WISER Assessment: A Communication Program Assessment Framework

Abstract

Learning outcome assessment is a fairly recent trend in higher education that began in the 1980s (Lubinescu et al., 2001). Today, many faculty perceive assessment reporting to be tedious, time-consuming, and irrelevant busywork (Wang & Hurley, 2012). Unfortunately, this systematic process created to use empirical evidence to measure, document, and improve student learning has in many cases lost sight of this central goal. As a result, faculty may be justified in their opinions about it. This essay proposes a framework for addressing this thorny issue via WISER. WISER is an acronym for five content pillars of the communication discipline faculty can use to ensure their assessment efforts achieve the goal of not only documenting but also improving student learning. WISER stands for writing, immersive experiences, speaking, ethical communication, and research as programmatic assessment categories. These WISER categories extend the National Communication Association (NCA)-endorsed domains of communication learning in ways that make them functional for assessment.