The Learning Process and Environment
Assessment is not just about measuring outcomes using standardized testing, although these can be viable assessment instruments. We envision assessment as reflecting and acting on the learning outcomes of our undergraduate and graduate curricula in the context of learning opportunities provided, pedagogies used, as well as students’ incoming characteristics, non-curricular experiences and graduation aspirations. This view of assessment takes into consideration the factors of Astin’s Conceptual Model of Assessment: Input, Environment and Outcomes.
Inputs provide information to understand what the Bentley student brings to the learning experience. Inputs include fixed variables such as gender, high school grade point average, family socioeconomic status, SAT (student achievement test) score and changeable variables such as intended major, attitudes, beliefs, goals, motivation, and cognitive skills.
Elements of the environment provide information to understand what value the Bentley experience adds to student learning. These elements fall into four categories: (1) Places — impact of the physical environments on learning effectiveness; (2) Programs — impact of academic and non-academic experiences on learning effectiveness; (3) Processes — impact of academic and administrative systems of selecting, processing, educating, assessing students on learning effectiveness; (4) People — who are the people that shape the learning effectiveness of students.
Outcomes tell us two things: (1) whether the Bentley graduate meets the stated objectives of the institution; and (2) whether the learning environment is helpful in developing the student towards those objectives.
