Learning Outcomes and Assessment

This website is designed to provide information about student learning assessment at American University and to assist programs as they move forward on the development and implementation of learning outcomes and assessment plans. Articulating learning expectations, assessing our own success, and using assessment results to improve the student experience is vital to advancing AU’s mission of excellence in learning. Please feel free to explore this website to see the many ways in which AU is implementing and improving assessment. Although written many years ago, when assessment became more intentional, the vision articulated by Thomas Angelo is still true today:

Assessment is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning. It involves making our expectations explicit and public; setting appropriate criteria and high standards for learning quality; systematically gathering, analyzing, 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, assessment can help us focus our collective attention, examine our assumptions, and create a shared academic culture dedicated to assuring and improving the quality of higher education.

AAHE Bulletin, November 1995, p. 7.