Facilitating use of program assessment results for program improvement

Using assessment processes and results for program improvement is what makes program assessment meaningful. Even though the assessment leaders on campus such as assessment coordinators and department chairs understand this ultimate purpose of assessment, they often need concrete strategies to facilitate faculty collaborative work in interpreting and using assessment for program improvement. In this session, the presenter introduces how academic programs in a large research oriented university used assessment for improvement. The presenter offers concrete strategies for the program level assessment leaders to use assessment results, such as intriguing result presentation, presenting results with diagnostic information (e.g., on a curriculum map), and peer sharing of successful pedagogical strategies. In the end, the presenter provides a set of strategies with examples that illustrate how institutional-level assessment leaders can facilitate and promote use-of-results on campus. Strategies include showcasing (e.g., scholarship, awards, workshop training, map of excellence), packaging low-hanging fruit, using facilitation strategies to guide institutional committees’ actions, and building grassroots assessment leaders.