Overview
Course-embedded assessment is when assigned work or exams (required by a course and graded as part of that course) are also used as evidence of learning for program assessment. Designing assignment prompts that will allow students to demonstrate one or more program-level outcomes may require thoughtful design at the outset, but are likely to save a lot of time later. Once set up, embedded assessment facilitates regular evidence of student learning of program-level learning outcomes.
When a particular common assignment or set of assignments is given to students in several different courses, sections, or co-curricular experiences, they are called “signature assignments.”
Grading and assessment of these course-embedded assignments should be kept separate. This is usually best accomplished by assessment with a rubric specific just to one program learning outcome. Sometimes student work (also called artifacts) may be graded for the course and assessed with the program learning outcome rubric simultaneously or shortly thereafter; other times, the assessment work takes place later (often via an assessment committee.) Best practice in use of assessment rubrics is to have more than one rater per artifact; norm/calibrate [link] on the assessment rubric; de-identify student work, and apply a robust sampling [link] strategy.
Key features of a course-embedded assignment are:
- Embedded in a course or co-curricular experience
- Used for course grate and program assessment
- Aligned with program-level student learning outcome(s)
- Meaningful and integrative
How to use course-embedded assignments for program assessment:
- Identify the student learning outcome(s) and appropriate courses using the curriculum map
- Design an assignment (Is there an existing assignment that might easily be adapted?)
- Draft a rubric (criterion referenced is preferable to norm referenced, in most cases)
- Gather & evaluate student work (see section on sampling)
- Aggregate & analyze results
- Use results to evolve the program (even small changes can be meaningful!)
Examples in Practice:
In this example from an SCU’s undergraduate Core curriculum, students enrolled in ELSJ 9 were asked within the assignment prompt to draft an analytic reflection on their learning within a structured immersion experience. This prompt is intentionally paired to ELSJ program learning outcome 1.3, a social justice-oriented student learning outcome. This alignment allows for program assessment on learning outcome 1.3 in the Core assessment rubric. See this example ELSJ assignment prompt and assessment rubric.
Another example from Loyola Marymount University demonstrates an assignment prompt embedded in a co-curricular experience. This prompt and rubric is for their “Respect for Others” institutional learning outcome. It is worth noting that the assignment prompt and linked rubric can be adapted to each of Loyola Marymount’s co-curricular programs. Respect for Others - Undergraduate Learning Outcome at Loyola Marymount University
For Further Reading:
WASC rubric for Assessing the Quality of Academic Program Learning Outcomes
Article on the Construction of Learning-focused Assignment Rubrics