Question(s) at Hand

What question about assessment processes and practices brings you to the website today? In this section we have collected the most often queried topics and questions to help meet current needs. While the resources here are not exhaustive, they provide a starting point to begin answering your questions. We will continue to update this section based on need!

Top Questions We Receive:

Equity and Assessment?

Reports:

  1. Focused on What Matters: Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes at Minority-Serving Institutions
  2. Assessment, Accountability, and Student Learning Outcomes at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Occasional Papers:

  1. Equity and Assessment: Moving Towards Culturally Responsive Assessment
  2. Responses to Equity and Assessment
  3. A New Decade for Assessment: Embedding Equity into Assessment Praxis

Viewpoints:

  1. Helping Faculty Use Assessment Data to Provide More Equitable Learning Experiences
  2. The Comprehensive Student Record at Dillard University
  3. Some Thoughts on Assessing Intercultural Competence
  4. Where is Culture in Higher Education Assessment and Evaluation?
  5. Ensuring Fairness in Unprecedented Times: Grading Our Nation’s Students
  6. Humanizing Assessment

Assessment in Practice:

Equity Responses:

  1. Leveraging Learning Management Systems for Culturally Responsive Assessment Practice
  2. Culturally Responsive Assessment: A Missed Call for Italy?
  3. Using Your Sphere of Influence to Impact Culturally Responsive Assessment

Case Studies:

  1. Capital University
  2. Cornell University
  3. Portland State University
  4. Capella University
  5. North Carolina A&T State University
  6. St. Edward’s University
  7. Texas A&M International University
  8. LaGuardia Community College

Related Resources:

  1. Antiracist Resources for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment of Student Learning (NILOA)
  2. Socially Just Assessment Resources
  3. Colorado Department of Higher Education’s Equity Toolkit. A few examples from the toolkit are:
  4. Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL)
  5. The Intercultural Learning Hub’s Digital Toolbox has catalogued over 70 formative and summative assessment tools for intercultural learning, many of which are useful for Diversity and Inclusion purposes. To find these, you will need to create a free account and follow these steps:
    1. Select the Advanced Search function (left side of the page)
    2. Set the Tool Type to be Assessment (ignore the Kinesthetic options), then click ‘Next’
    3. In the frameworks page check Diversity & Inclusion, then click ‘Next’
    4. Ignore the options on the Context page and click ‘Search’
  6. 2020 AALHE Conference keynote from Dr. Natasha Jankowski: “Reflections on Equity in Interesting Times
  7. ACUE’s Inclusive Teaching Practices Toolkit
  8. The Center for Urban Education’s Equity-Minded Syllabus Review Guide

Using Technology & Data in Assessment?

Occasional Papers:

  1. Towards a Model for Assessment in an Information and Technology-rich 21st Century Learning Environment
  2. Technology Solutions to Support Assessment
  3. Assessing Learning in Online Education: The Role of Technology in Improving Student Outcomes
  4. Assessing Student Learning in the Online Modality
  5. Documenting Learning: The Comprehensive Learner Record

Viewpoints:

  1. Demand interoperability to dramatically improve the educational ecosystem
  2. Real-time Student Assessment: Prioritizing Enrolled Students Equitable Progress toward Achieving a High-Quality Degree
  3. Helping Faculty Use Assessment Data to Provide More Equitable Learning Experiences
  4. Catalyst for Learning: ePortfolio-Based Outcomes Assessment
  5. Embedded Assessment and Evidence-Based Mapping: The Promise of Learning Analytics
  6. Why Student Learning Outcomes Assessment is Key to the Future of MOOCs
  7. What to Consider When Selecting an Assessment Management System
  8. From Uniformity to Personalization: How to Get the Most Out of Assessment

Assessment in Practice:

  1. Achieving Excellence in Data Visualization
  2. Relationship between general education course sequence and student success
  3. Digitally Automated Assessment of Outcomes Classified Per Bloom’s Three Domains and Based on Frequency and Type of Assessments
  4. Finding the Way in the Assessment Landscape: Developing an Effective Assessment Map
  5. Growing a Shared Understanding and Collaborative Process using Qualitative Research Methods to Design a Learning Assessment Outcomes Reporting Tool
  6. Hands on with Digital Communication!

Equity Responses:

Case Studies:

DQP Case Studies:

  1. Kansas City Kansas Community College
  2. American Public University System

General Education and Assessment?

