Assessing Student Learning

Assessing student learning goes beyond assigning grades—it’s about understanding how students engage with course material and achieve learning outcomes. Effective assessment practices help faculty gather meaningful evidence of student progress, which in turn informs strategies for improving instruction and supporting student success.

This page provides practical resources and guidance for educators, whether you're seeking a quick fix for tomorrow's class or planning a comprehensive redesign of your assessment approach. Key areas covered include:

• Creating Clear Learning Outcomes: Develop outcomes that align with course objectives and set clear expectations for student achievement. See how we define and differentiate goals, objectives and learning outcomes.
• Designing Effective Assignments: Craft assignments that engage students meaningfully, encourage deep learning, and assess the skills most relevant to your course.
• Defining Transparent Assignment Expectations: Learn strategies for communicating assignment goals and evaluation criteria to students, fostering clarity and reducing confusion. See transparency in teaching steps from an OU business instructor, and an example of setting expectations for reading assignments.
• Recognize Different Ways to Demonstrate Learning: How can students show that they know and can apply course concepts? Whenever possible and relevant to the course, have students express their learning in more than one way--even providing students choices. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) calls this “multiple means of action and expression.” 
• Providing Meaningful Feedback: Explore techniques for delivering constructive and actionable feedback that promotes growth and improvement. The “FACTS” acronym can be helpful: formative, actionable, clear, timely, and supportive.

Our team is here to support you at every step of the assessment process. Whether you're looking for quick templates and tools to apply right away or interested in in-depth consultations to reimagine your assessment strategies, we're here to help.

More Guides and Resources Related to Assessing Student Learning

• How Do I Know If My Students Are Learning?
• Designing Courses with Purpose
• Alternative Grading Approaches