Analyzing Student Learning Outcome Assessment in Higher Education

Analyzing Student Learning Outcome Assessment in Higher Education

Daytona Beach, Florida

The status of higher education in the United States has been deemed below average as compared to other nations on an international level according to the 2006 Review on Education in the United States sponsored by the United States Department of Education. Several problem areas were identified and student course learning outcomes appear to be one of them. The Department of Education recommends more accountability throughout higher education for learning outcomes. How accountability for learning outcomes will be accomplished and set to a standard seems to be a point of major contention throughout higher education in the United States today. This paper will review two proposed ways to accomplish student learning outcomes assessment by analyzing an instructor-based learning outcomes assessment that was recently used by a university and comparing it to an experimental student-based learning outcomes assessment that was recently used by three Embry-Riddle professors at the end of the Spring 2007 term.