How does Program Outcomes Assessment differ from grading exams and lab/project reports?
Program Outcomes Assessment provides you with data that helps you point to areas where students are having difficulty, while exam scores and report grades generally give gross measures of what students have learned Program Outcomes Assessment helps you demonstrate that students are learning what you assume they have learned, not just the grades they have earned. Grades usually provide feedback to individual students, while Program Outcomes assessment provides feedback about a group of students to faculty members and other constituent groups. Ordinary exams and laboratory reports may be used as part of a Program Outcomes assessment process, but more attention would have to be paid to some form of item analysis so that statistical evidence on what students are learning can be obtained.
