Using the university's current learning management system (Canvas), each tenured or tenure-track faculty member is allowed to create and integrate, for each assigned course, a series of exam questions (Question Bank) or a single encompassing assignment designed to assess a specific Program Learning Outcome (PLO) during the assigned semester. These data are then collected, collated, and the accompanying raw data and course reports are made available to the department by the WSU Office of Institutional Effectiveness at the end of each semester.
The Department of Criminal Justice is moving forward with the proposed assessment schedule outlined in the above curriculum grid. At the end of each semester, the department's Chair, in conjunction with the department's Assessment Committee and faculty, will assess the quality and usefulness of the data collected, the procedures used to acquire those data, and the various ways the data can be used to validate or improve course instruction. All parties have agreed the new assessment instrument should not be used as a quality check tied to possible punitive action(s), but instead, a proactive tool designed to further the quality of the faculty's instruction and guide the department's mission and vision statements.
A first run of the assessment instrument, incorporating all nine core courses, will be completed by the end of the Spring 2025 semester. At that time, it is anticipated that all tenured and tenure-track faculty will be familiar with the instrument and discussions can then take place on how to move forward, included, but not limited to the guided implementation of: a) assessing all course sections taught during a specified semester that address the assigned PLO (not just one section taught by a single professor, as is taking place during the initial assessment run), b) integrating adjunct faculty when core courses are assessed, c) assessing both core and elective courses (all sections) taught by tenured and tenure-track professors, and d) assessing both core and elective courses taught by all department faculty.
Assessment of graduating students
The Department Curriculum and Assessment Committee has been charged to help the program come up with alternative classes that allow students to have meaningful career exploration and career preparedness experiences. This will be a work in progress, so in the interim, and simply as formative data, we will continue to review results of student performance on CJ4995 (Criminal Justice Senior Assessment) while it is in the curriculum.
