Assessment Handbook Preface

Assessment of Student Learning at Western Michigan University 

Western Michigan University (WMU) is committed to the success of our students. That success is predicated on the idea that students graduate from the university having added to the knowledge they had entering WMU. Assessment of student learning is crucial to ensuring and documenting that students get the added value they should expect from the institution.

Assessment at WMU is an outcome-based process and occurs in both academic and learner support units. Units determine the learning outcomes they desire when a student completes either an individual course or program of study or services they provide. Various assessment tools are used to measure the degree to which the outcomes have been achieved. Benchmarks are established for each outcome and the data obtained through various assessment tools is compared to the benchmarks. If the results show that students are not reaching the stated learning outcomes at an acceptable level, the faculty or staff members of the unit make changes in the course/program. Assessment is then used to determine if the changes result in an increased number of students reaching the desired outcome(s).

Assessment plans have been written for academic units and learner support units. Since no single educational or process outcome is common to all units, the plans show the diversity across campus. Different units use various assessment tools as they apply. Assessment plans are not static and can change and evolve as the unit discovers what activities are effective and which are not.

This assessment handbook is designed to help units carry out their assessment activities. It contains information, (from both internal and external sources), on how to write good assessment outcomes, answers to frequently asked assessment questions, resources available on campus, and some sample assessment tools, among other things. This handbook will evolve over time in the same manner as assessment plans. It is hoped that the handbook will aid units in better assessing the learning achieved by our students.

Celebrating student learning,

Karen Stokes Chapo

Program Manager Assessment