Glossary of Assessment Terms (2009)
Program Goals: Broad, general statements of
what an academic program aims to achieve. For example, “The BA in
Communication provides students with an understanding of the nature and
functions of human communication.” It defines what the program’s goals
are or what it provides to the student.
Example: (GE Program Goals): “The General Education program is
designed to help students achieve a sense of the
essential relationship of self to the community and environment with
emphasis on their responsibilities to human society.”
Course Goals: Broad, general
statements of what a course aims to achieve.
Example: “This
course will introduce students to museum quality art” or “This course
will expose students to federal and state grant proposal requirements.”
Student Learning Outcomes or Objectives: What students should know and be able to do by the end of a learning experience (generally a course or degree program). These statements focus on what the student will take away from this learning experience. These statements provide the basis for assessment of student learning.
Program-Level Student Learning Outcomes:
Statement of the cumulative knowledge, attitudes, and skills that
students should know, acquire, or be able to do at the end of an
academic program, e.g., a bachelor’s or a master’s.
Example:
“Students with an MS in Research and Evaluation will demonstrate
proficiency in using statistical software to analyze large data sets.”
Example (GE
Program Learning Outcomes): As a result of the GE program, “students
will demonstrate understanding of analysis, criticism, and advocacy in
the context of deductive and inductive reasoning,” or “students can
perform computations and symbolic manipulations.”
Course-Level Student Learning Outcomes or
Objectives: Specific objectives or learning outcomes that are
covered and assessed in a particular course. They can be outcomes from
an academic program or from GE as well as from the specific content of
the course, in Engineering, Nursing, English, Business, etc.
Example:
“students will demonstrate mastery of basic oral and written
communication,” or “students will be able correctly identify properties
of soils.”
Rubric: A rubric is a rating system that uses several levels of performance (e.g. unsatisfactory, satisfactory, outstanding) to assess a piece of student work. Students can be given an overall rating or can be rated on several standards or learning outcomes (for example, writing skills, content area knowledge, critical thinking skills).
Capstone or Culminating Experience: A capstone or culminating experience is generally located in a capstone course in the senior year of college. It consists of a learning experience, performance task, paper or project on a topic chosen by the student or by a teacher. In some cases, group projects based on real-world experiences are allowed. In some majors the culminating experience consists of writing an academic paper with a literature review. In some majors, the culminating experience could be a singing recital or an art exhibit. In applied majors like Engineering, students may take two or three separate courses as the culminating experience. For example, in Engineering at CSULA, students in a group research an applied engineering topic in the first quarter, design something the second quarter and build something the third quarter. Students are often asked to write about their project and to present orally to the class. In the case of group projects, communication skills, leadership skills and time management come into play. Many GE outcomes (e.g. oral and written communication, critical thinking, knowledge of self) can be measured along with program outcomes in a culminating experience, using a rubric.
Additional Resources: Below find information on assessment, assessment plans, program review, and accountability measures. Many CSU's are listed as well as all other types of institutions, public and private.
Internet Resources for Higher Education Outcomes
Assessment (NC State)