CTAL is here to help! We have collected examples of assessment plans and self-guided modules for faculty working to revise or develop program assessment plans. Detailed information about the Annual Program Educational Goal Assessment Report is also available in our How-To Guide for UD’s Annual Program Educational Goal Assessment Report.

During the 2023-2024 academic year, we are offering support series during the fall and spring. Faculty and staff are also welcome to request individualized support from CTAL to work with you. These consultations may include briefings at faculty meetings, guided workshops, review of drafts, assistance in identifying examples and disciplinary resources, or other interactions and support services.

Beginning in the fall of 2023, program learning assessment information will be collected using the new Annual Program Educational Goal Assessment Report Web form. This approach was recommended by the Task Force on Learning Goals & Assessment as it is a flexible and familiar tool with excellent support from the university. The form consists primarily of text boxes for most questions with a few dropdown menus or series of checkboxes where helpful e.g., selecting the college and department/school, checking the programs included in that specific Webform submission. Attachments cannot be added to the webform – it’s all text, primarily in an effort to encourage succinctness (remember that deans will read every submission from across their entire college, every year!). Departments/schools can submit multiple reports if that makes more sense for them e.g., seperate submissions for undergraduate and graduate programs. Detailed information about the Web form can be found in our How-To Guide for UD’s Annual Program Educational Goal Assessment Report.

The Task Force on Learning Goals & Assessment recommended questions for the webform that will be used to collect this information. Those questions have been adapted and the webform that is being piloted in the spring of 2023 includes these questions:

• Select the college for which you are submitting this report
• Dean or Associate Dean responsible for reviewing this report
• Select the department or school for which you are submitting this report
  • Select the specific degree-granting academic programs included in this report
• Department chair or director responsible for reviewing this report
• Of those currently published in the academic catalog, which educational goal(s) have been selected to be assessed? Please include the name of the program(s) from which this goal(s) was selected in your response.
• What evidence was collected to evaluate student learning related to the above goal(s)?
• What were the results of the assessment(s)?
• How were the results disseminated to program faculty so they could be analyzed and discussed?
• What changes are being made, if any, as a result of the assessment? Such changes may be at the course, program, or department level.
• What support or resources, if any, are needed to improve the assessment processes or make appropriate changes at the course, program, or department/school level?

Additional information about the Web form can be found in our How-To Guide for UD’s Annual Program Educational Goal Assessment Report.

Program learning assessment information is being collected because we have a legal and ethical responsibility to understand and improve the effectiveness of the education we offer at UD.

This process began during the University’s preparations for our 2021 reaffirmation of accreditation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and was further informed by UD’s 2019 Task Force on Learning Goals and Assessment.  In their final report, committee members of this task force wrote that “we currently lack a clear, shared practice of ongoing and authentic program educational goal assessment.” Moreover, the task force also reported that “the University of Delaware can use program assessment to help demonstrate the value of its degrees to students. In addition, an improved culture of assessment would provide a set of common tools, resources, and processes. These would not only foster greater transparency for students, but also assist faculty in making curriculum and program decisions.”

Program learning assessment information will be collected each fall beginning in October 2023. A annual mid-fall collection is what was recommended by the Task Force on Learning Goals & Assessment.

(The task force originally recommended this begin in 2022 but the COVID-19 pandemic changed these plans and pushed them back one year.)

Every unit that has primary administrative responsibility for one or more degree-granting programs will be required to submit assessment information.

The number of programs and goals each unit should assess each year will depend greatly on many variables, particularly the number of programs in the unit and the number of goals for each program. Academic units are asked to assess all of their PEGs at least once by fall 2027 or by their next APR self-study, whichever comes later. Additional consideration should be given to the relative importance of some goals, the relative complexity of different goals, and the amount of overlap or interconnectedness between different programs. For example, a department may have several programs that share many goals so assessing those goals may be a priority with additional time needed to assess the unique goals of each program.