Course-Level Student Learning Assessment

Faculty have the responsibility to directly measure and document student learning goals at the course level.  A course syllabus is required from each faculty and is expected to be submitted to the respective school office for archival purposes. This follows the College’s Curriculum Committee guidelines, “What should be in a syllabus?” found here:  http://www.utica.edu/academic/facultyinfo/curriculum.cfm 

Direct Measures:

Course level assessments include direct measures identified by each individual faculty member.   

Schedule:

Course-level student learning goals are not on a specified schedule.  Faculty members have the freedom to assess at the course level as they deem appropriate. 

Collecting the data and sharing the results:

Faculty document the course assessment data individually.  It is expected that academic programs will meet to engage in conversations about student learning at the course level and the direct relationship these results have with the program-level student learning goals. Many departments find it most efficient to align course-level assessment with the department-level goal so that the department level assessment can be informed by assessment at the course level. 

Closing the loop:

While it is not required, many academic programs provide a common “retreat” activity to discuss the respective academic program.  This often includes conversations about student learning goals at the course level. When programs have aligned course and program level assessment, documentation can include both levels and any resulting actions. 

Linked to budget:

Course-level student learning goal assessment results are part of the support related to program level budget requests, as needed.

Sustaining the Course Level Student Learning Assessment Process

This level of the student learning assessment is the responsibility of the faculty.  Follow-up on course syllabi is facilitated by the school offices.  Adjunct faculty are provided the syllabus guidelines as a reference and the Office of Academic Assessment provides support for professional development related to writing student learning goals.