What We Do

The Office of Academic Assessment assists departments and units with assessment activities that are broadly focused on student learning.

We can consult with departments and units at any stage of the assessment cycle - including planning, implementation and interpretation.

We administer centralized, assessment-related surveys and projects such as the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and the Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE). We also collaborate with nationally-renowned research institutions like the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) to improve education both at DU and across the US.

The Office of Academic Assessment works with the Center for Teaching and Learning, the academic Deans and the Provost in effectively utilizing assessment results to enhance student learning and effective teaching.

What We Don't Do

The Office of Academic Assessment is available to help you with every facet of your activities related to the assessment of student learning. However, we cannot collect your data for you (we can help you design strategies for data collection), we cannot analyze your data for you (although we can suggest analytic strategies and provide some minimal levels of support), and we would be happy to help you think through your interpretations and possible ways of using your assessment results for course and curricular improvements. At DU, faculty own the curriculum and their primary purpose for assessment is to understand how well teaching efforts lead to student learning. You can read more about our purpose and philosophy here.

Sometimes we receive requests for assistance with a wide variety of projects and surveys. Our focus is almost exclusively on the assessment of student learning. For other projects, particularly surveys, the Office of Institutional Research (303-871-3474) may be your best resource.

Current Projects

Every spring, we administer the National Survey of Student Engagement. The 2009 administration was particularly important because DU participated in the Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE) for the first time in fall 2008. For first-year students who participated in both the BCSSE and NSSE, there are linked items on each survey that provide us with valuable, longitudinal information about engagement and expectations for the first year of college. Moreover, we plan to follow a subset of DU students who completed both surveys into their sophomore and junior years until they take the NSSE again in their senior year, 2012. By doing so, we hope to develop a much more comprehensive picture of student experiences at DU that lead to successful student learning outcomes.

We are also proud to accept an invitation to be one of the pilot institutions for the Diverse Learning Environments research project developed by Dr. Sylvia Hurtado and her colleagues at the Higher Education Research Institute. The Diverse Learning Environments project involves “…Integrating assessments of student outcomes, the climate for diversity, and campus practices may be the best strategy to ensure all students are well served to be successful and to maximize the benefits of diverse learning environments for citizenship in a diverse society.” (Hurtado and associates, funded grant application, Ford Foundation, 2008).

Office of Academic Assessment Staff

Janette B. Benson, Ph.D.
Director, Office of Academic Assessment
Associate Professor, Psychology
Mary Reed Building Room 314
Telephone: (303) 871-3771
jbenson@du.edu

Matt Parker
Assessment Analyst
Mary Reed Building Room 305
Telephone: (303) 871-6436
matthew.parker@du.edu