Embedded Course Level Assessment for Effective Assessment of Program Learning Outcomes

Abstract

Learning outcomes assessment is an effective academic quality assurance tool that enables educators to review and enhance the alignment between planned, delivered, and experienced curricula. Accurately assessing what students know and are able to do after completing a learning module is the first step to decide on the strategies to implement and the proper actions to take in order to ensure the continuous improvement of the student learning experience. This paper introduces a simple process for effectively assessing the intended program learning outcomes using assessment data collected at the course level. The process takes advantages of the assessment instruments used regularly by course instructors to assess their students in the classroom. This would help the program collect effective assessment data, while reducing the assessment load and not overwhelming faculty with extra assessment tasks.