Overview:
Student performances or presentations (e.g., oral presentation, poster session, recital, music, theater, art show, etc.) are all potential student artifacts for direct assessment of students’ progress on program-level student learning outcomes.
In most cases, program faculty will develop an analytic rubric collaboratively that defines expectations for student performance on a given program student learning outcome (and demonstrates what constitutes evidence of progress toward that outcome). The student artifacts can then be scored using the rubric (either live or using recorded versions of the student artifacts at a later time). As noted with the other types of direct assessment, program-level assessments of performance or presentations are richest when faculty collaborate in the assessment of student work as well as in interpreting data and using results to inform program improvements.
Examples in practice:
Capstones and Oral Presentations: Since SCU’s academic programs include many capstones, a program-level outcome specific to effectively presenting research results is common. This rubric sample from California State University at Northridge demonstrates dimensions of an oral scientific presentation that may be relevant across programs.
University-wide Assessment of Oral Communication: In a University-wide assessment at SCU, this Oral Communication Rubric was used to measure the institutional learning outcome of effective oral communication: Delivering an effective, purposeful presentation designed to increase knowledge, to foster understanding, or promote change. Another example from Purdue University demonstrates a similar but slightly different set of dimensions.
Visual Arts & Studio Arts: In this sample rubric for the visual arts developed by the Undergraduate Research Council, there are five dimensions that allow raters to examine student performance in ways from process to product. This Studio Art Rubric was designed to assess two program learning outcomes for majors in the Studio Art program at SCU: “The ability to conceive, develop, and construct a work of art, and “The necessary technical skills for making art in a range of media.”
Poster session: This University of Nebraska Article describes the use of a poster presentation to assess two environmental studies program learning outcomes: [Students will] 1. Organize, plan, and satisfactorily complete a scholarly creative or research product that uses appropriate technical knowledge, field, laboratory, geospatial, and/or social science research methodologies, and 2. Communicate effectively to a range of audiences through the preparation of written documents along with oral and visual presentations that are consistent with professional standards. It contains a detailed description of the rubric development process and the assessment findings.