Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education.
Title:
Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education.
Author:
Kuh, George D.
ISBN:
9781118903735
Personal Author:
Edition:
1st ed.
Physical Description:
1 online resource (304 pages)
Contents:
Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- About the Authors -- 1 From Compliance to Ownership: Why and How Colleges and Universities Assess Student Learning -- A Culture of Compliance -- Realizing the Promise of Assessment -- Harvesting Results -- Relevant Issues -- Campus Partners and End Users -- Begin with the End in Mind: Anticipating Use -- What This Book Promises -- What Counts as Evidence? -- What Are Relevant Examples of Productive Use of Evidence of Student Learning? -- How Can Assessment Work Be Better Organized and Led? -- What Can Institutions Do to Involve in the Assessment Process Those Whose Contributions Are Most Central to Improving Student Learning? -- How Can Campus Leaders at All Levels Create and Sustain a Culture of Evidence That Emphasizes Improvement? -- With Its Role in Prompting Assessment Well Established, What Can Accreditors Do to Become Even More Helpful to Promoting a Culture of Evidence for Improvement in Higher Education? -- What Has Been and Will Likely Be the Influence of State and Federal Policy and Higher Education Affinity Groups on Student Learning Outcomes Assessment? -- What Can Be Done to Ameliorate the Debilitating Effects of Initiative Fatigue That Often Come with Assessment Work and Related Improvement Efforts? -- How Can Institutions Best Respond to the Clamor for More Transparency About Student and Institutional Performance? -- Part One What Works? Finding and Using Evidence -- 2 Evidence of Student Learning: What Counts and What Matters for Improvement -- Sources and Properties of Assessment Evidence -- Surveys -- General Knowledge and Skills Tests -- Classroom Assignments -- Portfolios -- Rubrics -- Learning Analytics -- Consequential Validity -- Obstacles to the Effective Use of Evidence -- Information's Social Life.
What Counts as Evidence -- Policymakers -- Accreditors -- Faculty -- Campus Administrators-Chairs, Deans, and Provosts -- The Public: Students and Parents -- Conclusion: Moving to What Matters for Improvement -- 3 Fostering Greater Use of Assessment Results: Principles for Effective Practice -- A Brief History of Assessment Practice -- Doing Assessment Versus Using Results -- Good Practice: Examples of Effective Use -- Distinct Levels of Use -- Begin with Use in Mind -- Leveraging External Processes -- Linking Assessment to Internal Processes -- The Quest to Close the Assessment Loop -- Seven Principles for Fostering Greater Use of Assessment Results -- 4 Making Assessment Consequential: Organizing to Yield Results -- How Is Assessment Work Organized? -- What Is Being Organized? -- How Should Assessment Be Organized If Improvement Is the Goal? -- Identify All the Places Learning Occurs -- Foster Cross‐Campus Collaboration Through Assessment Committees -- Link End Users of Assessment Work with Assessment Professionals -- Principles for Organizing Assessment -- Organize with Purpose -- Organize for Systemic Learning -- Organize for Distinction -- Organize for Flexibility -- Organize for Capacity -- Conclusion -- Part Two Who Cares? Engaging Key Stakeholders -- 5 Faculty and Students: Assessment at the Intersection of Teaching and Learning -- Faculty -- Challenges -- Contexts and Culture -- Engaging Faculty -- Students -- Institutional Models -- Students and Faculty Learning Together -- Conclusion -- 6 Leadership in Making Assessment Matter -- Governing Boards -- Roles and Responsibilities -- Operational Activities in Assessment -- Principal Challenges and Responses -- Presidents and Chancellors -- Roles and Responsibilities -- Operational Activities in Assessment -- Principal Challenges and Responses -- Provosts and Chief Academic Officers.
