Measures & Evidence

Evidence of student learning at Iowa State University is evaluated directly and indirectly at several different levels, including course, department, college, and university levels. Student learning is also assessed for non-degree outreach and extension activities.

Assessment of the outcomes of academic programs that lead to a degree are conducted at the department or program level for both undergraduate and graduate programs. Assessment methods and procedures are appropriate to the nature of the discipline and the goals of the program. Measures and evidence vary significantly for each degree program, department, and college. The previous Outcomes Assessment section provides links to individual college web sites that offer more information on this topic.

Student Outcomes Assessment (SOA) is dynamic and connected to learning outcomes specified within individual departments. A small sample of some measurements is given below.

Examples of some direct measures of student learning utilized by departments and programs are:

• Course-embedded assessment (e.g. exams, essays)
• Student portfolios
• Grade reports
• GRE and other standardized test scores (e.g., MCAT, LSAT)
• Theses/dissertation

Examples of some indirect measures of student learning utilized by departments and programs are:

• Course evaluations
• Participation in special programs, e.g., honors, learning communities,   undergraduate research
• Publications (graduate students)
• Participation in professional activities (graduate students)
• Graduating exit surveys (at all levels)
• Employer surveys
• Alumni surveys
• Post graduation outcomes for undergraduates (e.g., professional employment,   graduate school placements)
• Professional employment
• Graduate school placements
• Post graduation outcomes for graduate students (e.g., professional   employment, faculty positions)
• Professional employment
• Faculty positions

As stated in the “Guidelines for Assessment,” the results of student outcomes assessment are an integral part of the program review and strategic planning processes.

Departments and programs are beginning to complete the “feedback loop” in student outcomes assessment by using the data obtained to plan curricular changes. Among the colleges leading the way in this endeavor are Engineering and Human Sciences, where curricula are fairly structured. Many departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and other colleges are also implementing changes based on feedback from their outcomes assessment. Iowa State will continue to make this a priority in the coming years.

The table below highlights some of the progress of colleges in implementing learning/assessment-centered initiatives to enhance student learning.

