Ensuring a high-quality educational experience
UNE makes assessment of the knowledge, skills, and values students develop here central to reaching data-based decisions that ensure educational effectiveness and a high-quality educational experience. All of UNE’s academic programs and its general education regularly assess and annually report on their student learning outcomes. Co-curricular units, including the Division of Student Affairs and Library Services, also assess and report on their student learning outcomes.
The Office of the Provost and the University Assessment Committee (UAC) facilitate two ongoing, parallel, and interrelated processes that make up the university-wide assessment system. Programs submit an assessment report every year and, using the longitudinal data, conduct a comprehensive program review and create a strategic plan every three to seven years.
University Assessment Committee
Comprising faculty and administrators representing every UNE college, as well as the Division of Student Affairs, Library Services, the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and the Office of Institutional Research, the UAC provides a framework, a process, and support for fostering educational effectiveness.
Annual Assessment Reporting
As one part of the two-fold process that makes up the university-wide assessment system, academic programs, student support services, colleges, and divisions submit annual reports to the UAC and the Office of the Provost on the student learning assessment data, findings, and actions they have taken and will take to support and advance student learning.
Academic Program Review
As the other part of the two-fold process that makes up the university-wide assessment system, academic programs undergo a regular internal program review that entails a deep dive into their curriculum, educational effectiveness, and enrollment, and results in the establishment of a unit-level strategic plan. New academic programs complete a review following their third full year in the catalog that compares their initial projections with their first three years.
Assessment Resources
Assessment of student learning entails many key components, including identifying program learning outcomes; mapping those outcomes to the courses and curriculum; establishing measures, rubrics, and benchmarks; collecting and analyzing student learning data on those outcomes; and making curricular and/or instructional changes based on the findings.
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If you need guidance to further your assessment process, we offer consultations, meetings, and workshops to help with the following:
- Draft student learning outcomes
- Map student learning outcomes to curriculum
- Determine goals and benchmarks
- Design direct and indirect assessment measures
- Design rubrics and checklists
- Aggregate and analyze assessment data on student learning
- Support annual assessment reporting
- Support periodic program review
- Use assessment data to inform decision-making
For more information, email Jennifer Mandel, Ph.D., associate director of assessment, at jmandel2@une.edu.