ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the importance of measuring the effectiveness of teaching and student learning—as a matter as much as for individual students and professors as well as for whole programs. A basic approach to academic assessment is presented as a framework for measuring student learning and the effectiveness of a public relations program and its courses. Technically speaking, teachers at all levels have always had to measure their students’ learning, but only since 1985, with the First National Conference on Assessment in Higher Education, has assessment of learning become a formal process. Assessment examines the effectiveness of a course’s assignments, a whole course, and/or a larger curriculum in a particular discipline measured against defined learning objectives and outcomes so that student learning can be documented and improved. Assessment of student learning and program effectiveness at any scale is not a one-size-fits-all thing. Making assessment more a part of the daily business of higher-ed institutions makes it easier to do.
