Examining Student Learning and Success

Departments use outcomes assessment to identify the learning that occurs as students integrate knowledge and skills across courses and over time through their experiences in the major. Lessons learned from outcomes assessment can:

• Give departments information about the effects of their programs, which provides a basis for ongoing decisions about curriculum, teaching, and learning
• Let faculty see how student learning in their particular courses relates to student learning in the program as a whole
• Help students understand what to expect from their overall undergraduate experience, which helps them assess their own progress and effectiveness as learners
• Support peer review of departments and programs, and prepare them to demonstrate student learning for external reviewers, grant foundations, and accrediting agencies
• Show community members what students are learning at UI, and how faculty members and departments are supporting their students
   

The Office of Assessment supports outcomes assessment in departments by:

• Consulting on design and use of assessment strategies
• Providing reports of campus survey data
• Facilitating access to institutional data that helps departments address their questions
• Compiling lessons learned and actions taken based on department assessment efforts