Santa Clara University

Choosing an Instrument

The two course assessment systems described below were selected because they best matched the two criteria that the working group felt were most important in selecting a new instrument. Those criteria were that; 1) the system use a consistent pedagogical model built around student learning, and 2) the system's primary goal should be helping faculty improve their teaching (although it should retain some ability to evaluate faculty performance).

Because both systems are characterized by a strong emphasis on learning outcomes, they both require faculty members to think about and articulate their teaching goals for the course before the evaluation is conducted. In both systems also, the results received by the faculty are explicitly shaped by the goals that they set at the beginning of the process.

• SALG (Student Assessment of Learning Gains) system
• IDEA (Individual Development & Educational Assessment) system