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  • Degree Program Expectations How-to Guide

DPE How-To Guide

The complete Degree Program Expectation How-to Guide is available to download.

Degree Program Expectations
How-to Guide

The resources provided on this website will assist you in completing the Degree Program Expectations, including the six steps of the assessment process. The ideas and suggestions for completing the steps are intended to provide useful information for faculty and department chairs.  Meaningful assessment practices are anything but a one-size-fits-all approach. For assessment to be useful, it needs to be tailored to fit each academic unit and program. Since each academic department or school and its degree programs differ in terms of size, approach, and outlook, it is important to ensure that the assessment approach matches the needs of the program, the faculty, and students. Staff from the Office of Curriculum & Assessment are available to discuss any thoughts or ideas to help programs build a learning outcomes assessment approach that fulfills NAU’s assessment requirements and meets the needs of your faculty and students.

The Cyclical Nature of Learning Outcomes Assessment and NAU’s Six Step Assessment Cycle

The primary goal of program learning outcomes assessment at NAU is to assess how well the program’s students have achieved the program’s learning outcomes. Obtaining this information leads to identifying student learning strengths and areas for continued improvement. Due to this approach, the process of “curriculum and assessment” is cyclical in nature. It is an ongoing process that should evolve and change to inform directions for a program’s curriculum as programs and students evolve and change. Our goal is to ensure our programs maintain student learning strengths, and that actions taken result in the improvements sought by the program’s faculty.

There are six steps to NAU’s learning outcomes assessment cycle:

Program Learning Outcomes Assessment Cycle

Purpose Statement

  • An Overview of the Purpose Statement
  • Characteristics of a Purpose Statement
    • The Program’s Scope
    • A Summary of Content, Skills, Learning Experiences
    • A Summary of Future Opportunities
    • For Graduate Degrees: the Population
  • How to Develop a Purpose Statement

Guide to Degree Program Plan Purpose Statements and Student Learning Outcomes

Strategic Course Design

  • Guide to Designing, or Re-designing, a Course
    • Consult an Instructional Designer
    • Use the “Backward Design” BbLearn Online Tutorial
    • Use other Instructional Design Tutorials
  • Checklist for High-Quality Course Design
  • Guide to Creating Assignments Aligned to Course Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

  • An Overview of  Learning Outcomes
  • Characteristics of Learning Outcomes
    • What does it mean for an outcome to be “explicit?”
    • “Learning Centered” vs “Teaching-Centered”
    • Alignment to Purpose Statement
    • Appropriate to the Level of the Degree Offered
    • For Programs with Emphases: Emphasis-specific Outcomes
  • How to Develop Learning Outcomes
    • How to Begin
    • How to Draft & Revise Outcomes
    • Degree Program Expectation: Curriculum Design, Curriculum Map/Matrix
    • Guide to Degree Program Purpose Statements and Student Learning Outcomes
  • Overview of the Curriculum Map/Matrix
  • Characteristics of a Curriculum Map/Matrix
  • Types of Curriculum Map/Matrix
  • How to Develop a Curriculum Map
  • How to Align Syllabi to the Curriculum Map
  • How to Develop a Written Description of the Curriculum

Systematic Assessment

  • An Overview of Assessment at NAU
    • What is assessment and why assess?
    • Assessment Responsibilities at NAU
  • Characteristics of Systematic Assessment
  • Step 1: Determine where/when to conduct assessment
    • Using the capstone course or “experience”
    • Course-Embedded Assessment
  • Step 2: Design outcome measures (assignments, tests, portfolios, etc.)
    • Overview of Designing Outcome Measures
    • Direct Methods of Assessment
    • How to Select or Develop Direct Measures of Student Learning
    • Common Outcome Measures
  • Step 3: Collect data
    • Gathering
    • Evaluating
    • Storing
  • Step 4: Analyze and interpret findings
    • Conducting the Analysis
    • Interpreting Assessment Results

Use of Findings

  • Step 5: Use of findings: Select actions to  take based on assessment findings and develop a plan to implement actions
    • Improve the assessment
    • Improve the curriculum
    • Disseminate student learning strengths
Welcome
Location
Building 60
Student and Academic Services Building
1100 S. Beaver Street
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
Mailing Address
PO Box 4091
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
Email
curriculum.assessment@nau.edu
Phone
928-523-5291
Fax
928-523-1922