Faculty and staff play an important role in helping UGA students develop the professional skills – or Institutional Competencies – highlighted by the CLR. The assessment process is essential to helping understand how well these students are mastering the Institutional Competencies and informing future improvements to program curricula.

This robust approach provides evidence of students’ learning and skills through student surveys, employer surveys, and instructor evaluations. Summative assessment reports that compile this information can be found on the Office of Instruction website.

An important part of this process is collecting and reviewing direct evidence of how well students demonstrate the Institutional Competencies in approved courses. To support this work, instructors are periodically asked to evaluate student work using the appropriate Institutional Competency Rubrics.

Each Rubric provides additional guidance on how it will be used. The application of each Rubric may vary across courses, depending on the course assignments and the ways in which students demonstrate the Institutional Competencies.

• A tangible artifact, such as a written essay, lab report, portfolio, or exam;
• An intangible artifact, such as an oral presentation or performance;
• An assignment with multiple phases over the course of the semester (to capture a learning process); or
• General observations of the student’s performance in the course.

If an instructor's course is selected for the assessment sample, the Office of Assessment will contact them at the beginning of the semester with instructions for completing the assessment, using the appropriate Rubric, and submitting Rubric scores. At the end of the semester, the Office of Assessment compiles and analyzes the results, and aggregated assessment findings are shared with faculty.

Please note: Instructors are not asked to do this every semester. The Office of Assessment rotates through different Institutional Competencies each semester and uses a sampling approach. Institutional Competency assessment is not connected to teaching evaluation. Rather, it provides authentic data for assessment of student learning.

UGA’s Office of Instruction is grateful for the important role faculty play in helping UGA students develop the Institutional Competencies. These skills are foundational to students' academic and professional success and are highly valued by employers, as well as graduate and professional programs.

Faculty participation in the assessment process is essential to understanding how well students are achieving the Institutional Competencies, and UGA uses that information to strengthen curricula and enhance student learning across the University.