Office of Assessment
The Senior Assignment (SRA) is the hallmark of a baccalaureate education at SIUE. The SRA serves as a demonstrable connection between the student's major area of study and the full breadth of general education skills and competencies. Each department or program has ownership over their Senior Assignments, thus the faculty has been given the autonomy to construct the SRA to assess the unique capabilities of their graduates and also to assess overall program effectiveness and the degree of interdisciplinary competence among graduates. While involved in the Senior Assignment, students are actively engaged in the development, rather than the consumption, of knowledge. The SRA optimizes assessment that recognizes the importance of open-ended, holistic, problem based assessment that requires critical thinking. After all, “institutional assessment efforts should not be concerned about valuing what can be measured but, instead, about measuring that which is valued.” (Banta, Lund, Black, & Oblander, 1996)
For the past three years, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has been recognized by U.S. News and World Report for having an outstanding senior capstone experience. In the publication "America's Best Colleges 2008," SIUE joined the ranks of 13 other institutions of higher learning, including Princeton, Harvard, MIT and Duke, in the "Programs to Look for: Senior Capstone" category.
Funding is available from the Office of Assessment to support continuous refinement and improvement in the Senior Assignment. Funding guidelines will be posted by January 2008 following review and possible revisions.
Several innovative Senior Assignments have also been highlighted in the Office of Assessment's Spotlight on Senior Assignments at SIUE.