Indirect Assessment Examples Explained

Peer review of academic programs is a widely accepted method for assessing curricular sequences as well as course development and delivery. Using external reviewers is a useful way of analyzing whether student achievement correlates appropriately with departmental goals and objectives. In numerous instances, recommendations initiated by skilled external reviewers have been instrumental in identifying program strengths and weaknesses leading to substantial curricular and structural changes and improvements. This is a key component of the Program Alignment & Review [PAR] process here at Drexel.

Student surveying and exit interviews have become increasingly important tools for understanding the educational needs of students. When combined with other assessment instruments, many departments have successfully used surveys to produce important changes. During this process, students are asked to reflect on what they have learned as majors in order to generate information for program improvement. Through using this method, we can gain insight into how students experience courses, what they like and do not like about various instructional delivery approaches, what is important about the classroom environment that facilitates or hinders learning, and the nature of assignments that foster student learning. The university conducts a senior exit survey prior to each commencement.

Surveying of alumni is a useful assessment tool for generating data about student preparation for professional work, program satisfaction, and the relevancy of curriculum. As an assessment supplement, alumni surveys provide departments and faculty with a variety of information that can highlight program areas that need to be expanded or enhanced. In most cases, alumni surveys are an inexpensive way to gather data and for reestablishing relationships with individuals that want to help the program continually improve. The Alumni Survey is currently in development at Drexel.

Co-op employer surveys can provide information about the curriculum, programs, and students that other forms of assessment cannot produce. Through surveys, colleges and departments within a university can review employer satisfaction levels with the abilities and skills of both recent graduates as well as co-op students. The advantages in using employer surveys (as well as using student surveys of their co-op experiences) include the ability to obtain both internal (Drexel undergraduate students) and external data (Employers) that cannot be produced on campus, and the responses are often useful to help students discern the relevance of their educational experiences.

Once a department/program has defined its outcomes, all phases of the curriculum and each individual course would almost automatically cover most of the bases needed to provide each student with the opportunity to learn the essential components of those outcomes. That said, it must also be stated that not every course needs to attempt to cover all the outcomes for the major. The curriculum map or analysis provides a means to chart just which courses will cover which objectives. The chart then provides assurance to the department that, assuming certain sequences are taken by the student candidates for that major, they will in fact have the opportunity to learn those objectives. Syllabus analysis is an especially useful technique when multiple sections of a department course are offered by a variety of instructors. It provides assurance that each section will cover essential points without prescribing the specific teaching methods to be used in helping the students learn those common objectives.