Course-embedded assessment plays an important part in fostering more learner-centered pedagogies as instructors are asked to use learning outcomes rather than content as guides to planning and preparing their classes. Since learning outcomes must be articulated in measurable language and then assessed, faculty see their work in terms of helping students to learn the knowledge, skills, and attitudes articulated in the learning outcomes rather than covering content, which does not necessarily guarantee learning. Additionally, for those instructors who develop rubrics to assess their students’ work, the assessment initiative supports faculty in communicating standards and expectations to students clearly and systematically so that students may know what is expected of them.

Of course, the assessment data themselves return direct information about student learning to the instructor, who may then consider what changes—if any—he or she would like to make in the structure or delivery of the course.

The assurance of learning initiative provides the college with well-researched data on which to base decisions about programs and curricula. Such decisions in the pre-assessment era were based on the frequently erroneous assumption that successful completion of a series of courses was tantamount to the mastery of the skills and knowledge guaranteed by a degree. Data gathered from systematic assessment demonstrate students’ mastery of certain skills and knowledge so that curricular and programmatic deletions, additions, and changes may be based on what we know and not what we assume.

Another benefit resulting from the assessment initiative at the college level is its culture-building aspect. As small groups of faculty meet to discuss a program’s learning goals, as instructors articulate learning outcomes in measurable language and align them with program goals, and as rubrics are developed to evaluate student work, a common teaching purpose emerges in the college, serving as both guide and foundation to the work of teachers at every level of instruction.

This common teaching culture, grown organically from the goals of the faculty, facilitates productive discussions and collaborations among faculty about teaching; it also assists in new course development by providing instructors with a clear articulation of the learning goals the school values and expects its students to achieve.

An assessment initiative also offers the world beyond the walls of the institution the assurance of accountability, though what information and how much of it to share are questions that must be carefully considered in order to protect the integrity of the assessment program. As external groups and individuals such as potential students, parents, alumni, employers, and business community members have begun to question how much students are actually learning at colleges and universities, it has become important to make what we do as educators more transparent.

Carefully planned and organized assessment programs along with today’s web technology make it easy to show anyone who is interested that a school has carefully articulated learning goals for each of its programs and a systematic method in place for assessing the extent to which students are achieving those goals.

Round-table summits with employers, regular meetings with the Stony Brook University Career Center, and quarterly meetings with business community leaders are several of the ways that the College receives feedback about programs and curricula, including how our students as interns, and graduates as full time workers are performing in workplace settings.  Additionally the College of Business deans consult on assurance of learning regularly with several Dean's Advisory Boards that represent stakeholders including current students, alumni, employers and donors.