Academic Program Review

Frequently Asked Questions

Definitions and methods

• What is assessment for program review purposes?
• What are the purposes of doing program review assessment?
• What is the assessment cycle?
• What are program objectives?
• What are program outcomes?
• What is the relationship between an objective and an outcome?
• How detailed should outcomes be?
• How should my program’s objectives relate to college, university, or professional association objectives?
• What about skills and knowledge that don't lend themselves to measurement?
• Why do you use such convoluted educational jargon, which is an instant turn-off for most faculty?
• What are some ways to do evaluation?
• What is a rubric?
• What is authentic assessment?
• What are formative and summative assessment?
• What is a student portfolio?
  

How is this related to what we already do?

• What is the difference between assessing a program and assessing a student?
• Why aren't course grades sufficient as program assessment?
• Why is program review necessary? What about skills and knowledge that don't lend themselves to measurement?
• What type of outcomes and assessments should our department use for service courses (courses taken primarily by students that are not majoring within our department)?
• How can we respond to those who perceive these simple outcome assessments as serious research?
  
  General Education Requirements
• What do I do about including general education requirements?
• When will we review minors and general education courses?
  
  Existing accreditation reviews
• What do we do about our outside evaluations, external accrediting procedures, etc.?
  
  Where do we find the time for this?
• Where do we get the time to do these reviews, and how can we give the involved faculty credit for their work?
• For those of us who have never done this or any other outcomes assessment at all, please give us a breakdown of the estimated time that it will take?

What happens as a result of this assessment and program review?

• What happens to my program review once I submit it?
• Who is going to read and evaluate our program review document?
• What is the bare minimum we have to do to meet University requirements?
• What do I get out of all this?
• Will this work make the process of learning about our students’ capabilities simpler and more efficient?
  
  How will the University use the information we are providing?
• How will the University use the information we are providing?
• Who will determine and by what mechanism whether our review is sufficient?
• By what mechanism, and to what degree, are these efforts going to be incorporated into the university’s assessment of us?
• To what extent are plans expected to be made public?
  
  Will faculty actually use the results?
• How will the results of assessment translate into action/implementation?
• Will the faculty make changes in their course development and teaching in response to these new outcomes?
• Will the acquisition and implementation of assessment results be practical?
  
  
  What are the Implications for resources?
• In a period of declining resources what is the process supposed to accomplish?
• How will we sustain the resources that are needed in order to support this process?

What do I really have to do?

• What is the bare minimum we have to do to meet University requirements?
• What's to keep us from just saying that we are meeting our objectives and outcomes?
• How often do we have to do the assessment and program review?
• What happens if we refuse to do this?

What help/guidance/resources are available?

• What resources and assistance are available to help with this process?
  
  Motivating faculty and staff
• How can I motivate my staff/faculty to be involved in this process in an on-going way?
• How do we improve the department’s handling of the process?
  
  Managing the assessment/program review process
• Who can help us manage this process?
• How can we easily submit information for this program review?

Why are you asking us to do this?

• Who is driving this process? SACS? The University's administration?

Acknowledgement - Some of the questions above were copied from North Carolina State's website about Undergraduate Academic Program Review.