Overview
This article provides a step-by-step guide for administrators on how to initiate and configure an Assessment Plan within Watermark’s Planning & Self-Study module. Readers will learn how to define the plan’s scope—whether for academic programs or specific courses—select the appropriate reporting years and terms, and ultimately publish the plan for contributors. By following these instructions, users will understand how to establish the necessary framework for tracking learning outcomes and managing institutional data in Planning & Self Study.
Creating an Assessment Plan
In order to create an Assessment Plan, a user must first be assigned the Administrator role for Planning & Self Study. With this permission, users can create Assessment Plans by following the steps described below.
The process begins by selecting Plans on the left-hand administrative menu.
On the following screen, all existing Plans will display, along with a Start New Plan button in the top-right. The user would select this button to begin the process.
This will produce a screen on which the Plan's settings will be put in place.
The first step is to name the Plan, and to provide an optional due date:
Defining the Reporting Year
Next, the Reporting Year will be selected. Users would select the "Define Reporting Period" link.
This will produce a list of all Reporting Years built into the user's instance of Planning & Self Study. Assessment Plans are year-specific, and only a single Reporting Year can be selected.
If the year the user is trying to select is not listed, they can click the Add New Reporting Year option to create a new reporting year. This can also be done from the Admin area under Configuration Settings.
Defining the Plan's Scope
The next step involves defining the scope of the Plan. The user would first select whether this will be a Program or Course Assessment Plan.
Once this option is selected, the user can click on "Define Plan Scope" to select which Programs or Courses to include in the Plan.
If the Program Assessment Plan is chosen, the user would select all Programs to include.
The user has the option to filter the organization hierarchy on the basis of an organization type. A Show drop-down will appear and it will have the option to view All Organizations, Selected Only, and a particular organization type.
If the user would like to only select from a particular type of organization, they can select the type in the Show drop-down. The types listed as options would depend on what type of organizations are listed in the hierarchy. The Autoselect Children toggle will get locked if viewing organizations other than All.
If the Course Plan is selected, all Departments would automatically be included and the user would take no further action at this point in time.
View of Departments being included by default in a Course Assessment Plan.
Publishing the Assessment Plan
Once all settings are selected, the user would select Publish in the top right to open the Plan to all Programs or Courses defined in the Scope.