Case Study #10: Academic Assessment – Learning Outcome Reporting

ISSUE:

While many commercial assessment software applications are quite proficient at providing a methodology for collecting and reporting on assessment results, frequently these packages are very expensive and somewhat limiting in their flexibility. In addition, many require a steep learning curve for faculty designated to input assessment results, and when the software is only accessed a couple times a year, this is occasionally a significant barrier to universal acceptance. It would be desirable then to develop a methodology that would meet the requirements for assessment learning outcome reporting, while also ensuring that the tool provided would be embraced by its users.

SOLUTION:

These same course assessment workbooks were also used to report assessment findings of course-level learning outcomes. While this Excel workbook process still requires training of faculty and staff in its use, it uses a familiar template (Excel spreadsheets) and can be significantly customized to align with any college’s specific assessment processes and procedures.

Input in each column in the reporting section is either free form or driven by drop down choices. A considerable advantage in using a custom Excel template for recording assessment findings lies in the ability to summarize and format assessment reports using the programming power behind Excel. The first image below is a partial view of the reporting format.

The second view below is one of the many customized report formats desired by this specific institution. This report is created from all of the individual course workbooks that contain measurement results from in-class assessments. In this institution’s case, a master workbook was developed that, when executed, selects and opens all course workbooks automatically (approximately 800 workbooks college-wide), extracts the outcome reporting data in a central Excel table, and then completes the analysis from these data. The computerized compilation process takes about 15 minutes with no interaction necessary by the user. Once the data have been acquired, the structure and format of any desired report can be generated. In most situations, these “standard” reports and charts are also programmed to be created automatically.