The Other 85 Percent

College Assessment: to What End?

June 18, 2009 | Filed under: Capella, Capella University, Mike Offerman, The Other 85 Percent, academics, college, college degree, distance learning, elearning, higher education, online education, online learning, online university

This is a perfectly silly piece. To assert that a study by the Association of American Colleges and Universities demonstrates that assessment of learning outcomes is widespread but students don’t know about it is really more than silly.  What is the purpose of assessment if students don’t know it is happening, what the results are, or what the expectations were to begin with?  To quote about what is lacking, “communication with students about curricular goals and how the colleges measure them.”  But, trust us and stop being critical, we are measuring.

The report says that 78% of schools have a common set of intended learning outcomes for all undergraduate students that include “writing, critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, oral communications” and so on.  That is a good thing.  But what about more specific learning outcomes in the program major?  The report says that “most assessment goes on at the departmental level” and almost half the schools assess at both the general education and department levels.

Only 5% of respondents said they think all students understand the intended learning outcomes.  Only 37% think that up to half the students understand those outcomes.   That is the real story here. Not that victory has been achieved but that assessment, if done as reported, is wasted.  And transparency about intended outcomes, methods used to assess, and the results of assessments is completely absent.

It seems that it should not be that difficult to clearly articulate intended learning outcomes, how they are measured and what the aggregate results are for those who finish a program.  That is what Transparency by Design is attempting to do.

It seems that our collective purpose in higher education should be not only to assess, but to assure that students understand what is expected of them, how we assess to be certain that we are providing the learning we said we would deliver, and that the results are used to continuously improve our work.

I would suggest that it is too early to celebrate our excellence in assessment and to declare victory when the best we can do is to say that we asked and schools told us that they are assessing.  Never mind that the students have no idea what is expected or how the outcomes are actually assessed.

Your thoughts? Please feel free to leave a comment.

Mike

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