Reports:

  1. Helping Students Develop Habits of Reflection: What We Can Learn From the NILOA Assignment Library

Occasional Papers:

  1. All-in-One: Combining Grading, Course, Program, and General Education Outcomes Assessment
  2. Creating Student-Centered Learning Environments and Changing Teaching Culture: Purdue University’s IMPACT Program
  3. Using ePortfolio to Document and Deepen the Impact of HIPs
    on Learning Dispositions
  4. Pedagogical Choices Make Large Classes Feel Small
  5. Improving Teaching, Learning, and Assessment by Making Evidence of Achievement Transparent
  6. An Essential Partner: The Librarian’s Role in Student Learning Assessment
  7. Equity and Assessment: Moving Towards Culturally Responsive Assessment
  8. Evolving the Loop: The Role of ePortfolio in Building 21st Century Student Learning Outcomes

Assessment in Practice:

  1. Assessment with Benefits: Faculty Engagement and Community Building through GE Assessment
  2. Assessing General Education: Identifying Outcomes, Data Analysis, and Improvements
  3. General Education at Delta College: Guided Conversations toward Relevant Assessment
  4. Relationship between General Education Course Sequence and Student Success
  5. Applying the RARE model to general education assessment: Working collaboratively with multidisciplinary groups of faculty

Toolkits:

  1. Assignment Charrettes
  2. Curriculum Mapping

Case Studies:

  1. St. Edward’s University
  2. McKendree University: 2016 Original & 2020 Update
  3. Utah State University
  4. Washington State University
  5. LaGuardia Community College
  6. Portland State University

Related Resources:

Engaging Faculty?

Reports

  1. Catalyzing Assignment Design Activity on Your Campus: Lesson’s from NILOA’s Assignment Library Initiative 
  2. Assessment that Matters: Trending toward Practices that Document Authentic Student Learning
  3. Tuning: A Guide for Creating Discipline-Specific Frameworks to Foster Meaningful Change
  4. Using the Degree Qualifications Profile to Foster Meaningful Change
  5. Unpacking Relationships: Instruction and Student Outcomes


Occasional Papers:

  1. Creating Student-Centered Learning Environments and Changing Teaching Culture: Purdue University’s IMPACT Program
  2. Assessment 2.0: An Organic Supplement to Standard Assessment Procedure
  3. What Faculty Unions Say about Student Learning Outcomes Assessment
  4. Student Outcomes Assessment Among the New Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Majority
  5. Assessment and Academic Freedom: In Concert, not Conflict

Viewpoints:

  1. Faculty Concerns About Student Learning Outcomes Assessment
  2. Helping Faculty Use Assessment Data to Provide More Equitable Learning Experiences
  3. Working Together to Define and Measure Learning in the Disciplines
  4. Addressing Assessment Fatigue by Keeping the Focus on Learning
  5. Getting Faculty on Board: Four Suggestions

Assessment in Practice:

  1. An Assessment Fellows Program Model
  2. Using Backward Design and the Assignment Design Charrette Model for Quality Enhancement
  3. A College Where Adjuncts Are Not Just Add-ons
  4. Coming in from the Wilderness: Using an Annual Faculty Symposium to Make Connections, Fête Excellence, and Build Capacity in Assessment

Toolkits

  1. Assignment Charrettes

NILOA Case Studies:

  1. St. Olaf College (Update)
  2. McKendree University (Update)
  3. Augustana College
  4. Carnegie Mellon University
  5. North Carolina A&T State University
  6. St. Olaf College
  7. Juniata College
  8. Palo Alto College

Additional Resources:

  1. Patricia Cross Academy Videos

Curriculum Mapping & Alignment?

Occasional Papers:

  1. All-in-One: Combining Grading, Course, Program, and General Education Outcomes Assessment
  2. Aligning Educational Outcomes and Practices
  3. Assessment 2.0: An Organic Supplement to Standard Assessment Procedure
  4. Technology Solutions to Support Assessment
  5. Using ePortfolio to Document and Deepen the Impact of HIPs on Learning Dispositions
  6. Pedagogical Choices Make Large Classes Feel Small
  7. Internships, Integrative Learning and the Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP)
  8. Co-Designing Assessment and Learning: Rethinking Employer Engagement in a Changing World
  9. Advances, Contributions, Obstacles and Opportunities in Student Affairs Assessment

Books:

Viewpoints:

  1. The Interstate Passport: A New Framework for Transfer
  2. Embedded Assessment and Evidence-Based Mapping: The Promise of Learning Analytics
  3. The Comprehensive Student Record at Dillard University

Assessment in Practice:

  1. Finding the Way in the Assessment Landscape: Developing an Effective Assessment Map
  2. The Student Transformative Learning Record at the University of Central Oklahoma: A Commitment to Improving Student Learning
  3. Designing & Aligning Learning Outcome Assessments for Academic Programs
  4. Is This Thing On, or Am I Wasting My Time?: Using Faculty Development and Employer Engagement in Assessment
  5. The Occupational Therapy Assistant Program: A Case Study

Toolkits

NILOA Case Studies:

  1. McKendree University: 2016 Original & 2020 Update
  2. Colorado State University
  3. Capella University

Additional Resources:

  1. Curricular Analytics
  2. Conference Presentation: Map Your Way to a Quality Course

Co-curricular Assessment?

