Provost's Statement on Assessment

Welcome to the University of Michigan’s website on the assessment of student learning.  I hope you will find the resources available here to be useful.

In the past several years there has been a great deal of national discussion about the assessment of student learning in higher education.  Students, their parents, public officials, and others have posed questions about the value of higher education, focusing particularly on the valued added at the individual level.  It is important to consider the contributions higher education makes to society as well.  The assessment activities we are engaged in at the University of Michigan help to address each of these concerns.

The current discussions about the value added by higher education are taking place in the context of economic uncertainty and the globalization of education.  In this context, students and their families have asked how universities determine what students should learn and how they know that students are learning.  They have also asked for more information about educational outcomes, more transparent processes, and greater comparability of information across higher education institutions.

At U-M, we begin the discussion about student learning by asking what we want students to know.  We are interested in the mastery of knowledge and the development of skills. We recognize that our faculty, with deep disciplinary expertise, are the most appropriate people to make decisions about course content, program requirements, and student evaluation.  Therefore primary responsibility for determining what should be learned and how learning will be evaluated is located at the departmental level.

Working at the school and college level, faculty examine student learning more broadly.  Curriculum committees consider questions such as:

• Has what we want students to learn changed?
• Are there new pedagogical tools we can use to help students learn?
• How can changes be implemented and then evaluated?

These committees examine new course proposals, review requirements, explore the use of technology, consider service and experiential learning proposals, and study other aspects of their educational programs to evaluate both what we teach and how well students are mastering the material and developing the skills we believe are important.

At the institutional level, U-M participates in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), alumni surveys, and other studies that help us to understand students’ educational experiences.  These activities also help us to assess the social value of the education we provide as our graduates assume the responsibilities of citizenship. We have also participated in pilot projects such as the Collegiate Learning Assessment that aid our assessment of student learning and contribute information to the national conversation about effective assessment. 

The University of Michigan is committed to continually improving the learning environment for our students and faculty.  This website provides information about many of the activities underway on our campus.  I invite you to learn more about our work in this critical area.

Yours truly,

Philip J. Hanlon
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs