Emerson College Library: Office of Academic Assessment: Assessment Resources for Departments

NILOA's Transparency Framework

In designing and implementing academic assessment of student learning at the programmatic and institutional levels, we are guided by NILOA's Transparency Framework:

"The Transparency Framework addresses the question: How might assessment of student learning efforts be made more visible? One avenue adopted by many campuses is to share relevant information about student learning on the institutional website. Just as making student learning outcomes more transparent is a work in progress, so is this Framework. The Framework is not a checklist to be followed but rather a guide to suggest priorities and possibilities with an eye toward communicating meaningful information about student learning that will be useful to various audiences in an online format. An institutional website that is transparent conveys information of student learning in a clear and coherent manner to a target audience. The Transparency Framework provides guideposts to consider in online communication."

National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment. (2011). Transparency Framework. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois and Indiana University, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA).

Curriculum Mapping

Mapping Learning: A Toolkit
NILOA, 2018.

Description:
In this toolkit, we present a variety of information on the mapping process – what are the purposes and uses of maps, what can be mapped, and various approaches to engage with mapping learning. We assume the focus of mapping is on documenting learning, but the approaches addressed here would be applicable with a different focus or lens as well.

Mapping is a tool for seeing relationships between different aspects of the institution based on learning outcomes as well as documenting where learning is demonstrated and how. The most common form, curriculum mapping at the program-level, makes visible how courses in a curriculum align to the learning outcomes to which that curriculum strives.
Curriculum Mapping Resources from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa

Department-Level Assessments

Harris III, Frank and Estela Mara Bensimon. "The Equity Scorecard: A Collaborative Approach to Assess and Respond to Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Student Outcomes
In S. R. Harper & L. D. Patton (Eds.), New directions for student services: Responding to the Realities of Race on Campus. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (2008).

Abstract:
The Equity Scorecard, a nationally recognized and widely used organizational learning process designed to foster institutional change through the identification and elimination of racial disparities among college students, is described in this chapter. The effectiveness of this process and its potential impact are also discussed.

NERCHE Self-Assessment Rubric for the Institutionalization of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Higher Education
A project work team that emerged from the New England Resource Center for Higher Education Multicultural Affairs Think Tank, developed The Self-Assessment Rubric for the Institutionalization of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education.1 The initial format was adapted from Andrew Furco’s Self-Assessment Rubric for the Institutionalization of Service Learning in Higher Education, which was based on the Kecskes/Muyllaert Continuums of Service Benchmark Worksheet.i The language to explain the usage of this rubric also comes primarily from the work of Furco.ii This rubric was designed to assist members of the higher education community in gauging the progress of their diversity, inclusion and equity efforts on their campus.
Worksheet: NERCHE's Self-Assessment Rubric for the Institutionalization of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Higher Education
The companion worksheet to NERCHE’s Self-Assessment Rubric offers a template for gauging important indicators among the six campus dimensions: philosophy and mission; faculty support; teaching, research, and service; staff engagement; student involvement; and administrative leadership and institutional support.