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Dear SIM colleagues,

I've got a question for those who teach at AACSB-accredited schools regarding the assurance of learning outcomes.  As I understand it, the AACSB's expectations for the assessment of learning outcomes are much higher than they were 5-10 years ago (reflecting a maturity in what we know about outcomes assessment and the need for improved accountability.  Some of the key steps in the assurance of learning process are:

a) defining student learning goals and objectives-- what will students learn in our programs?

b) aligning the curricula with adopted goals-- how will students learn?

c) identifying measures to assess student learning-- how will we know students have learned or not?

My question is this-- how do schools assess student learning of ethics goals/objectives? I'm especially interested in assessment at the undergraduate level.  I know many faculty who ask students to analyze an ethical case study or personal dilemma.  I think this method of assessment is great (I use it in my MBA ethics course), but how do you assess undergraduates? It seems logistically challenging to use a case/dilemma assignment when large numbers of students are involved (e.g. grading multiple sections of large classes).  In my school there would be hundreds (maybe thousands at larger schools) of papers to grade each semester.   Assessment of group work is not considered an acceptable way to measure an individual learning outcome, so assigning a group case analysis is not an option. 

The AACSB website has good resources re: assessment( http://www.aacsb.edu/resources/assessment/default.asp ) and ethics education ( http://www.aacsb.edu/resource_centers/EthicsEdu/default.asp ).  However, I would appreciate learning more about what other schools are actually doing to assess learning of ethics-related outcomes at the undergraduate level. 

Thanks in advance,

Mike

Michael  E. Brown

Associate Professor of Management

Black School of Business

Penn State Erie, The Behrend College

5101 Jordan Road

Erie, PA 16563-1400

Telephone: (814) 898-6324

Fax: (814) 898-6223

mbrown@psu.edu