The Annual Process

Learning outcome assessment should be an integrative part of teaching and learning in all academic programs. The elements of NYIT's annual process for assessing student learning outcomes are:

• Faculty members create annual assessment plans: they agree on which aspects of their programs will be assessed and how, assign responsibilities, and establish timelines.
• In addition to program-specific outcomes, assessment plans for undergraduate programs also include assessment of a core learning outcome designated by the Assessment Committee to be examined across the university, intended to stimulate conversations about improving general education outcomes among the full range of departments and schools.
• Assessment plans for the year are submitted to the committee, which reviews and discusses them and provides feedback to the dean and program faculty.
• The plan is implemented: data are collected and analyzed and an improvement action plan is developed.
• Assessment reports for the year, summarizing the assessment activities, analysis, and improvement plans are submitted to the committee, which reviews these documents and provides feedback.
• The Assessment Committee prepares a formal report on assessment across the university.

Academic programs’ annual assessment plans and reports are part of the ongoing assessment process in the program. Each program learning outcome will over the years be assessed with a direct measure or measures, along with complementary indirect measures; however, the program does not have to assess every one of program outcomes on a semester or annual basis.

Each year, select a couple of learning outcomes as the focus of the program's action plan for assessment, and work in detail to assess the chosen learning outcomes. The program wants to keep the process manageable and focused. For example, based on data collected the prior year, the program might find an area in which students are not able to do what you want them to be able to do as well as you would like them to do it. The program's action plan for the next year may be to introduce a new way of doing things (in the curriculum, or in the way some courses are taught, or…).

The program's assessment plan for the next cycle may then be to repeat the same measure(s) to judge how the changes worked. Or, the faculty might wait until the change has been in place for a year or two to repeat the same measures and assess effects. Or, the faculty might be pleased with outcomes measured this cycle. The action plan may be an enhancement rather than a remedial action. The program's assessment plan for the next cycle will look at a different aspect of what you want students to be able to do, to ask "How are we doing?" about something else. Some years the program assessment plan for the next cycle might introduce a modification of the original learning outcome goals that grows out of previous findings.

The Evaluation

The Assessment Committee has been reviewing each program's plan and report annual since 2009, and provide feedbacks to each department.

An evaluation rubric has been developed by the committee members for reviewing the report and plan.