Assessment of student learning outcomes in Miami University academic degree programs and majors focuses on full-cycle assessment. Rather than viewing assessment as a one-time project to be completed, full-cycle assessment regards assessment as a continuous process, in which the student learning outcomes data are used to redesign programs in order to enhance student learning and development. Engaging in full-cycle assessment helps to satisfy requirements for re-accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission, where it is necessary to show that best practices are used to assess student learning.
Effective assessment answers the question, “How well are our students achieving the outcomes that we have identified for the program?”
High-quality assessment:
All degree programs (i.e., all graduate degrees, undergraduate majors, co-majors or “free-standing” certificates whether delivered in online or face-to-face mode) must develop an assessment plan that describes the student learning outcomes to be assessed, the direct and indirect forms of assessment of student learning outcomes, the means of disseminating assessment findings to faculty, and a plan for generating strategies for improvement based on assessment findings.
Minors as well as certificate programs that are offered only to existing Miami students pursuing other Miami degrees are not required (but are highly encouraged) to develop assessment plans.
An assessment plan should be developed for a degree program, co-major or major in the following instances:
If a degree program is accredited by an external agency (beyond the Higher Learning Commission), and if the accrediting body requires direct assessment of student learning outcomes (assessment of student work), the program’s assessment activity and documentation for that accrediting body will typically meet the assessment requirements for Miami University.
Additionally, academic support units and other co-curricular programs also submit annual assessment reports.
All programs must submit an annual assessment report once the assessment plan is in place. An annual assessment report should achieve the following goals:
Departments and other units should follow the assessment report templates when creating their reports. There are two report templates: Part I which should be submitted in the first year, and Part II for the second year and then Part I in year 3 and Part II in year 4 and so on. The two templates enable units to complete the full cycle of assessment over the course of a two-year span.
Part I and II assessment reports, in combination, achieve the following:
Guidelines and templates related to developing assessment plans and reports, sample plans and reports, and numerous additional information about topics including learning goals, curriculum maps, various data collection methods, analyzing and interpreting assessment results, and making the assessment process more manageable are available via a Canvas Learning Management site.
Please contact Carolyn Haynes, Senior Associate Provost, haynesca@MiamiOH.edu for access to the site.
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