Program, Curriculum, and Instructional Innovation

ASER works collaboratively with Faculty Senate committees, academic departments and programs, individual faculty members, and the campus administration to design and implement a variety of program-based, curricular, and instructional innovation assessment initiatives. These include department-based assessment, General Education assessment, and research into the effectiveness of instructional initiatives like Team-Based Learning (TBL) and other active-learning pedagogies.

A signature component of the University’s Academic Department Assessment Program is its Educational Effectiveness Plan (EEP). The EEP uses an Inquiry Framework, asking departments to identify essential questions they have about their students’ learning and development and to design an inquiry plan to collect and analyze evidence to provide insight into these questions. The EEP provides departments with an ongoing structure for conducting systematic inquiry into the effectiveness of their efforts to support student success. With the EEP, departments have current information they can use for Unit Planning, Annual Budget Planning, AQAD reports, Accreditation, and other reporting on an ongoing basis.

Academic Department Assessment: Including Educational Effectiveness Plan (EEP), Department Learning Objectives, and Program Review (AQAD)

General Education Assessment: Integrative Experience (IE), General Education, Junior Year Writing

Instructional Innovation Assessment: Active Learning Assessment, Team-Based Learning Assessment, New Approach to Evaluating Teaching