Occasional Papers:

  1. Internships, Integrative Learning and the Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP)
  2. The Role of Student Affairs in Student Learning Assessment
  3. Using CAS as a Framework to Assess Holistic Learning
  4. Mapping and Assessing Student Learning in Student Affairs
  5. Documenting Learning: The Comprehensive Learner Record

Viewpoints:

  1. The Comprehensive Student Record at Dillard University
  2. Academic and Student Affairs Sides of the House: Can We Have an Open Concept Learning Design?
  3. Student Learning Outcomes Alignment through Academic and Student Affairs Partnerships
  4. Demonstrating How Career Services Contribute to Student Learning
  5. The Neuroscience of Learning and Development: How can Evidence Legitimize Self-Reflection
  6. Can Teaching Metacognitive Learning Strategies Counteract Student Stress, Anxiety, and Depression?

Assessment in Practice:

  1. Connecting Student Employment to Student Learning & Development
  2. Developing Systematic Assessment Practices for Administrative, Educational, and Student Support (AES) Units
  3. The Development of a Student Affairs Assessment Structure
  4. The Student Transformative Learning Record at the University of Central Oklahoma: A Commitment to Improving Student Learning
  5. Measuring Student Learning in the Co-curricular: Developing an Assessment Plan for Student Affairs
  6. An Outcomes Based Approach to Career Development

Toolkits

Additional Resources:

  1. Journal of Student Affairs
  2. Student Affairs Assessment Leaders (SAAL)
  3. Student Affairs Strategic Plan Examples

Involving Students?

Occasional Papers:

  1. Creating Student-Centered Learning Environments and Changing Teaching Culture: Purdue University’s IMPACT Program
  2. Equity and Assessment: Moving Towards Culturally Responsive Assessment
  3. A Framework for Developing Student-Faculty Partnerships in Program-level Student Learning Outcomes Assessment

Viewpoints:

  1. Real-time Student Assessment: Prioritizing Enrolled Students Equitable Progress toward Achieving a High-Quality Degree
  2. Bringing Student Voices to the Table: Collaborating with our Most Important Stakeholders
  3. Involving Undergraduates in Assessment: Documenting Student Engagement in Flipped Classrooms
  4. Student Involvement in Assessment: A 3-Way Win

Assessment in Practice:

  1. Actively Engaging Undergraduate Students in the Assessment Process
  2. Developing Systematic Assessment Practices for Administrative, Educational, and Student Support (AES) Units
  3. The Development of a Student Affairs Assessment Structure
  4. The Student Transformative Learning Record at the University of Central Oklahoma: A Commitment to Improving Student Learning
  5. Measuring Student Learning in the Co-curricular: Developing an Assessment Plan for Student Affairs
  6. Implementing a Student Assessment Scholars Program: Students Engaging in Continuous Improvement
  7. Bringing the Student Voice to Transparency: One Model and Three Tools
  8. Assessing Basic Writers: Perceptions, Expectations, and Agency

Case Studies:

  1. Alverno College
  2. North Carolina A&T State University
  3. Palo Alto College
  4. Cornell University

Additional Questions:

Transparency and Narratives?

Toolkit:

  1. Evidence-Based Storytelling Toolkit

Reports:

  1. Transparency & Accountability: An Evaluation of the VSA College Portrait Pilot
  2. Exploring the Landscape: What Institutional Websites Reveal About Student Learning Outcomes Activities
  3. Making Student Learning Evidence Transparent: The State of the Art

Books:

Viewpoints:

  1. Design for a Transparent and Engaging Assessment Website
  2. Helping Faculty Use Assessment Data to Provide More Equitable Learning Experiences
  3. What if the VSA Morphed into the VST?
  4. The Culture Change Imperative for Learning Assessment
  5. Comments on the Commentaries about “Seven Red Herrings”
  6. Discussing the Data, Making Meaning of the Results
  7. How Assessment and Institutional Research Staff Can Help Faculty with Student Learning Outcomes Assessment
  8. Transparency Drives Learning at Rio Salado College
  9. Avoiding a Tragedy of the Commons in Postsecondary Education

Assessment in Practice:

  1. When the Call Comes, Keep Calm and Assess On: Using the EIA Designation Rubric as a Self-study for Improvement
  2. The University of North Carolina System’s Adoption of the NILOA Transparency Framework
  3. Growing a Shared Understanding and Collaborative Process using Qualitative Research Methods to Design a Learning Assessment Outcomes Reporting Tool
  4. Bringing the Student Voice to Transparency: One Model and Three Tools

Case Studies:

  1. Capella University
  2. Augustana College

Assessment Perspectives Podcast:

  • Ep. 1. Bridgewater State University’s Transparency Project


Other Resources:

  1. Transparency Framework
  2. Excellence in Assessment
  3. Lesley D’Souza (Director, Strategic Storytelling & Digital Engagement, Student Experience at Western University)
  4. Kate McDowell (Associate Professor at the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign): A Storytelling Scholar Blog.

