Best Practices and Examples
Resources to Support PLO Development and Assessment
- National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA)
- The NILOA publication, “Using Assessment Results: Promising Practices of Institutions that Do It Well” (2012) (PDF)
- The NILOA publication, “To Imagine a Verb: The Language and Syntax of Learning Outcomes Statements” (PDF)
- American Institutes for Research (AIR)
- Excellence in Assessment Program recognition in 2016 has identified this peer institution, Indiana University-Purdue University – Indianapolis, for recognition based on their programs of assessment. See the Planning and Institutional Improvement website.
- Selected References on Outcomes Assessment in Higher Education (PDF) (an annotated bibliography by Trudy W. Banta and Associates).
- Assessment Update is a bimonthly newsletter from Jossey-Bass dedicated to higher education assessment.
- Learning Outcomes Assessment: A Practitioner’s Handbook.
Articles on the development and use of rubrics for program learning outcomes assessment:
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Wolf, K., Connelly, M., and Kimara, A. (2008). A tale of two rubrics: Improving teaching and learning across the content areas through assessment. The Journal of Effective Teaching (PDF). 8(1), p. 21-32.
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Wolf, K. & Stevens, E. (2007). The Role of Rubrics in Advancing and Assessing Student Learning. The Journal of Effective Teaching (PDF) 7(1), p. 3-14
- Assessment Clear and Simple: A practical guide for institutions, departments, and general education. Barbara E. Walvoord. (2010).
- Writing good multiple choice test questions. Cynthia Brame, Center for Teaching at Vanderbilt University.
- Assessing Teamwork, regardless of discipline, is challenging. The linked article discusses the development of a rubric (and provides a rubric) that can be used in undergraduate courses. The rubric coordinates well with Boise State’s University Learning Outcome for Teamwork (requires @boisestate.edu log in).
- For information about the ways that curriculum maps can be used to answer questions about student learning in your program, you can read this blog post by Linda Suskie, noted expert on student assessment. Once on the blog, you can look through past blogs posts about other assessment topics.