UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Informed by findings from Penn State's program learning assessment process, the Enterprise Technology Integration (ETI) baccalaureate program in the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) has implemented a pedagogical change in a required mid-level course. The program’s goal was to enhance student learning related to the program learning objective (PLO): students’ ability to apply and adapt problem-solving strategies using appropriate information and technology tools.
PLOs state what students should know and be able to do by the end of the program. At Penn State, all undergraduate, graduate, and for-credit certificate programs are required to assess how well their students are achieving key PLOs. Each year, programs identify at least one PLO to assess. They collect and analyze data to determine how well students are meeting that objective and then use those findings to inform any changes — whether in pedagogy, curriculum, instruction, student support or assessment methods. This helps ensure that students are gaining the knowledge, skills and abilities they need to succeed both in and beyond the classroom.
For this assessment, the program examined student performance on a programming lab assignment. According to Rosalie Ocker, teaching professor and coordinator of the Enterprise Technology Integration baccalaureate program, this focus was especially important because the ETI program was created in response to concerns from graduates of an integration-focused program who reported difficulty applying their learning to technical tasks, including database management and cloud computing.
Findings lead to changes in teaching approach
In 2023–24, the program assessed students’ problem-solving skills using evidence from three Enterprise Technology Integration courses — ETI 300W, ETI 461 and ETI 463 — selected for their emphasis on database management and cloud computing. Students met performance targets in the two 400-level courses but narrowly missed expectations in ETI 300W: Development and Documentation of Enterprise Web, based on a lab assignment requiring students to build a server that makes and responds to requests.
Ocker noted that while this was not unexpected in a 300-level course where students are earlier in the program, ETI 300W is considered a critical "decider" course that bridges lower-division coursework and senior-level technical classes. In response, the program introduced prerecorded lecture videos for the ETI 300W course to reinforce key concepts, support self-paced learning, and free up class time for deeper engagement.
Students show overall gains in performance
In 2024–25, the program reassessed student performance using the same lab assignment in ETI 300W. The findings showed strong performance, with both University Park and Penn State World Campus students exceeding the performance target. This marked a significant shift from earlier findings, Ocker said, which suggested that World Campus students were not receiving a comparable educational experience and generally performed below their University Park peers.
While the most recent findings are reassuring, Ocker said, the program plans to continue examining the impact of the pedagogical changes made to ETI 300W as students progress toward graduation.
“The program intends to work with instructors in later courses to determine whether students are successful in downstream coursework, where these skills serve as a foundation for advanced learning," Ocker explained. “This is particularly important because ETI 300W can act as a bellwether for identifying students who may struggle in their final year of the program.”
About program learning assessment at Penn State
The assessment success stories featured in this series highlight how Penn State programs are using assessment findings to improve student learning. These stories typically involve a full cycle of assessment: identifying an area for change, implementing an action plan, and reassessing a program learning objective to see whether there’s evidence that the change or changes made a difference. This process plays a central role in Penn State’s commitment to continuous academic improvement and is commonly referred to as “closing the loop.”
Visit this link for more information about the program learning assessment process, or email assessment@psu.edu with any questions.