Transparency, institutional self-presentation, and public interest

From November/December 2010 Change, “Here’s looking at you:  Transparency, institutional self-presentation, and the public interest” by Alexander C. McCormick (Director of NSSE at Indiana, Bloomington), pp. 35-43.   “But transparency can be about more than consumer information.  It can provide an opportunity for a college or university to proclaim its success while acknowledging that it [...]

Questions about "Outcomes-based" learning

Questions about “Outcomes-based” learning A comment in a forum on revising WSU’s General Education Program gives more context for challenges of our assessment work… “My primary concern rests with the heavy emphasis on “outcomes based” learning.  First, I find it difficult to imagine teaching to outcomes as separate from teaching my content — I do [...]

Quote From the Open Forum of General Education

Q:           Why focus on learning goals?  What is the empirical evidence that universities that focus on learning outcomes vs. those that have more traditional distributional/content-based requirements actually produce better/more successful graduates?  Isn’t it just a fad?

[SACS] Student Learning Outcomes – Business

On the question, does every major have to report outcomes: From: SACS Commission on Colleges Discussion Forum [mailto:SACS-L@LISTSERV.UHD.EDU] Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 2:57 PM To: SACS-L@LISTSERV.UHD.EDU Subject: Re: [SACS] Student Learning Outcomes – Business I can guarantee it is every major within a degree. Also you must show that every program has been assesed [...]

Five Tips for Surviving Accreditation Reviews (Faculty Focus)

Faculty Focus Newsletter | Faculty Development March 22, 2010 Five Tips for Surviving Accreditation: A Tongue-in-Cheek Reflection By Thomas R. McDaniel, PhD Many academic leaders are involved in regional accreditations, and I am no exception. The six regional accrediting agencies are becoming increasingly stringent in the application and interpretation of their standards, and this can [...]

Ending casual approaches to assessment

“We’ve got to end casual, undisciplined approaches to learning and assessment.” –Paul Lingenfelter, president of the State Higher Education Executive Officers. http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/01/27/aacu

More on VSA and CLA from Ewell

A friend –struggles with the national politics of the VSA — noting it is “counter to what we really need to be working on.”  He worries about the political pressures and requests insights. We share the recent piece (also included in the Rain King Chronicles): On page 10 Ewell notes: “Several states, including Missouri and [...]

Assessment, Accountability, and Improvement: Revisiting the Tension

Assessment, Accountability, and Improvement: Revisiting the Tension A key piece from Peter Ewell and NCHEMS, and a good resource for those who wonder why we do what we do the way we do.  This assessment of assessment is both a rationale and a blueprint: Ewell says: “Institutional accrediting organizations remain membership associations, however, so they [...]