Outcomes Assessment

The purpose of outcomes assessment is to continually improve student learning. Information gathered at the department, college, or university level is used to ascertain students’ knowledge, understanding, and ability to use their knowledge in the workplace. Student outcomes assessment is interwoven into program review, accreditation, curriculum development, and internal academic standards. The 2000-2005 Strategic Plan listed the enhancement of student learning as its first goal. It is clear that assessment is a critical tool to achieving this goal. Similarly, the 2005-2010 Strategic Plan describes the institutional culture as supporting the mission through innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Effective outcomes assessment is necessary for the institution to achieve several educational goals articulated in the current strategic plan: improving the rigor, challenge, and international reputation of academic programs; strengthening students’ critical thinking, creative abilities, and communication skills; and enhancing students’ understanding of global, cultural, ethical, and diversity issues.

Assessment of Academic Programs is coordinated through the Office of the Provost. Guidelines for Student Outcomes Assessment have been developed that include principles of good practice, as well as assessment processes and procedures including reporting requirements. In 1998, additional revisions of the policy for reviewing academic programs addressed the importance of student outcomes assessments for guiding departmental plans and policies. At the undergraduate level, responsibility for assessing the attainment of general educational goals resides with the college administration. Assessment in this area may take place at the college, department, or program level, as appropriate.

The Board of Regents, State of Iowa, requires Iowa State University to submit an annual governance report on the policies, practices, and results of academic program review and student outcomes assessment (SOA). This annual governance document includes departmental reports for each academic program reviewed during the respective year. Details on student outcomes assessment are also included. This process encourages routine review of both student learning assessment and academic program effectiveness.

In August 2004, the Board of Regents audited procedures used to review academic programs and student outcomes assessment. The review acknowledged the University’s detailed policies and procedures, adding that both program review and student outcomes assessments appear to be well understood throughout the institution. In addition, the review indicated that the purpose of program improvement was clearly embedded in the program review process.

Ongoing leadership for developing assessment programs comes from the Undergraduate Programs Council (UPC), an advisory group to the Associate Provost for Academic Programs that serves as a liaison to colleges and departments. The UPC group includes college associate deans, leaders from student life, various directors (e.g., Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, Program for Women in Science and Engineering, Honors, Study Abroad), and leaders in areas such as Enrollment Services and the Office of the Registrar. Implementation leadership comes from the Associate Provost for Academic Programs, who chairs the UPC, and the Continuous Academic Program Improvement coordinator.

In fall 2004, Associate Provost for Academic Programs David Holger proposed the development of an institution-wide, systematic approach to continuous academic program improvement that incorporates comprehensive program review and multi-level outcomes assessment mechanisms to specifically enhance student learning. The Continuous Academic Program Improvement (CAPI) initiative places responsibility for leadership of multi-level outcomes assessment efforts campus-wide in a senior staff position. Some goals of the program are to: 1) renovate and reinvigorate existing approaches to CAPI; 2) develop coalitions on campus; 3) articulate and reinforce a clear expectation for continuing development and implementation of CAPI methodologies; and 4) celebrate some best practices and successes. The leader of the CAPI initiative provides guidance on specific reporting expectations and will subsequently increase access to results of student outcomes assessment at Iowa State.

Iowa State assesses outcomes at the program, department, and college level. The CAPI coordinator and CELT help to manage and support the process. The University has sponsored a number of programs on outcomes assessment, including a workshop series for department teams, which has resulted in rapid growth of assessment programs in many departments (e.g., Foreign Languages and Literatures, Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering, Food Science and Human Nutrition, Natural Resource Ecology and Management). In addition, CELT has sponsored several faculty forums and other sessions on outcomes awareness and assessment.

Faculty are key in both defining expected student learning outcomes and creating the strategies to determine whether those outcomes are achieved. To support faculty in this critical role, the University since 1993 has offered a variety of programming, usually seminars and workshops, on outcomes assessment. Recent programs include “Gathering Feedback from Students to Improve Learning,” April 2000; “Using Assessment Effectively,” Spring and Fall 2001; “Improving Student Learning in Your Department: Developing and Strengthening Your Department’s Assessment Program,” Fall 2002; “Assessing Student Learning: Is Your Department Up To Speed?” Fall 2003; and a Faculty Forum on “Outcomes Assessment,” April 2004. A list of all CELT programs scheduled during Spring 2006 is available at the following website: (http://www.celt.iastate.edu/). In addition, CELT offers various resources regarding classroom assessment techniques, student outcomes assessment, and mid-term evaluations.

One example of how Iowa State encourages a culture of assessment is the Miller Faculty Development proposal process. Grants from the Miller fund provide up to $25,000 to support scholarly work in undergraduate academic programs and to develop innovations to enhance student learning. Each proposal must identify the project’s intended student learning outcomes and include an assessment plan that will measure those outcomes.

