Course Assessment
ECC Assessment Philosophy
Outcomes assessment at ECC is an ongoing, collective process of examining student learning for the purpose of improving learning for all student groups. Meaningful and effective outcomes assessment involves understanding the mental models through which we view student learning, nurturing curiosity, collaborating within and across departments to develop methods to measure student progress towards course, program, and general education learning outcomes, and engaging in productive dialogue with each other to identify impactful adjustments to instruction and curriculum.
Example Assessment Activities
Clinical Lab Technology 101: Phlebotomy
1) What Course Outcome or Outcomes are Being Focused on?
Follow safety and infection control policies.
2) How Was Data Collected?
Skill Check #2 Quiz: Safety/Infection
Instruction observations of students during lab time.
3) What did the Department Determine As Benchmarks for Students Exceeding, Meeting, or Approaching Expectations?
Exceeds: Scoring higher than 75% on the safety quiz.
Meets: Students should be able to score 75% on the safety quiz, before beginning venipuncture collection. By the end of the semester, students should follow safety and infection control policies 100% of the time.
Approaches: 74% and below on the safety quiz.
4) What Were the Results?
Exceeds: 16 of 18 students
Meets:
Approaches: 2 of 18 students
5) What is the Department's Response to the Data?
Faculty individually worked with the 2 students who at first, scored in Approaching on the quiz until the students met the benchmark set. Due to the importance of this outcome and safety procedures for moving forward in the course, faculty are considering further stressing the importance of the material by a) including additional attention in the syllabus b) devoting more in class time to safety and c) proposing to increase the credit hour time to 3.5 credit hours to allow for more hand-on lab time.
English 102: English Composition II
1) What Course Outcome or Outcomes are Being Focused on?
Demonstrate proficiency with MLA documentation and manuscript format conventions.
2) How Was Data Collected?
All instructors chose an applicable essay assignment and used a rubric on D2L, with criteria related to MLA citations.
3) What did the Department Determine As Benchmarks for Students Exceeding, Meeting, or Approaching Expectations?
Exceeds: 90% and above proficiency on criteria related to MLA citations.
Meets: 70-89% proficiency on criteria related to MLA citations.
Approaches: 69% and below proficiency on criteria related to MLA citations.
4) What Were the Results?
Exceeds: 46% of all students' essays exceeded expectations
Meets: 36% of all students' essays met expectations
Approaches: 18% of all students' essays only approached expectations
Of note was that essays written by students in face-to-face courses met expectations at a significantly higher rate than in hybrid and online courses.
5) What is the Department's Response to the Data?
Faculty are interested to consider ways to improve instruction on MLA citations in online settings, with ideas such as including more standards-based grading schemes that prioritize students meetings MLA citation expectations before moving onto to the next assignment and/or b) determining ways to replicate in-person MLA exercises in an online asynchronous environment.