The Assessment Process

After goals are defined and translated into objectives, the next issue to address is curriculum alignment:  where in the curriculum will this learning take place? 

For each objective, faculty should identify where in the curriculum students will have the opportunity to develop that competency.  While the bulk of these educational experiences may take place within the classroom, others may not.  In aligning the curriculum with the program’s learning goals, both business school and general education courses should be considered, in addition to relevant out-of-class experiences (e.g., an internship). 

One way to conceptualize this is to complete a grid, organized by learning goals.  It may be useful to list required courses and other educational experiences along the rows of a grid and list learning goals across the columns.  For each required course, cells can be filled in with learning experiences that build students’ competencies in the goal areas.  Not all courses will address all goal areas, of course, but it seems reasonable to assume that all required courses should address at least one key learning objective.