Annual PLO Report for Departments
Overview
Each program is asked to provide an annual report on program learning outcome (PLO) assessment activity, results, and conclusions. While the creation of this report may stimulate significant reflection among the program faculty, the report itself should be kept brief.
Purpose
The immediate goals are to document the criteria and standards of performance for student learning and to summarize an annual assessment study's methods and findings. The report is designed to facilitate the faculty's discussion and decisions regarding the quality of the curriculum, pedagogy and advising, as well as to improve the program's ability to engage in effective, meaningful assessment. The long-term goal is to create a historical record of the faculty's standards of performance for student learning, assessment methods and findings, and program improvements.
In this regard, the annual PLO report is an essential and effective tool for ensuring continued engagement in assessment that adequately prepares the department for conducting the self-study, part of the program review process. Furthermore, annual PLO reports will provide systematically collected evidence of student learning for campus-wide assessment of the core competencies, and thus enable assessment at the campus-wide level without requiring additional data collection. Campus-wide assessment is needed for preparation of an institutional self-study, and it supports institutional transparency and accountability.
Submission
Please see the Annual Report Format. The report should be submitted to the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs (and if not submitted by the department chair, the chair should also receive a copy) by June 30 of each year.
Required documents to be included in the report or in Appendix
- For direct evidence, include rubric(s), student assignments, and 2-4 examples of student work exemplifying faculty's standards
- For indirect evidence, include questions/prompts used in collecting student self-evaluation.
For graduate and some undergraduate programs that have two- or three-year assessment cycles for their PLOs
- In years for which you are only collecting evidence, please complete sections 1-3 of the report and provide a rubric in the Appendix, and
- In the year when you conclude the assessment cycle, provide a full report.
Audience
The annual PLO report is written for the current and future faculty teaching in the program. The report will also be read by the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs (VPAA), the Senate Committee on Educational Policy (CEP) and the Graduate Council as appropriate, the respective Academic Dean, and the campus specialist on assessment. In addition, excerpts from these reports could be included in department and campus self-studies reviewed by the campus community, external reviewers, accreditation agencies, and the public.
