Introduction

Penn State, like universities across the country, is currently involved in efforts to assess all 4-year undergraduate programs. Although the goals of the process include both accountability and improvement of student learning, the major focus of the initiative is the latter. This tutorial has been designed to help program faculty learn how to assess programs so that student learning can be improved.

Learning Objectives

After this tutorial, faculty will be able to…
…write clear, measurable learning objectives at the program level.
…choose appropriate methods of measuring the extent to which students have met the learning objectives.
…analyze the evidence to determine students strengths and weaknesses.
…recommend changes to the teaching/learning/assessment process to address weaknesses.

This module will familiarize you with the steps involved in assessing student learning at the program level. Activities, which are included on some pages, involve submitting materials for review by an Institute consultant. An example from a psychology program is carried throughout the tutorial and located at the bottom of the page where appropriate.

You may navigate through the module using the top or the right side bar. Of course, you may also skip to specific sections if you are only interested in certain topics.

Meet the Author
Photo of Suzanne Weinstein

Suzanne Weinstein is the Director of Instructional Consulting, Assessment, and Research at the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence. She has a Ph.D. in psychology and has focused on assessment of student learning at the course and program level since she joined the Institute in 2002.

* the image used in the banner of this course, The Graduate, is from Sakeep Sabakka, licensed under a Creative Commons 2.0 License.