R. A. K. MEHDI, M. S. ABOUNAAJ
accrediting bodies (Buzzetto-More & Alade, 2006). Assessment
is an integral part of assuring that an educational institution
meets necessary standards, as well as crucial means of provid-
ing evidence necessary for seeking and maintaining accredita-
tion (Love & Cooper, 2004). Kellough identified seven pur-
poses of assessment (Kellough, R. D. & Kellough, N. G., 1999):
1) Improve student learning.
2) Identify students’ strengths and weaknesses.
3) Review, assess, and improve the effectiveness of different
content delivery strategies.
4) Review, assess, and improve the effectiveness of program
curriculum.
5) Improve teaching effectiveness.
6) Provide useful administrative data that will expedite deci-
sion making.
7) Communicate with stakeholder.
Thomas, T. A. (1995) stated that “Assessment is an on-going
process aimed at understanding and improving student learn-
ing. It involves making our expectations explicit and public;
setting appropriate criteria and high standards for learning
quality; systematically gathering, analysing, and interpreting
evidence to determine how well performance matches those
expectations and standards; and using the resulting information
to document, explain, and improve performance. When it is
embedded effectively within larger institutional systems, as-
sessment can help us focus our collective attention, examine
our assumptions, and create a shared academic culture dedi-
cated to assuring and improving the quality of higher educa-
tion”.
Although there are differences in detail between different ac-
creditation agencies, most accreditation criteria are structured in
a similar manner. The criteria typically require programs or
institutions to:
Specify in clear terms the skills, including cognitive skills
(i.e. knowledge) that they expect students to achieve by the
time they graduate (sometimes referred to as “program
learning outcomes”).
Set up an assessment process to determine the extent to
which the program or institution is successful in enabling
students to achieve these learning outcomes.
Establish system, which implements program improve-
ments, by using data collected through the assessment
process.
Most of the other criteria are driven by the explicitly formu-
lated program learning outcomes. Thus, a typical curriculum
criterion will state that the curriculum is designed in such a way
that successful completion allows students to achieve the speci-
fied skills by the time of graduation. Atypical faculty criterion
will state that the faculty must be qualified to deliver the cur-
riculum and to revise the program in light of the data collected
in the assessment process. A typical facilities criterion will state
that the physical and library facilities are adequate to allow
students to achieve the specified skills etc. (Gowan, MacDonald,
& Reichgelt, 2006).
In the last few years, learning outcomes have achieved a
widespread importance in conferences and the literature as a
model of assessing the knowledge and skills obtained from a
learning experience. Learning outcomes have applications at
three distinct levels:
1) the local level of the individual higher educational institu-
tion for course units/modules, programs of study and qualifica-
tions;
2) the national level for qualifications frameworks and qual-
ity assurance systems; and,
3) internationally for wider recognition and transparency
purposes (Ashiem, Gowan, & Reichgelt, 2007; Ashiem et al.,
2007).
Learning outcomes focus on measurable cognitive, behav-
ioural, and attitudinal development of students as they interact
with a learning activity. They are what students are expected to
demonstrate in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes upon
completion of a learning experience (Adam, 2004; Ashiem,
Gowan, & Reichgelt, 2007).
Learning outcomes and outcome-based approaches have im-
plications for curriculum design, teaching, learning and as-
sessment, as well as quality assurance. They are likely to form
an important part of the twenty-first century approaches to
higher education and reconsideration of such vital questions as
to what, who, how, where and when we teach and assess
(Ashiem, Gowan, & Reichgelt, 2007). In terms of curriculum
design and development, learning outcomes are at the forefront
of educational change. They represent a change in emphasis
from teaching to learning that characterize what is known as
the adoption of a student-centred approach in contrast to tradi-
tional teacher-centred viewpoint. Student-centred learning pro-
duces a focus on the teaching-learning-assessment relationship
and the fundamental links between the design, delivery and
measurement of learning (Adam, 2004).
To implement a learning outcomes approach, program must
first formulate the program educational objectives (broad goals)
that address the institutional and the program’s mission state-
ments. The program’s mission is responsive to the expressed
interests of various program stakeholders. Then, the program
must formulate a set of program learning outcomes (knowledge,
skills, and attitudes) the programs’ graduates should have. Pro-
gram learning outcomes must directly address the educational
objectives andmay encompass certain specified learning out-
comes specified by appropriate bodies as in the case of ABET
for engineering and information technology programs. These
program educational objectives and learning outcomes must be
specified in a self-study report. The next step is to formulate a
set of measurable learning outcomes for each course in the
curriculum. Based on these courses’ learning outcomes, a map-
ping is constructed between the program learning outcomes and
courses’ learning outcomes. This mapping will be used as part
of a system to provide a quantitative measurement of the level
of attainment of each program learning outcome. This system is
based on the degree to which the learning outcomes of the cor-
responding mapped courses have been achieved.
Program learning outcomes are also assessed by using other
complementary assessment tools. Sanders and McCartney
(2003) reported a survey on twelve assessment tools used in
computer science accreditation. These tools include, among
others, senior exit surveys, alumni survey, written and oral exit
examinations, portfolio, and external advisory panel. Each tool,
by itself, has its own set of limitations and none of them is
course-based. Blanford and Hwang (2003) suggested five as-
sessment methods including class assessment, faculty interview,
and a student focus group. Class assessment is a course-based
assessment tool in which an instructor writes an assessment of
course being taught. Course assessment processes, among other
things, enablea program to demonstrate precisely how specific
program learning outcomes are addressed in the curriculum. If
course learning outcomes are then assessed continuously and
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