Closing the Assessment Loop in the Basic Communication Course

Participation in the learning-outcome assessment is an important expectation of most communication teachers. Considerable communication research has been devoted to defining assessment, identifying what is assessed, and determining how best to do assessment (Morreale, Backlund, Hay, & Moore, 2011). The National Communication Association (NCA) recently announced the publication of Learning Outcomes in Communication (NCA, 2015). This case study explores how a program, one new to learning-outcome assessment in the basic course, overcame common challenges with implementing assessments. The case illustrates how to use assessment data meaningfully and offers specific strategies that individual communication instructors, course directors, and assessment leaders can use to close-the-loop for communication learning-outcome assessment. The strategies discerned help to ensure that the time and energy that are devoted to the assessment’s data collection and analysis benefit students and faculty