In 2005 St. John's University held a Presidential Summit, "How
Do You Know if Your Students Are Learning?" The summit was led by
Dr. Barbara E. Walvoord, a nationally recognized scholar on
assessment.* At that time Walvoord discussed the degree to which
assessment had become a national reform movement, fueled in part by
calls for higher education to be more accountable for its learning
standards, as well as increased scrutiny by college students and
their families when selecting colleges. In the years since her
visit to St. John's, the assessment movement has only
increased.
Because of the growing importance of assessment in higher
education, we find it necessary to provide chairs, faculty, and
administrators with an introductory overview about this admittedly
weighty and sometimes overwhelming term. We realize that the
emphasis on assessment in education has surged in the last two
decades, and that faculty and administrators who have not had the
time to fully explore assessment theory or practice might benefit
from some contextualization. As you go through these pages, please
keep two things in mind:
- We at St. John’s are committed to approaches to progressive
assessment practices informed by best practices in the field. In
accordance with those best practices, we strongly believe that
assessment needs to be local and “homegrown.” This means that
faculty and students, within their local disciplines, need to work
together to continually imagine, develop, and act upon their
assessment initiatives. Assessment, first and foremost, is about
reflecting upon one’s learning. We also strongly believe that it is
the administration’s job to ensure that assessment is ongoing,
measurable, and informed by best practices—and that the hard work
faculty put into their ongoing assessment is recognized and acted
upon, and not just archived. Most of all, we recognize that the
heart of assessment has its origins with faculty and students who
know best about their disciplinary and programmatic needs.
- The Office of the Provost is committed to working with all
faculty and departments to help them with their assessment
initiatives. We also want to make sure that all of these assessment
initiatives are showcased and highlighted every semester through
WEAVE, electronic portfolios, and our University web pages. Most
importantly, we are committed to working with departments to act
upon their ongoing assessment activities—the reports that get
submitted online and placed into WEAVE should not simply be
warehoused, but explored in order to identify further plans for
action.
These “Unpacking Assessment” pages are intended as a living
document. While originally posted by the Office of the Provost, we
invite faculty, administration, and students to submit suggestions
for revision as well as new information. Ultimately these pages
should reflect the collaborative spirit of assessment. Please
direct any suggestions, questions, or additional text to be
considered to
Derek Owens, Vice Provost.
Part 1: A Three-Way Dialogue
A brief introduction
to the growing culture of assessment, which at its core is a
three-way dialogue among students, faculty, and
administration.
Part 2: Understanding and Addressing Initial Resistance to
Assessment
The culture of
assessment in education is, historically speaking, relatively new.
It’s understandable that students, faculty, and administrators can
initially respond to the “assessment wave” with varying degrees of
confusion and skepticism.
Part 3: Genres of Assessment
“Assessment” is
really a general term that refers to a wide variety of different
assessment methodologies. This section emphasizes four realms of
assessment.
Part 4: Department and Faculty Responsibilities
This brief section
points to two ways faculty in departments can further enhance both
ongoing assessment initiatives, as well as showcase them
online.
Part 5: WEAVE
This section offers
a short overview of WEAVE, the mechanism by which our University
regularly collects and archives all assessment plans and
projects.
Part 6: Electronic Portfolios
This section offers
a quick overview of our recent inclusion of electronic portfolios,
or eportfolios, within the University. (As we expand our work with
eportfolios, watch for further pages devoted to this topic.)
Part 7: Getting on the Same Page: A Department Discovers and
Defines its Values
This section
introduces departments to the importance of taking the time to
bring faculty together over multiple sessions in order to identify
the collective values of the department.
Part 8: Models of Assessment
This section offers
a partial overview of direct and indirect assessment
strategies.
* We highly recommend Walvoord's succinct and very accessible
book, Assessment Clear and Simple: A Practical Guide for
Institutions, Departments, and General Education (2nd ed.,
Jossey-Bass 2010).