In the spring semester of 2023, the Office of the Provost made available five assessment grants for faculty engaging in assessment work at the course or program level. Faculty completed their projects during the 2023-2024 academic year and presented their work at the 2024 Assurance of Student Learning Day. Final reports for each of the grant-funded projects are linked below.
First Year Seminar (FYS) at UIS is a program of small, topic-based courses designed to introduce new, first-year students to content from an academic discipline while also developing foundational skills for academic success in college. Students take a first-year seminar ideally in their first semester. Seminars are 3 credit hours and fulfill the general education Freshman Seminar requirement.
Over an eight-year timeline, each of UIS's General Education Student Learning Outcomes is assessed over a two-year cycle using relevant AAC&U VALUE Rubrics.
Assessment of student learning at UIS occurs at the course, program, and institutional levels. Click the buttons below to learn more about ongoing assessment activities at UIS.
Assessment plans are guiding documents that outline where, how, and how often student learning will be assessed.
Good assessment plans:
The goal of assessment is improvement, but using assessment data for improvement is arguably the most difficult part of the assessment process. It is much easier to identify learning outcomes, plan for assessment, and collect data. Identifying changes to be made, implementing those changes, and assessing their impact require much more time and thought.
Assessment is the ongoing, collective, and intentional process in which we gather evidence of student learning and development and use that information for improvement. Assessment helps us answer the question, "Are we doing what we say we're doing?" If we aren't, assessment provides a path for figuring out what to do about it. When done well, assessment benefits everyone, including faculty, the institution, and most importantly, students.
Institutional Research (IR) empowers data-informed decision-making across the institution. We collect, analyze, interpret, and disseminate timely and accurate data to support academic management and decision-making, strategic planning, assessment, and compliance reporting.
Our work enables UIS to foster a culture of continuous improvement, grounded in evidence and aligned with institutional priorities. Our services include:
The Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) Program Review Process ensures the quality and effectiveness of academic programs through the evaluation of program goals, learning outcomes, resources, and overall impact on students.
The Program Review Process begins with the academic unit or center completing a self-study following the appropriate self-study guideline: