University of Tennessee, Knoxville

The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (OIRA) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville is the February 2020 NILOA Featured Website! The OIRA helps University of Tennessee fulfill its mission by providing “accurate and reliable data to university administrators, departments, and faculty to illuminate and inform their decision-making.” Website visitors can quickly find a diverse collection of institutional and assessment data and reports presented in various ways. While some data are reported as stand-alone graphs, other results are more interactive. The OIRA website also has several useful assessment resources, including an extensive Guide to Program Assessment released February 2020. The Assessment Steering Committee developed a useful Rubric for Assessment Report Evaluation to help ensure data are reported effectively and efficiently, aligned with student learning outcomes, supported with evidence, and with a plan to use data for improvement. Furthermore, website visitors encounter useful tips on course-level assessment, writing clear outcomes, an Assessment Toolbox with tips for formative and summative assessment. There are also resources to inform inclusive teaching, syllabus design, and much more. Finally, to support data-driven decision making, the Data Central web page takes the interactivity of data a step further to help those within the institution effectively use data for decision-making. Some data are showcased in detailed reports which further unpack what the data mean and how data are used to improve. For these reasons, the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment at the University of Tennessee is an institutional example for the NILOA Transparency Framework in the Assessment Resources component, and a Featured Website in the category of Centralized Assessment Repository.