Assessing student learning in the disciplines : assessment update collections Assessment Update Collections Assessment Update Special Collections Series

Because faculty members thinking is immersed in the discipline(s) they teach, it often makes good sense to begin an assessment initiative at a college or university by focusing on student learning in the discipline, or academic major. This new issue illustrates how assessment initiatives focused in that fashion can be the starting point of a successful institutional assessment program. Methods range from faculty-developed comprehensive exams to computer simulations, from patient-actors to electronic portfolios. Disciplines represented include political science, psychology, sociology, nursing, teacher education, social work, engineering and technology, business, history, urban studies and planning, communications, and fitness/wellness.

Introduction: Assessing Student Learning in the Disciplines (Trudy W. Banta). Faculty Development for Assessment. The Way to a Faculty Members Head is through the Discipline (Barbara D. Wright). Assessment in the Major: Response to a State Initiative (Trudy W. Banta). Student Competence as a Basis for Assessment. Student Competence as the Basis for Designing Curricula, Instruction, and Assessment (Trudy W. Banta). Agricultural Faculty Constructs Competence Matrix (Charles Cleland). Faculty Evaluation of Student Work: Simple, Powerful, and Overlooked (David A. Shupe). Assessment in Disciplines Subject to Accreditation. Simulated Performance Assessment in a Community College Nursing Program (Gloria Goldman). Competence-Based Curricula and Assessment: The Case of Teacher Education in Indiana (Karen Schmid, Susan J. Kiger). Outcomes Assessment: Collaboration between Schools of Social Work (Roy W. Rodenhiser, Victoria Buchan). Assessing Proficiency in Engineering and Technology within a Multidisciplinary Curriculum (James JF Forest, Bruce Keith). Assessment Practices for Distance MBA Programs: A Snapshot (James A. McCambridge, Kathy L. Thornhill). Assessment in Disciplines Not Subject to Accreditation. Assessment of the Major at Virginia Commonwealth University: Two Examples (Barbara S. Fuhrmann). Capstones and Quality: The Culminating Experience as Assessment (Billy Catchings). Assessment Outcomes Confirm the Value of a Universitys Required Fitness/Wellness Course (Gwen C. Robbins, Debbie Powers, Jerry Rushton). Assessment through the Senior Letter (Virginia McKinley, Spencer A. McWilliams). Assessing Student Learning in Graduate Programs (Patricia D. Murphy). Standardized Measures of Student Learning in the Major. Public Reporting of Teacher Pass Rates: Anomaly or Precedent? (Peter T. Ewell).