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Michigan Assessment Project || Teaching and Learning Support
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Michigan Assessment Project

In 1995, as required by the Commission, the University of Michigan submitted a plan for learning assessment. This plan outlined a process in which the academic units were to develop and report on assessment programs as part of a regular cycle of unit review that the central administration planned to implement. The Commission accepted this plan as appropriate to the structure of a large, complex, and decentralized research University, which accords important autonomy to schools, colleges, and divisions in determining their academic programs. With changes in University leadership that took place shortly after the plan was developed, the envisioned cycle of unit review, which was to be the vehicle for reporting assessment plans and programs, was not put into practice.

In preparation for reaccreditation, fresh thought has been given by the Office of Academic Affairs about how best to organize assessment planning processes. The goal has been to devise a coordinated process that takes into account the diverse programs, experience, and needs of the schools, colleges, and divisions, and that establishes the importance of learning assessment as an effective tool for improving learning and teaching.

In general, academic units across the University have become more alert to the need to deepen the scholarship of learning. Over the past decade, different academic units of the University have adapted the tools of learning assessment in order learn more about the learning that is taking place and to make changes in instruction and evaluation methods and delivery of curriculum. Some units, such as the College of Engineering and the School of Medicine, have developed assessment programs in order to guide substantial revisions of their curriculum. As well, a number of departments have adapted assessment techniques in order to understand more fully how curricular changes might improve the learning environment and, in the instance of Mathematics, to develop new approaches to basic curriculum that have become national models of excellence. The Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program has developed an assessment program to better understand the effectiveness of research-based learning. Faculty who have developed an innovative interdisciplinary course on Global Change are using learning assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of the course and its use of web-based learning tools. A number of faculty, recognizing the value of assessment, have devised evaluative tools in order to get a better understanding of the learning that takes place in their classrooms and to refresh their approach to teaching. In many ways, then, the University has been turning to learning assessment at the grass roots.

Academic units and faculty often turn to the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, an academic service unit reporting to the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs. CRLT works with departments and individual faculty to clarify learning goals, to develop assessment tools, and to develop informative feedback mechanisms. Another source of expertise is found in the School of Education’s Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, where several faculty are leading national experts in learning assessment in higher education. Academic units can draw on this experience, as well as on what has been learned nationally, to build assessment tools appropriate to local circumstances. The Office of Evaluations and Examinations prepares teaching questionnaires that units may adapt to use as a supplement for learning assessment.

In 1998, the Provost established the Michigan Assessment Project, a steering group to help disseminate information regarding learning assessment and to coordinate learning assessment efforts taking place within the schools and colleges. Tasks include gathering assessment plans from academic units; providing a clearinghouse for inventories of assessment plans, techniques, resources, links, and information; and coordinating other resources as needed in order to assist in the development of assessment tools. The purpose is to assist faculty and units to be better informed about learning that takes place in the many diverse settings of the University, and to encourage the development of innovative and effective teaching that makes use of the special resources of a great public research university.

Schools and colleges were asked to name an individual to take part in the Michigan Assessment Project. This group convened in the winter and spring of 1999 to share examples of approaches to methods of learning assessment, to identify possible assessment tools that might be shared, and to share these ideas with their units. These examples were reviewed and discussed among the group. The schools, colleges, and divisions were asked to draw up assessment plans that met local needs and interests.

Learning assessment plans are appended to this report. A website containing plans, resources, and other learning assessment materials is being established in conjunction with the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching.