Assessment of Student Learning in Electronic Settings 

Overview

Northern Arizona University is committed to ensuring the effectiveness of instruction and the quality of student learning in all of its courses and degree programs. Substantial, and increasing, numbers of individual courses are offered to students via online instruction and at a host of statewide sites, and a growing number of degrees may be completed primarily or entirely online. One priority of the Office of Academic Assessment (OAA) is to work with students, faculty, departments, and administrators in order to develop and implement rigorous practices for the assessment of student learning, regardless of where or via what medium students are being taught. Assessment findings are used to better understand the extent to which students are achieving desired learning outcomes, and these understandings are used in turn to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning within electronic and distributed settings. For more information, please visit the E-Learning Center website.

Key Activities

The OAA targets activities at several levels, in order to ensure the assessment and consequent improvement of student learning in electronic and distributed instruction.

Students:

• Develop instruments and procedures for assessing entering students’ technological skills and needs

• Assist student groups in disseminating information about the value and purpose of assessment in electronic and distributed instructional settings

Faculty and instructors:

• Investigate assessment uses in electronic and distributed courses

• Develop models and examples of effective assessment in courses

• Disseminate guidelines for effective assessment in courses

• Consult with faculty to meet particular challenges of online assessment

• Advise on assessment plans for E-Learning grant projects

Departments and other academic units:

• Develop plans for assessing student learning outcomes in online or distributed degrees

• Assist departments in analyzing, interpreting, and using assessment data to bring about needed changes in curriculum and instruction

• Advise on the design and use of online course evaluation procedures as they relate to assessment of student learning

• Analyze, interpret, and report on assessment data from electronic settings

For further information, please contact our office: d-oaa@jan.ucc.nau.edu or 523-8679.

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