Services

We provide support and oversight for a range of institutional projects, including strategic planning and surveys.

Planning

We support the university’s strategic and integrated campus planning processes through the development of targets, metrics, data collection, and analysis as related to university effectiveness measures.

Examples

Students walk down a hallway at Purdue University Northwest

Peer Institutions

Purdue University Northwest adopted a group of peer institutions to use when comparative data are desired for research and planning purposes.

See Peer Institutions

Survey Research

We support institutional assessment through a variety of data-gathering avenues, including survey research. In addition to regular administration of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), the Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE), and the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE), the assessment team works collaboratively with other units to create, administer, and analyze data collected from targeted surveys such as:

  • Human resources: Employee satisfaction surveys
  • Alumni Affairs: Program, college, and university-level surveys of alumni
  • Information Services: User satisfaction/impact surveys
  • Student Affairs: Program opinion surveys
  • Library: User-satisfaction surveys

Assessment

We provide university-wide support for the assessment of student learning at the course, program and institutional levels.

Activities include development of measures of student learning outcomes, support for the annual program review process, and assessment of general education and experiential learning.

University-Level Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of an academic program at Purdue Northwest, students will demonstrate

  1. Increasingly Specialized Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World,
  2. Intellectual and Practical Skills,
  3. Personal and Social Responsibility, and
  4. Integrative and Applied Learning

Each academic program should include these outcomes, at a level of attainment appropriate for the degree level (e.g., doctoral, master’s, baccalaureate, certificate), in their articulation of program-level student learning outcomes. Programs may rely on the assessment of the university learning outcomes.

Program Learning Outcomes

Each academic program has created appropriate student learning outcomes, each with associated assessments and rubrics. Assessment plans are also in place for General Education, First-Year Experience, and Experiential Learning.

Each program-level outcome can be mapped to one or more of the university-level outcomes. The University has chosen the Taskstream by Watermark platform in which departmental faculty record assessment results and make plans for continuous improvement. It includes data analytics and interactive reports, and supports scalable benchmarking and inter-rater reliability.

TaskStream (Watermark) Login

Lion sculptures outdoors on PNW's Hammond campus.

Accreditation and Assessment

Accreditation and assessment are key components to Purdue University Northwest’s institutional effectiveness

See Accreditation Details

See Assessment Guidelines