Assessment Update: Web Corner

Web Corner

	Assessment handbooks online May/June 2002 v14#3, pp 13, 16. E. Schechter, A. Testa, D. Eder. Text & links updated August 2004.
	Some campus web sites have on-line "handbooks" for faculty and administrators involved in assessment. These range from overviews of why and how to do assessment to lists of practical hints hard-won through experience. Many include lists of books, articles, and online resources with more detailed information about assessment. Some of these sites take a campus-specific approach ("this is how we do these things at our institution") while others are more general, and they vary in writing and presentation style. One or more of them may work on your campus as an introduction to assessment. Full-featured sites typically cover (1) why a program might be asked to develop and implement an assessment plan, (2) how to relate assessments to program goals, objectives, and desired student outcomes, (3) the pros and cons of various assessment methods, and (4) how to report and use assessment results. Examples include Ball State University's Assessment Workbook, the University of Wisconson-Madison's Assessment Manual, the University of Washington's Student Learning Outcomes: A Faculty Resource Guide on Development and Assessment, and the Ten Step Plan developed by the National Center for Postsecondary Teaching, Learning and Assessment (NCTLA) at Pennsylvania State University and posted (with permission) to the web by St. Cloud State University. Another full-coverage handbook is the "train the trainer" workshop presented at the 1998 AIR annual forum by Fred Volkwein of Penn State University. Some handbook sites emphasize assessment goals or methods used by individual academic programs. Concordia College's Guidelines for Departmental Assessment Plans, a subsection of their full-featured handbook, is structured this way. "Tidbits," or short lists of things learned from assessment experience, and brief overviews that programs can use as checklists when developing an assessment plan, can be useful reminders. Concordia's Guidelines serves both purposes. Other tidbit lists include Noreen and Peter Facione's Suggestions For Getting Started. Specialized handbooks include the Field Tested Learning Assessment Guide (FLAG) for science, math, engineering, and technology instructors, from the National Institute for Science Education. The FLAG site emphasizes classroom assessment techniques, methods that can be used during class to assess how a course or class session is going. St. Cloud University's Writing Assessable Program Goals' title tells you its focus . The University of Texas System's FAQ (frequently-answered question) site and the Busy Chairperson's Guide to Assessment from Southeast Missouri State University focus on questions that department heads and faculty members often ask about student outcomes assessment, such as "why can't regular grades be used for assessment?" and "what if students don't want to participate?". Concordia College includes information for students about assessment at the college. NCA's Higher Learning Commission offers Levels of Implementation rubrics and an accompanying worksheet for evaluating how thoroughly assessment is established on a campus or in a college or department. All of the sites mentioned in this column, as well as other examples, can be reached from Internet Resources for Higher Education Outcomes Assessment.
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Last updated: August 31, 2004
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Information Regarding this Site: Ephraim Schechter