Accountability |
Involves data collection for external audiences (ex. Faculty administrators, students)
and deomstrates the effectiveness of programs to services to stakeholders. |
Assessment |
Assessment is any effort to gather, analyze, review, and use evidence and information
regarding the effectivness of programs, with the purpose of improving student learning
and development. |
Direct Measure of Student Learning |
A measure that directly evaluates how well students display knowledge and skills.
(ex. A survey question that asks students to define leadership in their own words.) |
Evaluation |
The use of assessment data to determine organizational effectiveness (Schuh, 2016) |
Improvement |
Involves data collection for internal audiences (ex. legislators, donors, parents)
and aims to improve the quality of the programs and services. |
Indirect Measures of Learning |
A measure that evaluates percieved, rather than actual, larning (Walvoord, 2004) (ex.
A survey question that asks students to rate their understanding oleadership on a
scale from 1 - very low understanding to 5 - very high understanding) |
Learing Outcome (Outcome Behaviors) |
What students should know, think, and be able to do as a result of an experience.
(ex. The American of Colleges of Universities (2010) established four learning outcomes
for liberal arts education: knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural
worlds; intellectual and practical skills; personal and social responsibility; and
integrative and applied learning. |
Measurements |
The methods used to gather information for the purposes of assessment (Upcraft & Schuh,
2001). (ex. Survey, focus group, interview, portfolio.) |
Research |
Differs from assessment in that it guides theory development, tests concepts, and
has implications that extend beyond a single institution. The role of the research
investigator is to describe what has been done. In contrast, assessment guides good
practice; its implications can rarely be generalized beyond a single institution;
and the assessment investigator's role is not only to describe what has been done
but what should be done given the findings of the study (Upcraft & Schuh, 2001). |
Rubric |
A set of categories that define and describe the important components of the work
being assessed. Each category contains a gradation of levels of completion or competence
with a score assigned to each level and a clear description of what criteria need
to be met to attain the score at each level (Ozarka College, n.d.) |
Sampling |
The method by which a pool of participants is selected from the population of interest. |
Stakeholder (Audience) |
Anyone who has vested interest in our work. (ex. President, Executive Team, Strategic
Invesement reviewers, OCHE, NWCCU, Donors, etc) |