Assessment

Academic courses have established learning outcomes created by discipline leads and coordinators from the 5 Alamo Colleges.  The outcomes have been reviewed and approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) and can be found on the course eSyllabus for each course. 

 

A course included in the 42 semester credit hour core curriculum will have learning outcomes directly mapped to the core objectives. The core curriculum required for the transfer degrees represents a common experience in academic foundations and provides a basis for transfer-ability.  The core objectives were created by the Undergraduate Education Advisory Committee to ensure quality and cohesion across regionally accredited public Texas colleges and universities and are as follows: critical thinking skills, communication skills, empirical and quantitative skills, teamwork, social responsibility, and personal responsibility. Critical thinking skills and communication skills are included in all 42 hour core courses, but the remaining objectives will vary depending on their foundational component area map.  

 Academic disciplines have several methods at their disposal for measuring learning outcomes.  Some of these methods may include:

·         Faculty review of artifacts* selected randomly from discipline courses. 

·         A faculty-developed standardized assessment distributed throughout the discipline.

·         A multifaceted capstone project.

The assessment review process for disciplines takes place on an annual cycle.  Discipline faculty will analyze results and create targeted action plans where focus is needed for the next academic year(s).  It is not practical nor beneficial for a discipline to assess all core objectives and learning outcomes during each academic year.  Disciplines may choose to assess objectives and outcomes in a rotating 2 or 3 year cycle.

 

*Artifacts are selected examples of student work that demonstrate how well students are achieving learning objectives. Some example include essays, speeches, exams, and artwork.

 

The Associate of Arts (AA), Associate of Science (AS), and Associate of Arts in Teaching (AAT) include the core objectives outlined by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board as the program learning outcomes.  In addition to the core objectives, the AS and AAT have specific program outcomes for students transferring into 4-year STEM programs or pursuing a degree in teaching. Each program outcome has a corresponding sub-committee responsible for collecting artifacts in the fall from courses listed in the 42 hour core. Similar to discipline assessment, the program assessment committee analyzes the results and creates targeted action plans where focus is needed for the next academic year(s).