UAFS prepares students to succeed in an ever-changing global world while advancing economic development and quality of place. Our focus is on teaching and learning. UAFS faculty has clear expectations for student learning. Every academic program specifies university learning outcomes and program learning outcomes that are measured to determine ways in which to improve student learning. Findings based on assessment outcomes are used in curriculum improvement, planning, and resource allocation.
Student Learning Vision
- Graduates who possess and can demonstrate the university learning (general education) competencies and the learning outcomes for their academic programs.
- An academic community that is passionate about student learning and knowledgeable about the processes that are in place to ensure learning outcomes.
- Faculty who examine and persistently discuss which styles, strategies, experiences, and tasks are best for improving learning in a diversity of students.
- Students who share the responsibility for and demand active engagement in their own learning from the moment they step onto the UAFS campus.
- Real connections between classroom learning and the workplace that result in program-specific, real-world experiences that effectively prepare students for the world beyond academics.
- Graduates who embrace change, welcome diversity, and are enthusiastically engaged in lifelong learning and who have the ability and desire to transfer those skills to the workplace and community.
- High-quality programs with national reputations that draw students from all over the United States.
- Faculty, staff, and students who are equal, active partners involved in the learning process and who share responsibility in achieving student competency.
Each year the academic programs report on Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) and University Learning Outcomes (ULOs) activities and assessments that occurred during the academic year. The Committee for Assessment of Learning Outcomes (CALO) receives the PLO reports, which are due April 1, reviews them using rubrics, and provides feedback to the academic programs. The ULOs assessment, which is identified by each program in the fall semester, data is entered into LiveText by June 1. The ULO assessments and improvements guide student learning in general education competencies.
The CALO co-chairs write a report that summarizes the individual reports and the ULO assessment data and submits it to the Provost by July 1.
The Five-Year Report Chart lists the annual timeline for assessment and CALO report preparation. The report contains explanations of the following:
• Assessment data and analyzed results from two program PLO goals
• Assessment data and analyzed results from two ULO goals
• Challenges that lead to plan modifications, which would serve as examples to others
• If the assessment conclusions result in modification of the academic program's CALO plan, faculty are asked to specify which goal is being modified and list any modifications or adjustments that will be made for the next year.
• If the assessment conclusions result in modification of the program curriculum, faculty are asked to specify how these measures bring about this decision.