Background 

At one of the largest universities in the US (68,000 students), the department of writing and rhetoric graduate programs served approximately 30 students per semester. As the director of graduate programs, I created the program assessment plan to measure the effectiveness of the program at achieving programmatic outcomes. Data had not been collected in some years, and the program did not have outcomes to measure program effectiveness and the student experience. I designed and implemented an assessment plan which collected data from student work and about student experiences to inform programmatic changes. The new assessment plan allowed the program to more accurately measure student experiences during and after their time in these graduate programs, and the program made data-informed programmatic changes to degree requirements and curriculum to improve student experience and success. The plan measured three programmatic outcomes using two methods for data collection and in core courses (6) for academic year 2021-2022.

Research Methods

• Artifact collection (approximately 75 student projects) 

• Online surveys (approximately 75 student reflective responses) 

• Scoring rubrics to code responses and student work (4 Faculty) 

• Qualitative data analysis

Challenges

• Adherence to university requirements

• Investment and competing agendas from various stakeholders (university administration, faculty, and students)

• Various levels of technology skills from students and faculty (all data collection and interaction was done digitally)

• Bias in assessment design, as well as participant bias (faculty and students) 

• Shifting participant mindset to evaluate the course and program, not the professor or student

Impact

• Reduced the number of core courses resulting in more student autonomy in course selection. 

• Eliminated unnecessary degree requirements (annotated bibliography and portfolio), to ensure data collection is useful. 

• Revised course outcomes to align with program outcomes

• Presented at an international conference in Limerick, Ireland, focusing on research approaches that foster collaboration across programs