Assessment for Student Learning at NCTA
NCTA is all about helping students learn. We're committed more than ever to creating learning-centered environments where faculty, administrators, and staff work actively to help students learn. Using methods of Assessment FOR Student Learning is our way of assuring that learning is occurring and improving. We've learned that "one size does not fit all." However, the improvements that do result from an assessment process make the challenge of finding answers to that significant question, "How do we know what our students have learned," worthwhile. We are discovering that unlike evaluation, which looks at mastery of outcomes and process, Assessment FOR Learning looks at the process of learning or failing to learn. We ask the question, "If learning has not been achieved, what factors or behaviors have interfered with the learning process, and what can we do about it?" Processes and outcomes are connected.
The ASSESSMENT FOR STUDENT LEARNING HANDBOOK provides a framework for continuous improvement of student learning and a commitment to program excellence. Our process provides evidence that:
- Learning outcomes are observable and are performed by the students
- Curriculum alignment provides the opportunity for students to achieve these outcomes because the curriculum is driven by intended learning outcomes and assessment evidence
- Learning opportunities are consistent and contribute to student learning
- Successful program completion provides students with the skills and abilities described in the general education goals and are clear enough to be understood by our stakeholders
- Faculty teaching NCTA courses provide students with multiple integrated learning opportunities to assure that students will be able to do outside the learning environment (classroom and labs) what they have learned through their learning experiences
Assessment of student learning is directly linked to the NCTA Vision, Mission and Key Characteristics. Further, the Campus-wide Assessment Committee in cooperation with the NCTA Dean and Associate Dean oversees the institutional assessment of all academic programs. NCTA's assessment is a living document.