Learner Outcomes Assessment Portfolio

Remaining Current and Knowledgeable

Becoming knowledgeable and staying current in outcomes assessment is, perhaps, one of the most difficult aspects of outcomes assessment. To move faculty in the department to a higher level of knowledge the department sponsored a series of three short workshops on learning-centered outcomes during the spring of 2003. The end result of those workshops was a draft of the outcomes that constitute the current set of ten outcomes for the department. Throughout the following year, a group of twelve faculty worked on refining the outcomes and the curricula in the department’s options.

Faculty are encouraged to participate in workshops and presentations concerning outcomes assessment. To encourage such participation, the position responsibility statements for all faculty with teaching responsibilities indicate their responsibility for using outcomes assessment to drive course change and improvement.

The department has named a faculty member to a three-year term in a newly created Harmon Family Professorship beginning July 1, 2004. The primary focus of the professorship during the three-year appointment will be to strengthening the department’s outcomes assessment effort. Included in that effort will be development of programs, activities, and individual assistance to help all faculty in the department become more knowledgeable about, and more proficient in the use of outcomes assessment.

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