Agriculture	A set of common learning outcomes for students in the college has been adopted, and the college’s Outcomes Assessment Committee has developed a college-wide approach to embedding an assessment culture across the college. The College is in the process of reviewing the college's core outcomes. That review started with faculty forums in the fall semester of 2004 and continues with additional forums scheduled for February and April of 2006. These forums will involve stakeholders and faculty in a dialogue about changes needed in our curriculum to better prepare students for careers in the future. As an example of how the College has connected with other academic units to insure the successful implementation of one learning outcome, faculty have partnered with English faculty to improve the communication skills of students through the AgComm program.
Business	The College of Business has been collecting indirect measures of learning outcomes from graduating students, alumni, and recruiters since 1999 and using these results to improve the curriculum. Beginning in 2004, the College has been engaged in integrating direct measures of learning outcomes for all undergraduate and graduate programs under its control. In 2005, the faculty approved the addition of an Outcomes Assessment Committee to the faculty governance structure, empowering this committee to continue the task of implementing and monitoring the outcomes assessment process across the College. To date, general learning outcomes for all College of Business students have been drafted and are under review. Every academic department within the College has revised its learning outcomes and better aligned them with the general learning outcomes, and has begun the process of introducing direct measures of learning outcomes, which will continue over the 2005-2006 academic year. In the immediate future, the general learning outcomes will be finalized and measures developed and implemented for assessing them. Also, the feedback loop between measurement and curriculum change will be monitored and documented better than it has in the past.
Engineering	Engineering has redesigned its curricula to align with 11 learning outcomes required of all accredited programs. Assessment programs have been established in each engineering department. To cite one department as an example, Mechanical Engineering has established a panel of faculty and external stakeholders to annually review the senior design projects of students, feeding the results into recommendations for curricular improvement. ME also surveys students each semester about how well courses align with intended outcomes. Across the college, a sophisticated system has been developed for directly measuring competencies in the engineering workplace by measuring competencies in the engineering workplace by gathering data from internship and coop supervisors. In 2005, the college appointed a faculty member as Director of Assessment to chair the Student Learning Task Force and work with the associate and assistant deans to coordinate accreditation activities. Prior to 2005, this had been the responsibility of an Assistant Dean.
Design	The college has modified its curriculum based on established learning outcomes. A new first-year student curriculum was designed to develop essential student abilities that will support the learning of students throughout their design curricula. Individual departments have developed learning outcomes and assessment strategies. Graduate programs have initiated a revised curriculum in response to self-assessment and a recent accreditation process.
College of Human Sciences	The teacher education program in Curriculum and Instruction is required by the state to certify that each student completing the program has achieved a set of learning outcomes. Graduate programs in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies have been redesigned using an outcomes-based approach, and various ongoing assessments (portfolios, capstone projects, theses and dissertations) are evaluated at the student and program level. Health and Human Performance has endorsed a set of learning outcomes and is aligning its curricula accordingly. With support from Miller grants, the faculty in Food Science and Human Nutrition have endorsed a set of department learning outcomes and have held retreats to align curricula with department outcomes and to develop course learning outcomes. FSHNComm initiated a process for students to practice self-assessment and self-reflection skills. The former College of Family and Consumer Sciences had a Faculty Fellows group that met regularly in 2003-2004 to clarify college learning outcomes and use assessment data. The former College of FCS held college-wide Outcomes Assessment Meetings/Virtual Poster Sessions in 2003 and 2004.
LAS	The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recently adopted new student learning outcomes for its general education requirements and is currently evaluating its three curricula in reference to these learning outcomes to increase the effectiveness and attractiveness of the baccalaureate degrees. Immediate future efforts include reviewing departmental requirements for majors to ensure that these requirements are better aligned with general education learning goals, developing measures for assessing general education learning outcomes, and implementing a process to document changes resulting from outcomes assessment both within majors and at the college level.
Veterinary Medicine	In 2004, the faculty identified core competencies or learning outcomes in an effort to clearly articulate a common understanding of what students should know or be able to do by the time of graduation. The college plans to use these outcomes to identify intended learning outcomes at the program, course, unit, and individual class levels. These learning outcomes will also serve as the basis for curriculum evaluation.

In the Academic Profiles section, each college details its efforts to use assessment information to improve programs. Readers should refer to the “Feedback Process Informing Change” link under “Teaching and Learning.”

In addition to efforts to improve academic programs and student learning at the department and college level, several improvements have been made as the result of outcomes assessment at the university level. Iowa State supports decisions through meaningful information and data. This “culture of evidence” requires that assertions about the quality or effectiveness of a course, department, college, or the institution as a whole must be supported by evidence. In this regard, assessment activities increasingly are embedded into existing processes. Significant examples of this culture of evidence include the following outcomes assessment activities:

• At the direction of the Faculty Senate, ISUComm in early 2004 undertook a comprehensive assessment of pilot sections using a new communications curricular format. Please see the following link for more details regarding assessment of this curricular initiative. In November 2004, the Faculty Senate adopted the ISUComm curriculum plan as a progressive new model for communication instruction at Iowa State.

• An Ad Hoc Diversity and International Perspectives Evaluation Subcommittee conducted an evaluation and provided a report to the Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee (FSCC) regarding these requirements and their implementation. Based on this report, the FSCC offered new recommendations that designated expected learning outcomes, stipulated that departments explain how a proposed course or experience will help students achieve at least two of the learning outcomes, and required that departments explain how learning outcomes will be assessed. In addition, the FSCC recommended an overall review of the effectiveness of the U.S. Diversity and International Perspectives requirements, guidelines, and procedures begin not later than five years after the implementation of the new recommendations.

• The Learning Communities initiative at Iowa State, which began in 1995, included an infrastructure to guide program and institutional level outcomes assessment. Proposals for Learning Communities must include a description of intended learning outcomes, corresponding departmental/college outcomes, specific experiences designed to meet outcomes, and assessment methodologies for intended outcomes. Assessment efforts through the learning communities have resulted in multiple workshop presentations, publications, theses, and dissertations.

• The latest institutional strategic plan includes several longitudinal performance indicators and a goal for each indicator. Several indicators include measures of student learning derived from the National Survey of Student Engagement benchmarks.