Survey of Administrators on Learning Outcomes Assessment

A little over a year ago, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) came out with the results of a survey of college and university administrators on the subject of learning outcomes assessment.  This was a follow-up to the AAC&U’s 2009 survey on the same topic.  Among the more important findings of the most recent survey are:

  • An increasing number of institutions, 85% in 2016, have a common set of learning outcomes for all their undergraduates.
  • There is a consensus on the importance of key learning outcomes such as writing skills, critical thinking, and quantitative reasoning.
  • In addition to institution-wide learning outcomes, more institutions have department-level learning outcomes and assessment procedures.
  • There is no single approach to assessment, and responding institutions use a wide variety of methods to assess student learning outcomes.
  • Over half of the responding institutions either use or where influenced by the AAC&U’s VALUE rubric project.
  • Many institutions are investigating the potential of electronic portfolios, but only 7% required them for all students.