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Visualizing the Curriculum (Interior Design)

Room 118 in Carpenter Hall in the School of Design and Construction contains tables stacked with syllabi and assignment prompts. Every wall is covered with design presentation boards and other student work. The room holds course materials from every required course in the Interior Design curriculum along with samples of student products from all courses […]

Faculty Roles in Using Assessment Data to Inform Decision-making (History)

In effective systems of student learning assessment, programs regularly complete the assessment cycle by using what was learned from assessment to inform or influence program decisions. Faculty and instructors play critical roles in evaluating student work and then interpreting and discussing results, so that program-level assessment can contribute to decisions about curriculum, instruction, professional development, […]

Categories: Assessment, Spotlight

Assessing Students’ Preparation to Meet the World’s Agricultural and Food Challenges (Agricultural and Food Systems)

Should more producers utilize bovine growth hormone to meet the 100% expected increase in global food needs by 2064? This is the sort of question tackled by students in Agricultural and Food Systems (AFS). In the AFS senior capstone course, students are provided with the opportunity to apply scientific inquiry, critical thinking, and problem solving […]

Assignment Design Workshop: Registration Deadline April 25

WSU faculty teaching senior culminating academic experiences (often called capstones) for an undergraduate degree or UCORE are invited to a unique summer opportunity to explore integrative learning and assignment design. WSU is proud to host a two-day workshop with Dr. Patricia Hutchings, senior scholar with the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) and previously […]

Assessing Student Learning in CAPS Courses: 2015 CAPS Course Assessment Report Pilot (UCORE)

How are students doing on WSU’s Undergraduate Learning Goals? Are UCORE Capstone (CAPS) courses providing students an opportunity to integrate and apply what they have learned throughout the curriculum, bringing closure to their undergraduate experience? To answer these and other questions, the UCORE Committee piloted the UCORE CAPS Course assessment report to gauge student learning […]

Using Senior Exit Survey Results to Inform Program Decisions (School of Biological Sciences)

Senior exit surveys and interviews give students an opportunity to “weigh in” on their undergraduate experiences. Questions may include those about curriculum, faculty, offices and services, social opportunities, and career preparation. Academic programs can use students’ responses to inform decisions and improve student learning. The School of Biological Sciences (SBS) has conducted exit surveys or […]

Categories: Assessment, Spotlight

Supporting Student Success in a Capstone Course (School of Molecular Biosciences)

In which areas do students tend to succeed when doing senior capstone projects and in which areas do they struggle? How can we support their preparation for senior level coursework? These are some of the questions faculty in the School of Molecular Biosciences (SMB) sought to answer with a program assessment project over the last […]

An Effective Structure for Faculty Meetings about Assessment (Human Development)

The ultimate goal of program assessment is to use assessment results to inform effective teaching and learning. In order to do that, faculty collectively consider assessment and the curriculum. Many approaches exist to do this. Some programs set aside a regular time during faculty meetings to discuss assessment, while other programs have an annual retreat […]

Assessing Students’ Abilities to Apply Concepts to Real-world Problems (School of Food Science)

Solving real-world problems in an industry setting is critical for professionals in the field of Food Science, so faculty in the School of Food Science want to know how well their students meet this goal before they graduate. The School, a joint program between Washington State University and the University of Idaho, recently selected four […]

Categories: Assessment, Spotlight