Katie Kalata-Chair
Office: Room 326
College of Business
(231) 591-2045
EMAIL:
[email protected]
New Course Proposals
New course proposals (as well as courses that are requesting modifications in the learning outcomes) are required to include a Course Assessment Plan. All actively offered courses, including internships, special topics, and experimental courses should have a course assessment plan.
As outlined in the UCC Curriculum Planning and Procedures Manual (UCC Manual), the UAC serves as a required Form B consult. In order to accomplish this process, academic programs are requested to submit their course assessment plans using these new forms. The UCC requires any proposal creating a new program or course offering to complete a detailed assessment plan with program and/or course learning outcomes, assessment methods, criterion for success, and assessment schedule, which will be reviewed by the UAC.
Download and Complete the "Course Assessment Plan" Form
Please download the Word document below. The Word document contains the form that need to be completed for each new course proposal and and submitted with the course proposal to the University Curriculum Committee.
- New Course Assessment Plan Form and Rubric - Updated 10/4
Fill out the "Course Assessment Plan" form. Is is in a Word document format, to help make it easier for programs to udpate. The form is a simple table with 4 columns. Please fill out all columns for each course learning outcome.
The form is in a table, to make it easier for programs. Each column corresponds to the same data that is recorded in Nuventive Improve. All four columns must be completed for each learning outcome for each course.
- Course Learning Outcomes
- Assessment Methods to Be Used
- Criterion for Success
- Assessment Schedule
Submit the form with your course proposal to the UCC.
If you need help with creating learning outcomes, there are an abundance of resources available online.
Assessment Resources - This page contains information related to writing learning outcomes, selecting the right verb using Blooms taxonomy, and Ferris Best Practice Examples.
If you have questions related to creating assessment plans, learning outcomes that are "SMART" or idenitfying learning strategies and criteria, or have additional questions related to this form, please contact the UAC at [email protected].
Academic Programs that have yet to develop assessment plans and would like assistance, may contact the UAC for guidance.
The Course Assessment Plan consists of four (4) specific items.
Course Learning Outcomes:
Course learning outcomes should be specific, measurable, and achievable. Course learning outcomes should be clearly stated and written from the student’s perspective without unnecessary technical jargon.
Assessment Methods:
The assessment methods should be aligned with the learning outcomes. The assessment methods should be specific and appropriate to measure the learning outcomes, and they should identify at least two assessment methods used to assess the outcome. Each course learning outcome should identify at least one “direct” method of assessment.
Criterion for Success:
Criterion for success should identify the expectations for student performance. There should be clearly defined criterion and thresholds for each assessment method and outcome. The criterion should be achievable and appropriate for each course learning outcome. The threshold levels for each criterion should be purposeful and meaningful where general terms used to describe the results (such as high, medium, low) are defined.
Assessment Schedule:
The assessment schedule should identify the timeline when each course learning outcomes will be assessed. It is recommended to provide a schedule for when the entire set of course outcomes will be assessed. The recommended rotational schedule for fully documenting the course outcomes is within 2 – 3 years.
Assessment methods describe the tool used to assess students. There are a variety of assessment methods that may be utilized. At least one method should directly assess the student performance relative to the course level learning outcome. Below is a list of the assessment methods in Nuventive Improve. There is an option for 'Z - Other - specify" if your method is not listed here.
Programs are not required to submit the assessment itself. Simply identify the method that you are planning to use.
Example Methods in Nuventive Improve:
Case Studies/ Problem-based Assignments
Certification Exam
Data Analysis
External review (e.g. employer or expert)
Focus group
Internship Evaluation
Interview
Juried Reviews of Project
Licensure
Observations (e.g. Clinical or Field)
Peer Reviews - Group Assignment/ Project
Performance (e.g. Music, Theatre)
Portfolio/ E-Portfolio
Presentation (Oral)
Project/Model/Invention
Service Project/ Service Learning
Survey - Students, etc.
Team/Group Project/Assignment
Test - External - Post or Pre/Post
Test - Internally Developed - Pre/Post or Post
Visual Displays (e.g. webpage, film, Concept maps, graphics, etc.)
Written Product (essay, research paper, journal, newsletter, etc.)
Z - Other - specify
The UAC reviews and advises regarding the Assessment Plan, including program and course learning outcomes, assessment methods, criteria for success (including thresholds), and on assessment. All new courses or courses modified with newor modified learning outcomes must therefore, have an Assessment Plan defined.
The UAC will be using a rubric in the review of the assessment plans for each course assement plan. The rubric includes criteria for all four columns. A copy of the criteria is provided with the form.
The UAC is reviewing the course assessment plan for completeness (met/not met). The UAC has a checklist, simply to help guide the committee in the review. Here are some criteria that you might find useful to review before you fill out the form.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Course learning outcomes are relevant and in line with the course description and program outcomes.
- Course learning outcomes are specific, measurable and achievable.
- Course learning outcomes are reasonable for the level and difficulty of the course.
- Course learning outcomes are clearly stated and written from the student’s perspective without unnecessary technical jargon.
Assessment Methods:
- Assessment methods are aligned with the learning outcomes.
- Assessment methods are specific and appropriate to measure the learning outcomes.
- Each course learning outcome will identify at least one “direct” method of assessment.
- Include at least two assessment methods for each course learning outcome.
Criterion for Success
- Clearly defined criterion and thresholds are defined and provided for each assessment method and course learning outcome.
- The criterion is achievable and appropriate for each course learning outcome.
- The threshold levels for each criterion are purposeful and meaningful and use of general terms to describe results such as high, medium, low, are defined.
Assessment Schedule*
- Identify the timeline when each course learning outcome is assessed.
- A rotational schedule is provided for when the entire set of course outcomes will be assessed.
- Course assessment is fully documented every 2 – 3 years.
*Important Notes:
If you will conduct assessments every year, enter “Annually.”
If not annually, estimate the frequency, such as “Spring of even years.”
When a substantive change in the learning outcomes is proposed, the department must submit their changes as part of a course modification proposal. Please refer to the UCC documentation for the specific policies.
Programs are able to change the Assessment methods, criteria for success and assessment schedule without submitting the changes to the UCC or UAC. However it is recommended to document why the changes were made in Nuventive Improve.