Assessment Handbook

• Introduction
  • Characteristics of Assessment
  • Necessity of Assessment
  • Benefits of Assessment
  • Glossary

• Assessment at HCC
  • Future Direction
  • Flowchart of Assessment
  • Timeline
  • Evaluation
  • Principles
  • Grades and Assessment
  • Success and Retention

• Assessment of Learning Outcomes
  • Course Assessment
    • Course Outcomes
    • Verbs for Writing Outcomes Using Bloom
    • Assessment Instruments
    • Resources on Assessment
    • Evaluation Methods
    • Resources on Methods of Evaluation
    • Level of Achievement
    • Course Outcomes Matrix
    • Example of Completed Course Matrix
  • Program Assessment
    • Program Curriculum Map
    • Completed Program Curriculum Map
  • Institution-Wide Assessment
    • Institution-Wide Outcomes Matrix
    • Completed Institution-Wide Matrix
  • Reporting
    • Online Report of Outcome Assessment
    • Completed Online Reporting Form
  • Assessment Plan Checklist

Future Direction

While some work has been completed in establishing a coherent assessment process, the vision for future assessment at HCC will provide a more coordinated, seamless process for assessment that will entail little additional work for the faculty once the plan is established. Keeping in mind that faculty are responsible for determining how student learning outcomes are assessed in their courses, faculty will first establish student learning outcomes for all courses and technical programs/transfer academic areas. Next each technical program will identify the courses that students in the program must take. The outcomes for those courses will then be reviewed to see which ones provide information on the program outcomes. Faculty will then complete the program curriculum map. Faculty in transfer academic areas may develop assessment of their academic area in the same way. While transfer academic area assessment in this way is optional, transfer academic areas will be required to designate which identified assessments address each of the institution-wide outcomes and complete the institution-wide outcomes matrix.  The Assessment Subcommittee will then review the institution-wide outcomes matrices and select a balanced number of course assessments for institution-wide outcomes assessment.

Each class term, faculty will report the number of students who successfully demonstrated achievement of each course outcomes. When the ANGEL platform for online education is fully implemented, faculty members may, instead, use the online grade book to enter information related to outcomes assessment. No matter how faculty report the course-level assessment information, the Director of Learning Outcomes and Assessment will then aggregate the data to assess achievement of institution-wide outcomes and program/academic area outcomes. The results will be reported back to programs/academic areas and departments and displayed on HCC Web.

To further validate assessment information, as the institution moves to ANGEL as its platform for online education, student artifacts will be uploaded to allow students to develop individual portfolios. When students graduate, they will submit a portfolio of their work at HCC. The Assessment Subcommittee will review a random sample of portfolios and evaluate them using a rubric developed by the Subcommittee. The institution will then use the results of outcomes assessment data and student portfolios to create Action Plans, identify faculty professional development and training needs, make personnel decisions, and determine budget allocations.