Online Course and Program Assessment Strategies Leading to Effective Continuous Improvement

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many universities quickly adapted by switching learning, teaching, and assessment activities from face-to-face to an online environment to enforce social distancing. Faculty had to develop new ways of presenting course content, engaging with students, and providing academic support. Concurrently, administrators had to ensure that accredited programs remain in compliance with their accreditation criteria and policies while in an online teaching/learning environment. As faculty adapted their mode of instruction, they were tasked with ensuring that course learning activities and assessments remain aligned with student learning outcomes. In this paper, the course and program assessment strategies utilized by the Computer Science and Engineering programs at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) as they prepared for a virtual accreditation visit will be presented. Examples of performance indicators and rubrics developed to help faculty determine if students are meeting student outcomes will be given, along with (i) systematic procedures for digital collection and evaluation of assessment data, (ii) archiving and well-organized web-based presentation to the accreditation board, and (iii) maintaining effective consultation with advisory boards and program constituents within the constraints of social distancing. We also discuss the surrounding context of aligning college-level outcomes and program objectives with the University-level mission, goals and student learning outcomes and building college-wide consensus and faculty buy-in to the holistic system of assessment and continuous improvement. We conclude that establishing student outcomes and assessment tools is essential in any mode of instruction toward robust, sustained, and effective continuous improvement.