Academic Assessment

"Assessment is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning. It involves making our expectations explicit and public; setting appropriate criteria and high standards for learning quality; systematically gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence to determine how well performance matches those expectations and standards; and using the resulting information to document, explain, and improve performance." (Thomas Angelo).

What is assessment?

Here at CELT, when we talk about student assessment, we are talking about how we evaluate student learning and performance in our courses. Assessments are important for both the students and the instructor to monitor academic progress.

Common Questions about Assessment

To better understand academic assessment, you should be able to identify the terminology of different assessment types.

Formative assessment occurs while student learning is taking place. The goal is to make immediate modifications/improvements to the teaching and learning experience when warranted. Typically these tasks are not graded or points are granted for participation.
Summative assessment occurs at the end of a unit, course, or program. The goal is to document student learning and use results for future modifications/improvements for the next cohort of students taking the course.
Direct assessment methods and techniques (e.g. exams, papers, projects) expect students to demonstrate the knowledge and/or skills they have learned. Direct assessment provides the most clear and visible evidence of student learning.
Indirect assessment methods and techniques measure student perceptions of their learning and the educational environment. Examples of indirect assessment techniques include surveys, focus groups and interviews.
Authentic assessment methods require students to demonstrate their skills through the use of real life tasks.
Objective assessment refers to methods with a clear right or wrong answer, such as a multiple choice or true/false question. No expertise or judgment is needed to score/assess learning.
Subjective assessment refers to methods that yield many possible responses (e.g., an essay prompt). Requires judgment and expertise to score and assess learning. Will typically involve the use of rubrics.

What do we really want to know about our students? The questions you ask will vary across courses and programs, whether they deal with students learning specific content, skills or attitudes or perhaps issues of student motivation and ability to monitor their own learning. Our assumption is that the key assessment questions are best known by the program faculty themselves, for they are the ones who encounter students on a daily basis, whether in their classes or outside. Finding ways to answer these questions is key to our success.

Academic assessment seeks to answer the broad question, "What and how well do our students learn what we are attempting to teach them?" As such, it is primarily designed to evaluate courses, majors, or programs, and to determine where they might be strengthened in order to improve the students' abilities to learn. The primary audience for academic assessments is not administrators or accrediting agencies, but, the faculty instructing the courses and directing the teaching and learning experience.

An assessment program is essentially a way of making implicit and informal discussions, concerns, and questions that faculty have about their classes and their students explicit in ways that are meaningful to the faculty, programs and the institution.

Academic assessments work best when they are designed and carried out by the academic faculty, supported by appropriate support units in the University. Therefore, it is essential that all faculty in our programs ask themselves such key questions as, "What should a graduate of our program know, be able to do, and/or value?" and "How do our courses provide students with opportunities to develop their knowledge, skills, and values?" The answers to such questions provide the basis for the assessment process, and for improving the teaching and learning experience for both faculty and students.

There are many levels at which assessment in higher education can take place. Assessment can have a scope as broad as assessing a group of institutions (such as in a consortium of one's peers), and as narrow as the individual student. The resources on this website are focused on the course/group level. For higher level assessment resources (e.g., department or program level), please visit the Office of Educational Effectiveness (OEE) website

Grading, assessment and evaluation, while sometimes used interchangeable, actually differ in their purpose, who is involved, data/results, dissemination, and value. The following list provides a summary.

Purpose:
- Grading: To provide summative feedback to your individual students
- Assessment: To collect and utilize data to improve the student learning experience
- Evaluation: To collect and utilize data to make a decision or a judgments
Who is involved:
- Grading: The course instructor
- Assessment: The instructor, course and program administrators, other stakeholders
- Evaluation: Program administrators, stakeholders involved in decision-making
Data/Results:
- Grading: Number or letter grade reflecting individual student performance and/or behavior (e.g., attendance, participation, timeliness)
- Assessment: Quantitative and qualitative measures used to identify and describe what was learned by students in the class
- Evaluation: Measures used to answer questions originated by the evaluators. May or may not focus on student learning
Dissemination:
- Grading: Grade provided to the student
- Assessment: Report to be reviewed with stakeholders
- Evaluation: Report delivered to administrators and decision-makers
Value:
- Grading: Provides individual students a measure representing their performance in a course
- Assessment: Results can be used to improve student learning in a course, activity, or program
- Evaluation: Results can be used to evaluate the merit or worth of a course, activity, or program

At CELT, we can help you redefine your assessments to make measuring student learning and progress faster, more effective, and more fun. Our workshops and individual consultations cover topics such as designing assessment rubrics; writing effective multiple choice questions; designing course outcomes that align with the skills you actually want to measure; how to employ assessments that engage students in active learning; and more. Request a consultation with one of our pedagogy or assessment experts and start planning your assessment success strategy today!

If you're looking for University or Program Assessment resources, visit the Office of Educational Effectiveness (OEE) website