{"id":342,"date":"2018-11-09T21:29:24","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T21:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ocldaa\/?page_id=342"},"modified":"2025-10-01T21:53:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T21:53:01","slug":"assessment-process","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ocldaa\/assessment-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Assessment Process"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>Academic Assessment at NAU<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>At NAU, assessment is about strengthening and celebrating student learning. We look closely at what students know, what they can do, and how we can make an already strong learning experience even better.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of being a one-time \u201ccheck the box\u201d task, assessment is an <strong>ongoing conversation<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\">How well are our students learning?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\">What can we do to help them learn even more effectively?<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no single \u201cright\u201d way to do assessment. Every university finds its own approach.<\/p>\n<p>At NAU, our process is:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Faculty-driven<\/strong> \u2013 You know your discipline best.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Meaningful and useful<\/strong> \u2013 Focused on changes that matter.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Student-centered<\/strong> \u2013 Always about improving learning.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ongoing<\/strong> \u2013 Part of our regular rhythm, not a once-in-a-while chore.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Why It Matters for Faculty<\/h3>\n<p>Our assessment process helps you:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>See what\u2019s working well and what could use a boost.<\/li>\n<li>Have meaningful curriculum conversations with colleagues.<\/li>\n<li>Gather strong evidence to maintain and grow your program.<\/li>\n<li>Explain your program\u2019s value to audiences outside your field.<\/li>\n<li>Show the impact of your teaching on student success.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Annual Academic Assessment Report<\/h3>\n<p>Every year, by <strong>May 31<\/strong>, all academic units submit an Annual Academic Assessment Report.<\/p>\n<p>This is our way of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Checking in on progress.<\/li>\n<li>Documenting successes and growth.<\/li>\n<li>Identifying areas where we can support you better.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The report is a chance to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Share what\u2019s working.<\/li>\n<li>Highlight creative or impactful teaching practices.<\/li>\n<li>Outline future goals for student learning and program improvement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It also helps:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Keep departments organized.<\/li>\n<li>Guide workload discussions.<\/li>\n<li>Support leadership in setting clear expectations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each spring, a link to the electronic report form is sent to Directors and Chairs. \ud83d\udcc2 <a href=\"https:\/\/nau0.sharepoint.com\/sites\/OCLDAARA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Report Archive<\/strong><\/a> is available for reference.<\/p>\n<h3>Previous Assessment Process<\/h3>\n<p>The Degree Program Expectations (DPE) process outlined here reflects our former approach to assessment. We are currently updating our assessment requirements, and new resources will be available soon. In the meantime, the <a href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2025\/10\/How-to-Guide-DPE.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>DPE How-to Guide<\/strong><\/a> may be useful in understanding the six steps of the previous assessment process.<\/p>\n<!-- shortcode-right-column -->\n<div class=\"shortcode-right-column\" >\n    <div class=\"shortcode-right-column__container\"><!-- shortcode-block -->\n<div class=\"shortcode-block\">\n      <div class=\"block-header\">\n        <h3>Need help?<\/h3>\n    <\/div>\n          <div class=\"block-body\">\n      <div><\/p>\n<p>Contact <a href=\"mailto:Stephanie.Winters@nau.edu\"><strong>Stephanie Winters<\/strong><\/a> with questions or for help planning your assessment efforts. We\u2019re here to make the process useful, manageable, and focused on what matters most\u2014<strong>student success<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n          <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Academic Assessment at NAU At NAU, assessment is about strengthening and celebrating student learning. We look closely at what students know, what they can do, and how we can make an already strong learning experience even better. Instead of being a one-time \u201ccheck the box\u201d task, assessment is an ongoing conversation: How well are our [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","ring_central_script_selection":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-342","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ocldaa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ocldaa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ocldaa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ocldaa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ocldaa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ocldaa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1072,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ocldaa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/342\/revisions\/1072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ocldaa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}