ABSTRACT
The chapter includes model learning objectives and a checklist for successful outcomes assessment. The College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of South Carolina did not call its measurement of student learning outcomes assessment until it formalized a process of assessment in the 1995-1996 academic year. A list that includes cognitive, behavioral, and affective outcomes appropriate to professional education proposed in the Michigan Professional Preparation Network Report is of particular value to journalism and mass communication educators. The journalism and mass communication administrators surveyed in 1995 emphasized measurement of skills and professional competencies-cognitive outcomes-over measurement of affective outcomes. Based on responses to the 1995 survey of administrators, the most frequently used outcomes assessment technique in journalism and mass communication programs today is evaluation of student performance by an internship or job supervisor. Exit interview are employed to assess learning as students leave a journalism and mass communication program to enter a professional career or practice.
