As UNM prepares for the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools Higher Learning Commission accreditation process, faculty are called upon to develop and assess learning outcomes. But Thomas Root, outcomes assessment planning manager, says the university must take assessment well beyond the April 2009 accreditation.
As assessment rises in importance at all levels of education, colleges and universities have an opportunity to define what assessment will mean in higher education. Gary Smith, director of the Office of Support for Effective Teaching (OSET) and special assistant to the provost for faculty development, said college-level assessment is the opposite of the No Child Left Behind Act because accreditors are interested in what individual colleges want students to accomplish, rather than imposing standardized criteria.
Root echoed that idea, saying that while accreditation mandates assessment, what the learning outcomes are and how they are assessed will be defined and driven by faculty. The point, Root said, is not just to collect data, but use it to improve teaching and learning. “It’s not about looking good, but about doing good,” he said.
The provost’s outcomes team, established in fall 2006, will form the basis for long-term assessment strategy with the infrastructure to support it. Root said the team will ensure that assessment is followed-up with concrete improvements.
Smith said it’s easy to view assessment as only a tool for accreditation, but it’s important to consider why accreditors expect assessment. Assessment is already integrated into OSET training, within a broad range of faculty support services.
One such resource is “Designing Courses for Effective Student Learning,” an intensive two day institute to help faculty develop courses designed to facilitate diverse learning styles. “A key part of designing a curriculum or course is defining what you want students to have learned when they’re done,” Smith said.
The institute supports goal-oriented course design by encouraging teachers to design courses backwards from outcomes, within the framework of three questions: What should students learn? How should they learn it? How will we know that they’re learning? The institute will next be offered May 22-23, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
Another OSET workshop, “Writing Measurable Learning Outcomes,” to be held Monday, April 7, 1-3 p.m., guides participants to write outcomes that are meaningful to faculty and measured through assessment of student learning. Root said that such workshops give faculty an opportunity to discuss problems and find solutions together.
For more information or to register for OSET workshops, visit OSET or call 277-2229.