Assessment History?

Reports:

  1. NILOA at Ten: A Retrospective
  2. Assessment that Matters: Trending toward Practices that Document Authentic Student Learning
  3. Knowing What Students Know and Can Do: The Current State of Student Learning Outcomes Assessment in US Colleges and Universities
  4. More than You Think, Less than We Need: Learning Outcomes Assessment in American Higher Education
  5. Higher Education Quality: Why Documenting Learning Matters
  6. Using Assessment Results: Promising Practices of Institutions that Do It Well
  7. Institutional Assessment Practices Across Accreditation Regions

Occasional Papers:

  1. Assessment, Accountability and Improvement
  2. Tracing Assessment Practice as Reflected in Assessment Update

Books:

Viewpoints:

  1. NILOA Remembers Assessment Pioneer Sister Joel Read of Alverno College
  2. Taking Stock of the Assessment Movement, Liberal Education, Winter, 2017
  3. The Transformation of Higher Education in America: Understanding the Changing Landscape
  4. Moving Beyond Anarchy to Build a New Field
  5. AAHE Principles of Good Practice: Aging Nicely
  6. The State of Assessment of Learning Outcomes
  7. Navigating a Perfect Storm
  8. It is Time to Make our Academic Standards Clear
  9. The slow pace of change: Two histories of teaching and learning in U.S. colleges and universities

Assessment in Practice:

Assessment Briefs:

  1. History of Assessment
  2. Student Affairs
  3. Faculty

DQP & Tuning?

DQP Grids:

  1. Associate’s Level
  2. Bachelor’s Level
  3. Master’s Level

Reports:

  1. Tuning Impact Study: Developing Faculty Consensus to Strengthen Student Learning
  2. Tuning: A Guide for Creating Discipline-Specific Frameworks to Foster Meaningful Change
  3. Degree Qualifications Profile Impact Study: Framing and Connecting Initiatives to Strengthen Student Learning
  4. Using the Degree Qualifications Profile
  5. Roadmap to Enhanced Student Learning: Implementing the DQP and Tuning
  6. Institution-Level Learning Outcomes: Where Are We Now? (February 2022)

Occasional Papers:

  1. The Lumina Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP): Implications for Assessment
  2. Internships, Integrative Learning and the Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP)

Books:

Viewpoints:

  1. Eight Years On: Early – and Continuing – Lessons from the Tuning Project
  2. Taking Stock of the Assessment Movement – Liberal Education, Winter, 2017
  3. The Tools of Intentional Colleges and Universities: The DQP, ELOs, and Tuning
  4. An “Uncommon” View of the Common Core
  5. The DQP and the Creation of the Transformative Education Program at St. Augustine University
  6. The State of Assessment of Learning Outcomes
  7. It is Time to Make our Academic Standards Clear
  8. In Search for Standard of Quality

Guest Authored Blogs:

  1. The DQP and the Emphasis on Employability, Paul L. Gaston, Consultant to Lumina Foundation (June 2021)
  2. With Democracy Under Siege, Civic Know-How Becomes Crucial, Carol Geary Schneider, President Emerita, AAC&U, Consultant, Lumina Foundation and Senior Advisor for Civic Learning and Democracy Engagement, College Promise (July 2021)
  3. The DQP and Online/Asynchronous Instruction, Peter T. Ewell, NCHEMS and NILOA (August 2021)
  4. The DQP, Transference of Knowledge, and the Importance of Reflection Amidst the Pandemic, Marilee Bresciani Ludvik, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, The University of Texas Arlington (February 2022)

Assessment in Practice:

DQP Case Studies:

  1. Daemen College
  2. Utah State University
  3. McKendree University
  4. Point Loma Nazarene University
  5. Kansas City Kansas Community College
  6. University System of Georgia
  7. American Public University System
  8. National Louis University

DQP Resources:

  1. General Education and/or Program Development and Review
  2. Revision and Alignment of Learning Outcomes
  3. Faculty and the Degree Qualifications Profile: Questions of Learning
  4. Alignment with External Expectations
  5. DQP Assignment Library
  6. The Birth and Growth of the Degree Qualifications Profile (original version)
  7. The Birth and Growth of the Degree Qualifications Profile (revised version, 2021)
  8. Improving Student Transfer
  9. SACSCOC Study: Making the Case for the Application of the Lumina Foundation’s Degree Qualifications Profile: A Pilot Study Among Historically Black Colleges and Universities 2012-2013
  10. What’s changed since 2014? (one-pager on DQP 3.0 revisions)

Forthcoming:

Assessing Graduate Studies?

Assessment and Centers for Teaching and Learning?