What do we want to know about students and

							What do we want to know about
 students and our programs?
  Kimberly Thompson, Regis University


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• Many definitions for commonly used terms
  –   Assessment
  –   Goals
  –   Outcomes/objectives
  –   Student learning outcomes (SLOs)

• Shared understanding is most important

                    Title goes here

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• “Assessment is the process of gathering and
  discussing information from multiple and diverse
  sources in order to develop a deep
  understanding of what students know,
  understand, and can do with their knowledge as
  a result of their educational experiences; the
  process culminates when assessment results
                Title subsequent learning.”
  are used to improvegoes here
    (Huba & Freed, 2000. Learner-Centered Assessment on College Campuses)




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• “Goals are used to express intended
  results in general terms.”
    • Describes broad learning concepts (i.e., clear
      communication)
• “Objectives are used to express intended
  results in precise terms.”
                 Title goes here
    • Describes specific behaviors (i.e., speaker uses
      active, not passive, sentence construction)
               (Palomba & Banta, 1999. Assessment Essentials)



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• “A learning outcome is a stated
  expectation of what someone will have
  learned….learning outcomes inform
  curriculum, teaching, and assessment.”


                 Title goes here
     (Driscoll & Wood, 2007. Developing Outcomes-based Assessment
                      for learner-centered Education)




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• Levels of assessment may include:
  – Institutional
  – College, school, division
  – Program
  – Course
  – Individual student
               Title goes here

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• Key ingredients for success
  – Levels linked to
     • Mission
     • Each other (alignment)
  – Shared understanding and communication
  – Learning outcomes developed by faculty
                Title goes here

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