Course, Program & General Education Assessment
Roles And Responsibilities
The purpose of assessment is to improve instruction and enhance student learning through a deliberate, systematic, continuing process of crucial self-examination and reflection. Faculty members are called upon to devise methods of gathering evidence of student learning in their own courses, and to collaborate with other faculty in collectively evaluating the overall effectiveness of our programs in preparing students for their professional, civic, and personal lives.
As learners and scholars themselves, faculty members are involved in the critical, active, and reflective processes of learning and should model these skills for students. Faculty members select the instructional approaches, set benchmarks, design assessment instruments, and implement the assessment schedules. Because the College’s accreditation depends upon quality instruction and evidence of student learning, all full- and part-time faculty are expected to participate in the college’s assessment efforts.
In accordance with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, these assessment processes provides a means to demonstrate assessment results that provide sufficient, convincing evidence of the following attributes or activities:
- students are achieving key institutional and program learning outcomes.
- student learning assessment information is being shared, discussed and used to improve teaching and learning.
- assessment information is being documented and used as part of institutional assessment.
While faculty have the primary responsibility for facilitating student learning – both in terms of determining what students need to know and how students should demonstrate learning – all members of the campus community are partners in the teaching/learning process. (Student Learning Assessment, Middle States Commission on Higher Education, 2007.)
The Academic Programs and Curricula Committee, a standing committee of the Faculty Assembly, provides oversight for the credit course, program review process and ensures that the General Education Program outcomes embedded in Limited Distribution Core courses are being taught and assessed and that benchmarks for student proficiency are being met. Program effectiveness is monitored through the College’s program review process.
Academic Course & Program Assessment Plan
The Academic Course and Program Plan focuses on course and program improvement through an on-going assessment process designed to ensure that 1) meaningful student learning outcomes are developed for each course and program, 2) baseline standards for each outcome is being determined and benchmarks established for improvement, 3) course-level outcomes feed into program outcomes as appropriate, and 3) assessment information is being used to complete the cycle of course and program improvement.