Assessment, by definition, is a means of estimating the quality or
value of something. In this case assessment may be geared toward
students directly in the form of enhancing learning, faculty in
terms of better teaching, departments for improved curriculum
development, and institutions for the purpose of public relations,
resource allocation, and accreditation. This panel examined
assessment in all of these cases, with a particular focus on
assessment of learning outcomes. Learning outcomes are at the very
essence of what we as teachers are trying to achieve and assessment
provides us with ways to determine whether we are actually meeting
these goals. The purpose of this track was to examine both
assessment and learning outcomes and to develop ways to improve
both. This article synthesizes the main findings of papers presented
in the track together with the ensuing discussion. The article is
split into five major topics: the role of assessment, the uses of
assessment, the inevitability of assessment, approaches of
assessment, and how we do assessment.