Assessing Graduate Student Learning in Four Competencies: Use of a Common Assignment and a Combined Rubric

Rana Khan, Datta Kaur Khalsa, Kathryn Klose and Yan Zhang Cooksey   |   

Since 2001, the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) Graduate School has been conducting outcomes assessment of student learning. The current 3-3-3 Model of assessment has been used at the program and school levels providing results that assist refinement of programs and courses. Though effective, this model employs multiple rubrics to assess a wide variety of assignments and is complex to administer. This paper discusses a new outcomes assessment model called C2, currently being piloted in UMUC’s Graduate School. The model employs a single common activity (CoA) to be used by all Graduate School programs. It is designed to assess four of the five student learning expectations (SLEs) using one combined rubric (ComR). The assessment activity, scored by trained raters, displays pilot results supporting inter-rater agreement. Pilot implementation of the C2 model has advanced its reliability and its potential to streamline current assessment processes in the Graduate School.

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