ABSTRACT
This chapter explores various elements of technical communication programs and assess student learning outcomes within those programs, one of the most difficult aspects may be trying to ground our curriculum in an appropriate context suitable for assessment. Ironically, some institutions have programs whose values never reflect the institution's values or, when they do, cannot point to a place in the curriculum where those values are actually explored and taught. Residential learning communities, for instance, are one of the most prominent features of the co-curricular emphasis on learning outcomes in support of the curriculum and the institution's values. The seamlessness of the connection as demonstrated here, of course, should not be misconstrued to trivialize the work of assessment or the students' learning processes. Both processes are highly complex and depend on any number of variables. Finally, but hardly least important, is the clarity that such a context can provide for faculty and students.
