Abstract

Program-level student learning outcomes (SLOs) describe the core skills and knowledge students should develop at the end of a program of study. At Washington State University, Integrated Plant Sciences (IPS) program graduates must demonstrate proficiency in each of seven SLOs as assessed by a program level rubric. For this study, IPS faculty focused on two of these SLOs (scientific reasoning and the use of scholarly information) and used program-level rubrics to assess students’ team-based final projects in both an introductory and senior-level course. It was determined that the rubrics were suitable for measuring student success criteria for graduating seniors, but they failed to adequately capture the skill development of students at earlier stages in the program. The rubrics were revised to be more developmentally focused, providing faculty with a tool to measure student scholarly information and scientific reasoning success at/near the end of the program, and at earlier points in the curriculum, to collect valuable information about student development at the basic and developing levels. The process also involved faculty professional development. Six faculty, representing the diverse majors in this program, participated in the norming and rating processes. They indicated that the way they evaluate student work, provide student feedback and the value of program-level assessment were positively influenced by participating in the process.