Assessment and

Curriculum Change
March 9, 2010
Lake Point Conference Center

Defining Assessment
Assessment

is the process of
determining what your students
should learn, how well they learn
it, and what needs to be done if
they do not meet your
expectations.

Assessment is NOT:
A

clerical task
Using the correct terminology
Something that is peripheral to
the normal activity of your
department or resource allocation

Where does assessment

make a difference?
With

individual faculty when we

change the way we teach our
courses (new content, new
methods, new books, new
assignments, etc.)
With departments when program
curricula are changed or new
programs are created
(Sometimes things stay the same)

Determining what your

students should learn
involves:
Faculty

Participation
Analyzing the current state of your
discipline or profession
Identifying key learning goals
Accreditation guidelines
Advisory Councils
Survey of employment markets
(Potential new ADHE program
reviews)

Determining what students

should learn can result in:
Evidence

of gaps in your curriculum

Need for new program advancement
Hiring new faculty or adding faculty
positions
New sources of data for both
curricular change and program
assessment
Disciplinary or professional publications
Potential employment information
Comparisons with similar institutions

Determining how well your

students learn includes:
Course-specific

measures of student

learning
Standardized exams or major field
tests
Internships
Exit interviews with graduating seniors
or alumni surveys
Data gleaned from programmatic
assessment should always be included
in curricular change proposals

Determining how well your

students learn includes:
Student

data from outside your

department
Student Services

NSSI
SSI
Bridge to Excellence (CSI)
TECH 1001

General

Education data
Sharing information across campus

Determining what needs to

be done includes:
Course

Additions
Curricular Changes
New Program Creation
Course or Program Deletion

Determining what needs to

be done does not include:
Cosmetic

changes
Catalogue description changes
Minor course title changes
Eliminating redundancy
Meeting new ADHE guidelines
Correcting or modifying course
coding

Curriculum Change
Describe

the evidence derived

from your program assessment
that justifies this change.
Assessment evidence may come
from direct and indirect measures
of student learning as well as
analysis of the current state of
the discipline.

Curriculum Change
Always

be mindful of the results

of your assessment efforts
Not every identified weakness
should result in a curricular
change
But, every curricular change
should be grounded in
programmatic assessment

Curriculum Change
Disciplinary

or professional publications
Potential employment information
Comparisons with similar institutions
Course-specific measures of student
learning
Standardized exams or major field tests
Internships
Exit interviews with graduating seniors or
alumni surveys
Student data from outside your
department

Curricular Change and

Assessment
Purpose

of curricular change is to
create a process where faculty
can adequately and speedily
assure that students are learning
what our evidence indicates they
should learn.