A portal approach to continuous improvement of outcomes-based curriculum

Assessment of curriculum outcomes represents a critical stage of any degree program evaluation to support continuous academic improvement. The collection, aggregation and analysis of assessment data are notoriously complex and time-consuming processes. Several actors are involved across the assessment workflows, which we propose to streamline in the context of a portal-based approach. We first describe a model for capturing and propagating assessment data across the assessment cycle as well as tracking potential deficiencies in the assessed program. We then describe our portal-based implementation of the proposed model in the context of an ACM-based IT Curriculum program which assessment processes respond to ABET accreditation requirements. We reveal the results of our assessment experience using the proposed model and the corresponding in-house developed portal. We show the corrective curricular actions facilitated by our assessment tool to close the assessment cycle.