Overview of Some Ferris Strategies
There are many kinds of assessment efforts that are an integral part of Ferris State
- Program review has a long history at Ferris of providing academic programs, now including
general education and pre-programs, with an opportunity to evaluate their success
and challenges so that they can continue to meet the demands of the changing work
world and educational needs of students.
- Capstone courses provide programs with a concentrated opportunity for faculty to evaluate
the extent to which students have achieved the learning outcomes expected by the program
and whether any changes are needed in the curriculum and program to help students
better meet these outcomes.
- General education will now have an opportunity to complete an extensive self study
as part of the program review process to insure that our general education program
is achieving the ends expected of university graduates. There has been a long history
of general education assessment including the administration of the nationally-normed
Academic Profiles which allows us to compare ourselves with other institutions, the
regular assessment of our students' writing, and many other assessment projects.
- Courses assessment is a significant part of our effort to enhance student learning.
Some assessment includes gathering data on multi-section courses, such as the Freshman
Seminar, to determine whether the course is meeting our students' needs and they are
acquiring the skills or knowledge at the levels we expect. Every course offers faculty
the opportunity to assess their students' learning so that changes can be made where
necessary in both content and the learning environment so that they can better achieve
the course objectives.
Assessment is important because it lets us know where we can make changes that improve
student learning. It is about taking effective action. Many are already working hard
at assessment. Academic Affairs is committed to supporting these efforts, to facilitating
quality assessment, to coordinating assessment activities and results, and to encouraging
the movement from data to effective action.
last updated: July 8, 2005