Resources
Assessment Resources
Assessment resources are available to help faculty and staff in developing, implementing, communicating and using evidence of student learning. Resources encompass documents, multimedia and training specific to ECU and also the national level.
Educational Program Resources
Nuventive Resources
Commonly Used Assessment Methods
Direct Measures
Direct examination or observation of student knowledge or skills.
- Doctoral Dissertation/ Master’s Thesis
- Examination
- Portfolio Review
- Presentation
- Research Paper
- Scholarly Activity
- Course-embedded Assignment
Indirect Measures
Perceived extent or value of learning experiences. Opinions or thoughts about students knowledge or skills.
- Exit Interviews
- Focus Groups
- Graduate Student Exit Survey
- Graduate Senior Survey (GSES)
- National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
- Alumni Surveys
- Self-assessment
ECU’s Distribution of Means of Assessment Categories (PDF)
Actions Taken based on Assessment Results
Examples of actions taken from educational program assessment reports
Curriculum Revisions
- Adding prerequisite requirements
- Course sequencing adjusted
- Removing a course
- New/revised course proposed/required
- Curriculum review/mapping
Instructional Strategies
- Collaboration among students
- Peer Assessment
- Additional Faculty feedback/support
- Moving course content to online module
- Faculty clarifying assignment instructions
- Assigning a case study
- Small groups/group projects
- Sharing good/bad examples
- Emphasizing content
- Differentiating content
- Supplemental resources
- Institutional resources
- Guest lecturer
Course Content/Assignments Modified
- Adding practice exam to the course
- Additional online modules
- Utilizing new text book
- Practicing presentations
- Assignment rubric revisions
Assessment Process
- SLO made inactive
- New SLOs created
- Means of Assessment change
- Faculty development/best practices
- Criterion for Success revisions
*These actions provide better data but do not directly improve student learning
Examples of actions taken from support unit assessment reports
Internal Operations
- Process change
- New process
- Compliance activities
- Professional Development
- Internal Communication
External Impact
- Marketing
- Surveys of stakeholders
- Workshops & trainings
- Expand programming
- Collaboration/partnerships Outreach
- Advocacy Communication
Assessment Process
- Means of Assessment change
- Criterion for Success revision
- Establish New Outcome
* These actions provide better data but do not directly improve the outcome
Resources Related to Higher Education Assessment
The following websites and documents are highly respected and represent authentic assessment processes and information:
Assessment at Other UNC Institutions
