Assessment of student learning is the systematic process by which faculty members articulate desired learning goals for their students, measure students’ progress toward meeting those goals, and use this information to improve their own courses, programs, and institutions.
In this process, the faculty is asking:
- What do we expect our students to learn?
- How do we know whether they’ve learned it or not?
- Using the information from this assessment, what improvements in courses, programs, and the institution will advance our goals for student learning?
In addition to being a tool for the improvement of teaching, assessment is an important part of the re-accreditation process. It enables the university to demonstrate concretely its effectiveness in meeting its educational goals.
While the language of assessment, terms such as “measure,” “outcomes,” and “accountability,” is somewhat foreign to academia, the central concepts are not. Faculty usually have learning goals in mind for students in their courses. Learning goals are implicit in faculty conversations regarding a program’s curriculum, but these are not always explicit in course development, are not always critically evaluated, and are not always made clear to students. A systematic process of assessing student learning offers a more transparent method for thinking about the goals of a course, a program, and a university.
Our challenge is to engage in assessment in ways that teach us more of what we need to know as educators—that is, to actively use assessment as a pedagogical tool. The Provost’s Office will support academic programs and departments to develop ways of assessing student learning that are responsive to the specific qualities and needs required for their particular disciplinary and professional domains.
Program Assessment
Assessment Resources
Upcoming Events on Assessment
Program Assessment Series: BFA Communication Design + Technology
Parsons The New School for Design
School of Art, Media + Technology
Shana Agid, Assistant Professor of Art, Media + Technology, Director of Printmaking
Pascal Glissmann, Assistant Professor, Communication Design
Tuesday, February 12th, 2-3 p.m.
79 Fifth Avenue, Room 1618
In this program, faculty reviewed student theses to assess whether students could “Research, experiment, analyze, and evaluate ideas from a critical perspective; create and distribute work, and imagine audiences, through the use of relevant forms of communication and using modes that invite cross-cultural participation and collaboration.” Faculty from CDT will discuss their rubric, assessment process, findings, and changes that are planned for the program.
Program Assessment Series: BFA, Architectural Design
Parsons The New School for Design
School of Constructed Environments
Alexis Kraft, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Director, BFA Architectural Design/BFA Interior Design
Tuesday, March 5, 12 noon-1 p.m.
79 Fifth Avenue, Room 1618
Faculty in the architecture program used qualitative assessment methods when reviewing senior projects – no rubrics involved! – to determine whether the graduating seniors applied and evidenced “an insightful consideration of the ethical issues of architectural design as a discipline with potent social and economic force that are incorporated into their design.” Alexis Kraft will discuss how the assessment was conducted, as well as the findings.
Program Assessment Series: MA, Anthropology
The New School for Social Research
Janet Roitman, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Nicolas Langlitz, Assistant Professor of Anthropology
April 1st, 1-2 p.m.
79 Fifth Avenue, Room 1618
Anthropology faculty assessed its students’ MA exams to better understand student learning of the program’s four learning outcomes. In addition, faculty reviewed acceptance into PhD programs and student success in receiving external funding for dissertation research as “indirect” indicators of whether students can “conceptualize and translate interests into a research problem that is situated within both the anthropological literature and contemporary or historical topics” using “indirect methods.” Janet Roitman and Nicolas Langlitz will discuss these methods and the findings.