Learning From Assessment
Updates on assessment efforts in departments, lessons learned, and actions taken based on assessment
- Outcomes Assessment in Academic Departments at UI
- Assessment Initiatives in UI Departments
- Lessons Learned: Examples of Using Assessment
Outcomes Assessment in Academic Departments at UI
Annual Outcomes Assessment Update for 2011
This document provides a brief overview and examples of how UI departments were engaged in Outcomes Assessment during 2010/11.
This link takes you to an online database that is designed to let UI departments see what other departments are doing and learn from colleagues here at UI.
The database is searchable by department and by types of assessment in use. If you choose to view specific department documents that are linked to the Assessment Exchange, you will be prompted to log in with your HawkID and password.
To access the database in some browsers, you may need to adjust your settings to allow Pop-Up windows.
Assessment Initiatives in UI Departments
Recipients of 2010/11 Assessment Innovation Grants:
- The Division of World Languages is using grant funds for a one-and-a-half-day workshop on using the Center for Applied Linguistics Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview (SOPI) in French, German, and Spanish during Spring 2011. The two purposes of the workshop are (a) to train a cadre of faculty and graduate students to rate SOPIs in their respective languages; and (b) to build capacity at the UI in this area by apprenticing a faculty member to the trainer in each language at the spring 2011 workshop, so that future training sessions can rely solely on UI resources. We will also purchase the SOPI rater training kits in each language for future use. Grant funds will also be used to design and pilot an instrument to assess students’ growth in cultural awareness.
- Social Work is using grant funds to assist with two key assessment activities: 1) the development of rubrics for signature assignments and embedded exam questions in our practice courses (Fundamentals of Social Work Practice, Social Work Processes, and Interpersonal Skills lab); and 2) focus group evaluations of student field-placement learning contract procedures, in order to help develop rubrics and training methods for field instructors using these contracts.
For information about grants available for this year, see Assessment Innovation Grants for 2011/12
Lessons Learned: Examples of Using Assessment
Handouts from the April 2010 session, Learning From Assessment:
- The Sociology Department uses Senior Portfolios, compiled in their Capstone Course, as a primary vehicle for assessment. The department has also made use of interviews with internship site supervisors, alumni surveys, and exiting senior questionnaires to help them gain an overall assessment of student learning in the department. For a more complete description, see http://www.uiowa.edu/~soc/outcomes/
- The Department of Biomedical Engineering assesses student performance on a series of iconic exercises throughout the program and in their senior design course. The department also relies on senior surveys and on a course assessment report filled out be each faculty member at the end of a course. This variety of assessments is reviewed at regular faculty retreats and provides a basis for assessment of the program as a whole. For more information, see Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Assessment.
For brief reports of how other UI departments are using assessment, see the Assessment Exchange database.
For examples of using assessment at other institutions, see Using Assessment: Closing the Loop.