Undergraduate Major Field Assessment

Overview Undergraduate Major Field Assessment Assessment Plan Samples General Education Assessment and Core Learning Objectives

The basic purpose of undergraduate major field assessment at MU is to provide faculty and administrators with the information they need to ensure high levels of student learning. The key goal is to improve how and what students learn in their programs and to increase how much they learn. At the same time, the process provides documentation of student learning to help programs and the University meet external requirements, including those of accreditation organizations.

There are two important and distinct types of assessment essential to MU's educational mission. One is the assessment of student competence. The other is the assessment of the effectiveness of the learning strategies employed by faculty in programs. In some situations the same evidence can be essential for both processes. For example, portfolios of student work can provide evidence of individual students' competence. They can also provide evidence of students' gains or the lack of them, information essential to improving learning and teaching strategies. In general, however, the two kinds of assessment are basically different because they have different goals.

The assessment of student competence-answering the question "Do graduates know enough to have earned their credentials"-is a common and widespread practice. It is integral to faculty assigning grades and to students accumulating credit hours. However, assessment of the effectiveness of the learning and teaching strategies employed by faculty members in programs is more challenging. Programs comprise many courses, including courses outside the major, and there are many instructors and different teaching methods. This makes alignment and coordination more difficult. There are structural issues as well. For example, small classes and active learning techniques are more expensive than large lecture classes and faculty members have many demands on their time besides teaching. Assessment for improvement, the focus of MU's assessment program, must address these challenges and others.

Conducting Assessment

The assessment process has two basic parts. The first and most important is to develop learning objectives that have the following characteristics:

1. They describe both the knowledge (also called content objectives) and the skills and competencies (also called performance objectives) students shall learn;
2. They are broad enough to encompass everything students should know and be able to do, yet specific enough that faculty members agree about what they mean and how to assess whether students have learned them;
3. They communicate effectively to audiences outside of the program. That is, the language is clear and concrete and contains little disciplinary jargon;

The second part of the assessment process is to examine the program's learning and teaching strategies, both curricular and co-curricular, and evaluate their effectiveness, that is, how well they work to bring about student learning. The specific assessment techniques that programs use will depend on the learning objectives they develop. Generally, performance objectives (e.g., students conduct research) will require observation of the performance or evaluation of the product of the performance. On the other hand, for content objectives (e.g., knowledge of terminology and disciplinary principles) written tests are often adequate. Sampling students, high-ability and low-ability students for example, and their work, from early in their career and late in it, is an efficient way to learn about how much they gain from their experiences in the program. The key is to be systematic and thorough and to focus on how well the teaching and learning strategies work, not on how competent the students are.

For assistance developing learning objectives and assessment strategies, contact John Spencer, Director, Office of Assessment, at spencerjc@missouri.edu or 884-8773.

Assessment Plans

Each program will specify its learning objectives and learning and assessment strategies in an Assessment Plan (Word document) submitted to the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies by January 28, 2008. Assessment Plan Samples are available to help in preparing the plan.

Assessment Reports

Programs will submit an Undergraduate Major Field Assessment Report to their dean by his or her deadline and to the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies by August 31. It is essential for the report to contain a frank discussion of how assessment results will be used to improve teaching and learning in the program.

Assessment Funding

Programs shall provide an explanation of their anticipated assessment expenses and a rationale for them in their assessment plans. The Office of the Provost will reimburse programs for expenditures that are integral to an approved assessment plan. Other expenditures are the responsibility of the program.

Questions

If you have questions about the assessment process or would like assistance in identifying learning objectives or designing assessment procedures, please contact John Spencer, Director, Office of Assessment, at spencerjc@missouri.edu or 884-8773.