more

Samples

Assessment Plans, Reports, and Questionnaires: Click for sample assessment plans and reports from programs that crafted particularly well-designed plans, as well as samples of student questionnaires.

Rubrics: Click for sample rubrics for several student learning outcomes, including some of the Global Miami Plan principles. This link will open the CELTUA rubrics page in a separate window.

Student Learning Outcomes: Click for information about how to write student learning outcomes as well as sample outcomes for each of the four Global Miami Plan principles. This link will open a .pdf version of learning outcome guidelines.

Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently asked questions about Global Miami Plan Assessment, including questions on assessment methods and data collection, report submission, examples and additional assistance. Read more