The NJIT Program Review Process, the centerpiece of the university’s student learning assessment initiative, has four objectives: to provide a forum for the assessment and improvement of all degree granting and university programs; to demonstrate continuous improvement in the delivery of educational curricula; to promote a culture of assessment by building a cohesive assessment strategy; and to create a central, web-based repository for assessment design and supporting documents.

These objectives are yielding a university-wide forum for collaboration as we share the visions we have for our program, the strategies we use to achieve our program goals, tactics by which we implement these goals, and the metrics we use to measure our success. Our methods of assessment of educational effectiveness are thus aligned with our methods of assessment of institutional context.

Because program review at NJIT is viewed as a research process, we are investigating new ways of understanding student achievement and reporting our findings. We are dedicated to designing and promoting program assessment initiatives within and beyond NJIT.

We hope that visitors enjoy our web-based repository.

Fadi P. Deek, PhD

Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

The NJIT Program Review Process

• Program Review Guide 1-10-2013 with GUR appendix.pdf
• Program Review Scoring Sheet (January 10, 2013)
• Student Learning Assessment: Program Review Process Presentation (October 17, 2011)
• Program Status Summary of Fall 2011 Review Assignments (October 17, 2011)
• Program Review Schedule (October 17, 2011)
• Student Learning Assessment: Program Review Update, Briefing at CAA by the NJIT Middle States Sub-Committee on Assessment (March 16, 2011)
• NJIT Program Review Process: Guidelines (January 24, 2011; Updated: August 4, 2011)
• Assessment of the NJIT Core Competencies (January 24, 2011)
• Student Learning Assessment: Program Review Process, Report of the NJIT Middle States Sub-Committee on Assessment (October 7, 2010)
• NJIT Program Review Process: An Enhanced Model Presentation (May 11, 2010)
• A Documentary Approach to Assessment of Student Learning (Podcast 13 and Podcast 14, August 1, 2010)
• Assessment of NJIT Core Competencies: An Integrated Model (May 12, 2010)
• The NJIT Program Review Process: Toward a Cohesive Educational Assessment Framework (February 25, 2010)
• Briefing Memo on Quality Assurance in eLearning Framework from Distance Learning Advisory (DLA) and Teaching, Learning, and Technology (TLT) Committees (June 18, 2010)

The NJIT Program Review Process: Examples

• Documenting Engagement Presentation to Academic and Student Services (September 22, 2010)
• Strategic Planning Initiative of the College of Science and Liberal Arts
• The NJIT Model for Quality Assurance in eLearning (Podcast, August 1, 2010)
• An Orientation to Automated Assessment: Andrew Klobucar (September 11, 2009. Experiment underway in Fall 2010)
• The NJIT Student Learning and Assessment Documentary Project: The Writing Placement Case Study (Podcast, August 1, 2010)

Previous Program Review Process: Examples

From 2000 through 2009 NJIT used a rigorous program review process that functioned as a program audit. Criteria for the review included faculty qualifications and scholarly productivity, research dollars, teaching loads, cost per credit hour, enrollment, retention and graduation rates, time to degree, degrees awarded, courses offered, and so forth. As an audit process through which inefficient or underutilized programs could be terminated, departments were reluctant to participate. As well, the process offered little that would help instructors design a gap analysis—a determination of that which students learned, where students had fallen short, and where curricular revision was justified.

Simply put, the old program review process was not robust enough to provide a framework to assess and monitor student learning outcomes. The new program review process implemented in 2010 changes the focus from a contentious audit to a forward-looking model: one that helps the university determine that students have knowledge, skills, and competencies consistent with NJIT goals. The new program review process is enabling NJIT to determine that, at graduation, our students have achieved goals appropriate to New Jersey’s science and technology research university.

Listed below are our former Program Review Guidelines and examples of programs that were reviewed successfully under the former process.

• Program Review Guidelines, 2005
  • MS & PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2005
  • MS & PhD in Chemistry and Environmental Science/Policy, 2005

Other Resources

• Podcasts: A series of podcasts have been recorded to describe the campus wide approach to the Student Learning Assessment effort
  • The NJIT Cycle of Student Learning and Assessment (Podcast 9, June 2010) 
  • The NJIT Matrix of Student Learning and Assessment (Podcast 10, June 2010)
  • The NJIT Matrix of Student Learning and Assessment: CSLA Case Study (Podcast 11, June 2010)
  • The NJIT Student Learning and Assessment Documentary Project (Podcast 12, June 2010)
  • The NJIT Student Learning and Assessment Project: The Writing Placement Case Study (Podcast 13, August 1, 2010)
  • The NJIT Model for Quality Assurance in eLearning (Podcast 14, August 1, 2010)
• Student Learning Assessment: Options and Resources (Philadelphia, PA: MSCHE, 2008)