Assessment of Student Learning

2014-15 Assessment Award Recipients

Awards presented by April Mason, Provost, and Brian Niehoff, Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness

College of Human Ecology: Dietetics - Didactic program

Recognized for Program Improvement

The Didactic program in the Department of Hospitability and Dietetics has an effective assessment review process through which all results are reviewed by the program director each semester and discussed annually by the dietetics faculty advisory committee. QUOTE: “The student learning and program outcomes process is an important aspect of the maintenance of program quality and directly impacts our curriculum decisions.” As a result of effectively administering annual assessments of student learning and longitudinally analyzing the findings, the program has responded to discovered learning needs by revising curriculum with a new 3-credit research methods course to take the place of a 1-credit course, and also created a new Introduction to the U.S. Health Care System course as a result of the SLO process demonstrating a deficiency in this knowledge requirement. To confirm programmatic achievement results, the program used a national certification exam to support the adequacy and strength of the dietetics assessment process.

College of Technology and Aviation: Applied Business

Recognized for Assessment Process Improvement

QUOTE: “Assessment of student learning is a quality control technique, which is only as good as the assessment tools themselves. Our focus has been on improving the tools and their application in order to improve our degree programs by first improving our measurement systems.” Individual faculty in the assessment process have used the results to improve processes of student learning assessment within their own courses. For example, as a result of exposing a need for students to improve in areas of critical thinking, the faculty developed a four-step action plan to improve managerial decision making, a five-step action plan to improve understanding of customer relationship management, and also plans an additional action-based exercise to improve learning regarding the creation of project charters. The program has worked to map course-based learning outcomes to the programmatic outcomes by confirming the course-based measures used to assess student learning are sufficiently detailed components to enable finer measurement that can lead to targeted, continuous improvement across the program curriculum. There has been an ongoing overhaul of assessment methods across the program increasing the substantive value of the data being gathered.

College of Business Administration: Department of Marketing

Recognized for Leadership as an Exemplar in their College

For the last several years, as the College of Business has increased its emphasis on the assessment of student learning, the Marketing Department has been at the forefront of the college assessment efforts. Under the leadership of Jan Crow and Kevin Gwinner, the Marketing department focused the program’s student learning outcomes, assessment plan for the department, and the measurement tools used. The Marketing Department meets on a regular basis to discuss assessment results and revise components of their curriculum as needed. What sets the Marketing Department apart is that they clearly recognize how effective assessment of student learning enhances opportunities for continual program improvement. As a program, the faculty in the Department of Marketing have embraced this value of assessment as a department. The Department of Marketing was seen as a leader guiding in the college-wide redesign of the assessment of student learning that occurred in 2014, with the other departments modeling their efforts using Marketing as the benchmark standard.

Multiple Departments

Adapting of AAC&U Rubrics into Course and Program Assessment

The following programs are being recognized for outstanding work developing and implementing assessment measures that reflect and/or are adapted from the AAC&U Rubrics.

  • College of Agriculture: Food Science and Industry – adapting of the AAC&U Rubrics: Written Communication; Oral Communication; and Critical Thinking
  • College of Human Ecology: Interior Design – adapting of the AAC&U Rubrics: Written Communication and Oral Communication
  • College of Arts and Science: Social Work Main and Salina Campuses – adapting of the AAC&U Rubrics: Written Communication and Critical Thinking
  • College of Technology and Aviation: Mechanical Engineering Technology – adapting of the AAC&U Rubrics: Oral Communication

Student Affairs

Recognized for Assessment Excellence in Student Affairs

Counseling Services has long been a strong partner in assessment efforts. From the very beginning of the involvement of the Division of Student Affairs in the assessment of student learning outcomes, Counseling Services has provided on-going assessment activities that have promoted the development and success of all students. Counselling Services has participated at the Division level as a member of the Division of Student Life Learning Outcomes Committee, and in that role has provided assistance and critical advice to many departments on their assessment efforts.