Roles and Responsibilities -- Operational Activities in Assessment -- Principal Challenges and Responses -- Deans and Department Chairs -- Roles and Responsibilities -- Operational Activities in Assessment -- Principal Challenges and Responses -- Aligning Positions and Messages Across Multiple Roles -- Internal Channels of Communication -- Program Review -- Key Investments -- Institutional Mission -- Conclusion -- 7 Accreditation as Opportunity: Serving Two Purposes with Assessment -- Accreditation: The Context -- Accreditation as Assessment Driver -- The Role of Accreditation in Assessment -- Institutional Roles and Responsibilities -- Some Principles for Using Accreditation in Assessment -- The Institution's Own Assessment Philosophy and Information Needs Are Critical to Meeting Accreditors' Expectations -- The Accreditation Review Process Is Continuous, not Episodic -- Assessment at Its Best Contributes to Both Accreditation and Internal Institutional Processes -- A Variety of Stakeholders Are Actively Involved in the Accreditation Process -- As with Assessment Work, the Accreditation Process Is a Means to an End -- Concluding Thoughts -- 8 The Bigger Picture: Student Learning Outcomes Assessment and External Entities -- The State‐Level View -- The Federal Policy Perspective -- The National Organization Picture -- The Philanthropic Frame -- Implications -- Part Three What Now? Focusing Assessment on Learning -- 9 Assessment and Initiative Fatigue: Keeping the Focus on Learning -- What Is Initiative Fatigue? -- Factors That Contribute to Assessment Fatigue -- Multiple Initiatives with Different Purposes -- Multiple Initiatives with Seemingly Similar Purposes -- Assessment as One More Thing -- Strategies for Dealing with Initiative Fatigue -- Sell the Merits of the Initiative -- Hold Large‐Scale Events -- Conduct Short‐Cycle Assessments.
Calculate the Return on Investment -- Clarify and Connect the Dots -- It's About the Learning -- Conclusion -- 10 From Compliance Reporting to Effective Communication: Assessment and Transparency -- What Is Transparency? -- Internal and External Transparency -- External Communication for Transparency -- Internal Communication -- From Reporting to Transparent Communication -- Meet Audience‐Specific Needs -- Provide Appropriate Context -- Share Evidence in Multiple Formats and Forums -- NILOA Transparency Framework -- Institutional Uses of the Framework -- Final Thoughts -- 11 Making Assessment Matter -- The Current Context -- What's Around the Corner? -- Mobilizing for Effective Use of Evidence of Student Learning -- Embrace Accountability -- Think of End Users at the Outset -- Organize Assessment Work to Respond to High Priority Questions -- Share Widely and Transparently -- Lead Rather Than Manage -- Look Behind Demands -- Focus but Adapt -- Some Final Thoughts -- References -- Appendix A NILOA National Advisory Panel -- Appendix B NILOA Staff, 2008 TO 2014 -- Index -- Advert -- Want to connect? -- EULA.
Abstract:
American higher education needs a major reframing of student learning outcomes assessment Dynamic changes are underway in American higher education. New providers, emerging technologies, cost concerns, student debt, and nagging doubts about quality all call out the need for institutions to show evidence of student learning. From scholars at the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA), Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education presents a reframed conception and approach to student learning outcomes assessment. The authors explain why it is counterproductive to view collecting and using evidence of student accomplishment as primarily a compliance activity. Today's circumstances demand a fresh and more strategic approach to the processes by which evidence about student learning is obtained and used to inform efforts to improve teaching, learning, and decision-making. Whether you're in the classroom, an administrative office, or on an assessment committee, data about what students know and are able to do are critical for guiding changes that are needed in institutional policies and practices to improve student learning and success. Use this book to: Understand how and why student learning outcomes assessment can enhance student accomplishment and increase institutional effectiveness Shift the view of assessment from being externally driven to internally motivated Learn how assessment results can help inform decision-making Use assessment data to manage change and improve student success Gauging student learning is necessary if institutions are to prepare students to meet the 21st century needs of employers and live an economically independent, civically responsible life. For assessment professionals and educational leaders, Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education offers both a compelling
rationale and practical advice for making student learning outcomes assessment more effective and efficient.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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