Effectiveness Policy - Student Learning Outcomes Assessment

UAF Educational Effectiveness Policy

In accordance with its mission, the University of Alaska Fairbanks has a continuing responsibility to review and improve performance of its students, faculty, and programs. The UAF therefore establishes the Educational Effectiveness Evaluation to describe the effects of curriculum, instruction, and other institutional programs. The process will be useful for curricular and institutional reform and will be consistent with UA Board of Regents Policy and institutional and specialized accreditation standards.

The university shall ensure the academic freedom of the academic community in the development and maintenance of this process.

The data gathered and summarized as part of the educational effectiveness evaluation process shall not be used for evaluating individual faculty. Furthermore, no student shall be denied graduation based solely upon information gathered for the educational effectiveness evaluation process.

Each faculty member's activities in developing and/or implementing programmatic and institutional educational effectiveness efforts may be summarized in the instructional Section of annual evaluations and promotion and tenure files.

Evaluations shall be conducted with regard to the following:

	Student Information	Students shall be assessed upon entry to the university for purposes of course advising and placement, especially in mathematics and English, and for describing the gender, age, ethnicity, and previous education of students recruited, retained, and graduated over time.
	Evaluation of the CORE Curriculum	Evaluation of the CORE curriculum shall include course assessment embedded within CORE courses as well as the assessment of students within upper division courses, especially oral and writing intensive courses.
	Programmatic Assessment	Each degree and certificate program shall establish and maintain a student outcomes assessment process useful for curricular reform and consistent with institutional and specialized accreditation standards.
	Evaluation of Out of Class Learning	An important element of a student's overall education is learning that occurs outside of classes. Therefore, an evaluation of activities and student support services will be conducted.

For more information, contact:
Dr. Susan Henrichs, Provost
or Doris Nichols, Assistant to the Provost
Tele: (907) 474-7096, (907) 474-1836 (fax)
P.O. Box 757580
310 Signers' Hall, UAF Campus
Fairbanks, AK 99775
fyprov@uaf.edu