The resources and information below are provided by the Office of Institutional, Research, Effectiveness, & Assessment (OIREA) to support and facilitate the institutional assessment process across all units in UAH.

Purpose

“Assessment is essential not only to guide the development of individual students but also to monitor and continuously improve the quality of programs, inform prospective students and their parents, and provide evidence of accountability to those who pay our way.”– Redesigning Higher Education: Producing Dramatic Gains in Student Learning by Lion F. Gardiner; ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report Volume 23, No. 7, p. 109.

Tools

OIREA-Planning (formerly Compliance Assist) is the software that the Office of Institutional, Research, Effectiveness, & Assessment utilizes to document the ongoing process of institutional assessment. It is one component of a software suite from CampusLabs that can be used for scorecards, 5-year reports, and program review, upon request, in addition to the current uses for outcomes assessment and accreditation.

Resources

On the UAH institutional assessment process:

  • OIREA Assessment at UAH FAQ [pdf]
  • Assessment Plans and Reports [pdf]
  • Student Learning Outcomes [pdf]
  • SLOs Checklist, Rubric, and Tips [pdf]
  • Operational Outcomes  [pdf]
  • OPOs Checklist, Rubric, and Tips [pdf]
  • Different Assessment Methods [pdf]
  • Sampling and Statistics [pdf]
  • Rubrics [pdf]

On using OIREA-Planning:

  • User Guide For OIREA-Planning [pdf]
  • Quick Start Guide For OIREA-Planning [pdf]

On best practices in assessment in general:

  • Principles Of Good Practice For Assessing Student Learning By AAHE [pdf]

Leadership

The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment reports to the Associate Provost, and in turn, to the Provost for overall leadership and oversight of the institutional assessment process.

The Assessment Peer Review Committee provides feedback to units on their annual assessment reports through the Peer Review Process and recommends changes to the overall assessment process and tools.

The organizational structure of assessment is through each degree program and administrative unit as listed on the organizational chart.

Questions

Contact Dr. Suzanne Simpson (Assistant Provost, Institutional Research, Effectiveness, and Assessment) or Ms. Misty McFadden (Associate Director of Institutional Research, Effectiveness, and Assessment).