Student Learning Assessment is a focus of both the curricular and co-curricular activities of the campus.
In academic programs, assessment is focused on the evaluation of program effectiveness through measurement of student learning at various levels. A faculty-led and student-centered process, assessment focuses on the following steps:
- Articulating what students should learn in an academic program (student learning outcomes).
- Specifying where in the curriculum these goals are addressed (curriculum mapping).
- Measuring whether students have indeed accomplished those goals (collecting evidence).
- Analyzing and using results to improve the program (pedagogy and curriculum,) thus enhancing future student learning (closing the loop).
Similarly, in co-curricular programs, assessment is focused on the evaluation of program (and other intervention) effectiveness through measurement of student learning. A student-centered process, assessment focuses on the following steps:
- Articulating Student Learning Outcomes or what students should learn as a result of a particular experience (workshop, retreat, community event, service, counseling session, behavioral intervention, employment opportunity, etc.)
- Specifying, though curriculum mapping, where in the co-curriculum those goals are addressed. Student Affairs and Campus Life interventions and assessment focus primarily on three learning domains: Civic Engagement, Intercultural Knowledge and Competence; and Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Competence.
- Collecting evidence to measure whether students have indeed accomplished those goals.
- "Closing the loop" by analyzing and using results to improve programs and interventions thus enhancing future student learning.