To enhance teaching and learning at the department level, CELT recently sponsored internal Transformation, Enhancement, Assessment, Collaboration, and Helping grants or TEACH grants. Examples of funded activity include “Curriculum Design with Learner-Centered Outcomes Assessment in Mind” and “Using Interactive Student Focus Groups to Assess and Strengthen Teaching.” Also funded was a Learning Circle to engage the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering faculty in assessment and discussions of student learning and a Natural Resource Ecology and Management (NREM) project to support faculty development in the area of learner-centered assessment. TEACH grant awards for the 2005-2006 academic year include Assessing Oral Proficiency in the Foreign Language Classroom, Self-Assessment Reflective Writing for Student Portfolios in FSHN, and Developing Departmental Student Learning Outcomes and a Shared Vision of Student Learning.

Faculty are encouraged to engage in scholarly study and exchange on assessment. To that end, support was provided for several faculty to participate in conference sessions on student learning and outcomes assessment held 2002-2005 at Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

University-level learning outcomes are effectively articulated in the strategic plan vision statement and priority on education. These are published on the web, in the University catalog, and in various other university documents. While there is not an adopted set of university-wide learning outcomes, Iowa State does use several assessment instruments to examine progress in student learning across the university. These efforts are detailed in following section of the self-study.

Desired outcomes of programs, measurement of outcomes and results, and the feedback process in informing change and allocating resources are detailed in the links below for each college:

• College of Agriculture
• College of Business
• College of Design
• College of Engineering
• College of Human Sciences
• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• College of Veterinary Medicine

A review of the assessment efforts within individual colleges may also provide additional details on outcomes assessment efforts at the department level. Readers will note that many colleges encourage or require faculty to include student learning outcomes on the syllabi for individual courses.

As outlined in the guidelines for student outcomes assessment, colleges annually report their educational goals, the procedures that will be used to measure attainment of these goals, and how the results of the assessment will be used to improve learning and instruction. These reports, presented to the Provost, allow colleges to examine their progress toward mature assessment procedures and the use of student outcomes assessment to improve student learning.

In spring 2001, Department Executive Officers were asked to complete a survey on implementation of a student outcomes assessment program. Results indicated that a majority of respondents agreed that they had a functioning and effective outcomes assessment program at the undergraduate level (64% “yes,” 27% “somewhat) and at the graduate level (43% “yes,” 39% “somewhat”). However, results also indicated the need to enhance the development of effective outcomes assessment programs and to promote the use of assessment data to support decision-making efforts that improve student learning. Student outcomes assessment reports from each college demonstrate continuing development of assessment programs and the use of data to enhance student learning.

The Graduate College has historically been part of the Office of the Vice-Provost for Research, and the Dean of the Graduate College has also served as the Vice Provost for Research. On July 1, 2004, the Graduate College was reorganized and placed directly under the Office of the Provost. A new Dean of the Graduate College and Associate Provost for Academic Programs was hired with responsibility for both graduate and undergraduate programs. The current strategic plan of the Graduate College is now under review as the result of the reorganization, and a new 2005-2010 plan is in the initial stages of development.

As a part of its institutional planning process, the Graduate College has developed several goals, each with their own measures of success as well as current and proposed assessment activities. These goals will also be incorporated into the College’s next strategic plan.

Student development and the achievement of learning outcomes is also a priority of the Student Life division. The division uses its Student Affairs Assessment Team to promote, conduct, and disseminate various individual, group, and division research and assessment projects. The Student Affairs Assessment Team supports research through training, initiating new studies, and serving as a collaborative resource to the division.

The Assessment Team disseminates several projects, which represent efforts throughout the division (http://www.admissions.iastate.edu/assessment/). Recent assessment projects include the following, which can be found at the web site given above.

• Financial, Academic, and Environmental Influences on the Retention and   Graduation of Students
• Four Dimensions of Student Leadership–What Predicts Students Attitudes   Toward Leadership Development
• Can Coaching and Mentoring Enhance Self-Regulation Skills
• Supplemental Instruction Outcomes Assessment for 2003-2004
• Contributors to Student Satisfaction with Special Program (Fresh Start)   Residence Halls
• Contributors to Residence Hall Student Retention–Why Do Students Choose   to Leave or Stay
• Four Dimensions of Student Leadership–What Predicts Students Attitudes   Toward Leadership Development
• Health, Personal, Academic, and Environmental Predictors of Stress for   Residence Hall Students
• Alternative Student Loans–A Borrower Analysis
• Meeting a Student’s Financial Need: An Investigation of Factors Related to a   Student’s Needs Being Met
• A New Approach to Measuring Adolescent’s Career Maturity: Evaluating a   Career exploration Intervention
• Drug Education Evaluation Results