It’s that time of the year again…setting your plans for the year about what you want to accomplish and how you are going to know if you accomplished it. Some of you may even have assessment plans that you have to submit to the university. My hope is that you don’t think those plans are just busywork where you report things that are not important to you. With reflection and connection, assessment plans can be a useful tool for what you already do. Assessment plans typically have outcomes, measures, and targets that guide the plan for implementation, reflection, and decision-making. Let me explain the jargon and how you can frame your planning.
Outcomes are simply the end result that you are looking for. This is particularly relevant for student learning. What do you want students to know or be able to do after some interaction (program, employment experience, service provision)? You want outcomes to be appropriately specific, manageable, important to you, relevant to what you are providing, and aligned with broader purposes. Frequently, outcomes are stated with an action verb (think Bloom’s Taxonomy) to clarify what students will do—articulate, analyze, demonstrate, create, etc. If you teach a one-hour leadership workshop, what is reasonable and relevant for students—identifying or describing a leadership theory, creating their own leadership philosophy, practicing demonstrating a leadership skill? In that period of time, you probably will only be able to do something at a lower level. In contrast, if you teach a leadership seminar for the semester, it might be more reasonable for students to compare and contrast leadership theories, create their own philosophy, and get feedback demonstrating a specific leadership skill.
Measures of outcomes are the tool that you will use to know if you have reached your outcome. It could be a survey, a rubric, observation, reflection paper, etc. The measure could be quantitative (numbers, a scale) or qualitative (words or images). It is really important that your measure supports your outcome. In addition, best practice is to know/create your measure before you do the activity. For example, if your outcome says you want students to create their own leadership philosophy, using a quantitative survey that asks about satisfaction is a mismatch. Having students spend time writing their philosophy (maybe even having them write one before content delivery and then after) and reviewing the results for quality through a rubric may be more appropriate, although probably not feasible in a one-hour program. If your primary business is not student learning, it may be perfectly appropriate to use a satisfaction survey to collect data about how well you met client needs. Either way, the measure should reflect how you are going to gather data.
When you have your outcomes and measures determined, then you can think about your targets—that’s the level of accomplishment, demonstration, or knowledge you are looking for. For quantitative measures (e.g., surveys), targets are sometimes easier to set: X% of respondents will agree or strongly agree that they are satisfied with your program. But, it could also be that X% of students will score at least seven out of 10 on an oral communications rubric. For qualitative measures (e.g., written reflection, interview, focus group) the target can be a little more challenging, but not impossible. It could be that you want at least 90% of students who reflect on a challenging leadership experience (in writing or orally) to identify at least one strategy to implement the next time a similar situation exists. When you think about your targets, consider the audience, the time, and the importance of the knowledge or skill.
When it comes to official assessment plans, sometimes staff get caught up in the structure or think they have to create an assessment just for that. In reality, staff should be building their assessment plans with what they already think is important. Within the plan, though, the outcomes, measures, and targets should align and tell a coherent story. Part of the “assessment plan” is the planning, which ideally occurs before the program or intervention is implemented. Take some time to really consider what is important to do and know for your work. If you are interested in resources, Student Life Studies is here to help you through the entire process.