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Office of the Provost
209.946.2551
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Assessment Tools for the Cycle

The assessment tools below are organized by the six steps of the annual assessment cycle. The gray rows designate guidance in Taskstream reporting, which is the more specific responsibility of those faculty in the program who are assessment coordinators.  


This webpage for assessment tools focuses on what program faculty do in creating and using assessments. It does not directly address externally developed and standardized assessments. Assessment is strongly contextualized and draws on many sources of expertise within and outside the discipline. Faculty may consult with Glen Rogers, the Director of Academic Assessment, on all assessment matters.

      Supporting Commentary
  • Tool: Rogers (2018),  Framework for making program learning outcomes student friendly (pdf)
  • Tool: Rogers (2017) Improving Program Learning Outcomes (ppt)
  • Tuning Disciplinary Examples: field-wide faculty articulations:
  • MCL Disciplinary Examples: biology, business, communication, economics, history, sociology  (external link)
  • Competency Model Clearinghouse: workplace competency models (external link)
  • What students can do with what they know
  • Program learning outcomes support both of teaching for individual student learning and faculty developing curriculum-embedded assessment of program learning outcomes.  

REPORTING INSIDE TASKSTREAM. videos:

How to Create an Outcome Set  (3 1/2 minutes)
How to Add a New Outcome to an Existing Set  (2 minutes)
How to Edit an Existing Outcome  (2 minutes)
How to Delete an Outcome  (4 minutes)
  • All Taskstream functionality requires program learning outcome statements.
      Supporting Commentary
  • Tool: Scheduling Planner for curriculum embedded assessment of PLOs (word)
  • Tool: Questions to Develop Your Assessment Plan (word)
  • Tool: Charting Your Assessment Plan (word)
  • Capstone assessments can be particularly meaningful.    

REPORTING INSIDE TASKSTREAM. video:

  • If plan is similar to prior assessment cycle, copying it is the easiest way to input information. You must do so as soon as you "Check Out" the plan for the first time. Otherwise, you must select an "outcome set" to get started.

How to Create an Assessment Plan/ Add Measures  (4 1/2 minutes)
  • In Taskstream, entering outcomes and measures for the assessment cycle makes the "Findings..."  section functional and enables attachment functionality
    Supporting Commentary

Direct Assessment

  • Tool: Bloom's objectives for assessment use in course & assignments (external link):

Indirect Assessment
  • How are faculty involved in designing the assessment instrument and judging student performance?
  • Consensus judgments made?
  • Examples of rated performance?
  • Are seniors disaggregated?  

REPORTING INSIDE TASKSTREAM (See Step 5)

  
      Supporting Commentary
  • Tool: Curriculum maps support deliberations on assessment findings.
  • How are results summarized for faculty review?
  • Are there examples of rated student performance?
  • Is review meeting scheduled?

REPORTING INSIDE TASKSTREAM  See Step 5

  
      Supporting Commentary
 
  • Reports written outside of Taskstream can be uploaded to it.

REPORTING INSIDE TASKSTREAM
(DUE ANNUALLY BY OCT 1.)

  • Pacific named this task section "Findings, Recommendations, Deliberations, Action Plans, Action Status."

How to Add Assessment Findings  (2 1/2 minutes)  
  • Putting in findings opens up attachment functionality
  • Pacific named the "Recommendation" text box "Deliberations, Recommendations, Action Plan" to elicit a description of the faculty deliberation and action plans
      Supporting Commentary
  • Resource: Updates on implementation of action plans may be sent to Glen Rogers, who will input them into Taskstream.
  • Documentation of actionable conclusions should include assignment of responsible persons and planned follow-up.

REPORTING INSIDE TASKSTREAM

  • When planned actions are implemented, changed, or else deferred, the assessment coordinator updates in the "Subsequent Action Status" text box, which is in the "Findings..." section.