Outcomes and Assessments

University-Wide and Core Curriculum Assessment

A wide variety of programs and services contribute to realizing Mount Mercy’s commitment to a strong and student-focused education. Through a rich core curriculum, service learning experiences, student development opportunities, and many other campus programs, students are encouraged to use reflective thinking capabilities, develop strategic communication skills, serve the common good and set the stage for lifelong learning.

Assessment activities include administering nationally recognized instruments such as the National Survey of Student Engagement on a regular basis. Senior and alumni surveys are conducted annually, as well as other studies of individual programs on campus.

Assessment of the Major

Each academic major has a set of agreed-upon general and specific outcomes for its graduates.

• See Student Learning Outcomes by Major for information about each major’s student learning outcomes.

These outcomes are assessed through a variety of established techniques such as portfolios, field- or campus-based projects, presentations, senior capstone projects, final papers, tests, and individual assignments.

Faculty members in the appropriate department collaborate to develop an academic assessment strategy that best suits their specialty. Faculty members review and assess selected student learning objectives each year, gathering and interpreting data concerning their graduates and determining appropriate follow-up action.

In addition, majors participate in an assessment of the university-wide objectives and the core curriculum. Mount Mercy’s faculty members strive to assure that students demonstrate strong achievement in their majors prior to graduation. An important component of the academic assessment process involves faculty collaboration to determine the necessary steps needed to address any noted shortcomings and to build upon areas of student success. Articulating the plan for future improvement is essential to a strong assessment cycle.

About Assessments

Assessments

Mount Mercy’s Academic Assessment Plan incorporates a combination of strategies including the majors, core curriculum and campus-wide efforts. A multi-faceted academic assessment plan provides a framework for ongoing analysis of student learning. The plan includes both direct measures of learning (e.g. instructor evaluation of student work) and indirect indicators such as student, alumni and faculty surveys. Some data are collected within courses required for specific academic majors, while other data are collected in core curriculum classes. Annual reports submitted by the academic majors also contribute to this process, with designated objectives assessed according to established timeframes.

Core Curriculum: The Mercy Portal Experience

Incoming first-year students are required to take an MMU Portal course. The interdisciplinary nature of the course fosters teamwork and leadership. By the time students finish the course, a survey of student perceptions and experiences in the Portal course is distributed.

Core Curriculum: Domains of Liberal Study

Mount Mercy’s core curriculum includes seven domains of liberal studies. Students in all majors are also required to take Mount Mercy Domains of Liberal Studies courses. These courses give all students in all majors a sense of breadth and connection among traditional liberal arts disciplines. These courses are grouped according to the overall concepts covered by courses in that domain: Expressive Arts, Global Awareness, Historical Roots, Holistic Health, The Natural World, Self and Society and Ultimate Questions. Each class in a domain uses a common domain assignment. Faculty from each domain collaborated to develop a common assignment addressing the agreed upon outcomes for that area. Performance criteria were also specified and scoring rubrics created.

Core Curriculum: Mercy Experience Capstone

Mount Mercy seniors are required to take a Mercy Experience Capstone course that is intended as a culminating experience in the liberal studies. Students integrate knowledge they have acquired from each of the core domains and will reflect on their Mercy education in the context of their major discipline. One key component of this one-credit course, in which students enroll concurrently with their major’s senior seminar, is a capstone project focused on a social justice issue. The project is designed to engage students in considering disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and global perspectives, while fostering teamwork and communication.

A second capstone component used for assessment purposes is a Reflection Paper in which students begin to synthesize and reflect on their work at Mount Mercy as they approach graduation. The paper addresses the institution’s mission and goals, with a focus on ways in which studies and experiences in the core curriculum have helped shape their Mercy education.

Learning within Academic Majors: Academic Major Assessment

Annual assessment of each major is firmly established at Mount Mercy. Faculty members review and assess selected student learning objectives each year, gathering and interpreting data concerning their graduates and determining appropriate follow-up action.

Coordinators for each major are charged with managing and reporting on this assessment process. Coordinators are expected to work closely with their department chairs, sharing findings and reports with them and contributing to ongoing improvement activities. Department chairs collaborate with coordinators on behalf of other majors in the department.

In addition, all disciplines are included in an assessment of the university-wide objectives and the core curriculum. Each major has established learning objectives for students graduating in that discipline. One to two objectives are assessed each year, rotating through all learning objectives in a six-year cycle. Assessment reports are read by the Academic Assessment Committee and feedback is given yearly. Workshops focused on assessment are held each term for coordinators to discuss activities and findings.

Student Experiences at Mount Mercy University: Evidence from Longitudinal Studies

The experiences of all students who were new to Mount Mercy are tracked from the time they start at the institution to the end of their first year. Data were collected and analyzed by Dr. Chad Loes, Director of Student Outcomes Research.

Co-curricular Assessment Takes Place Within the Student Services Area

Assessment of the experiences of students who are involved in student engagement activities, athletics, diversity activities, residential life, career services, health services, and campus ministry activities, are collected annually. Objectives of the student service programs are tied to the University’s student learning objectives. Measures used for assessment include pre/post surveys, post-attendance questionnaires, reflection papers and annual surveys.