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1.
Higher education institutions are becoming increasingly accountable to stakeholders at many levels as the federal government, accrediting organizations, and the public place a stronger emphasis on student learning outcomes. Evidence of student learning that is comparable across institutions is of urgent demand. Various accountability initiatives such as the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) mark a milestone in the evaluation of instructional effectiveness of higher education using standardized outcomes assessment. Although the current accountability initiatives hold great potential in evaluating institutional effectiveness, some design and methodological issues need to be addressed before outcomes assessment can be best utilized. In this paper, I (a) review the need for outcomes assessment in higher education, (b) discuss the VSA initiative, (c) summarize the most prominent challenges facing outcomes assessment for accountability purposes, and (d) discuss future directions of research in advancing accountability assessment in higher education.  相似文献   

2.
ABSTRACT

Nurturing students’ continuous learning is a current trend in the higher education agenda. Curricula and academic contents should enable students to take part in stimulating learning experiences, as well as promoting both developing and training opportunities in the course of their lives and careers. Despite the relevance given to lifelong learning in the educational system, there are still some open questions: how this concept is understood and put into practice by higher education institutions? The paper aims to analyse the conceptions of lifelong learning as reflected on the learning outcomes proposed in a sample of study programs. A qualitative methodology and a data-driven approach are adopted to explore the content of the learning outcomes proposed in 10% of total study programs submitted to quality accreditation, since 2009. Generally, results reveal that higher education institutions are committed to the lifelong learning paradigm, particularly in master and PhD degrees. Students are expected to ‘invest in personal and professional development through life’, to ‘develop learning competences through life’, as well as to ‘foster lifelong learning’. This study provides a better understanding of the range of perspectives and the relevance given to lifelong learning as a valuable learning outcome.  相似文献   

3.
Globally, higher education institutions aim to assess and improve students’ learning. However, assessment practices often do not culminate in improved learning. For instance, in the United States, empirical examples of learning improvement in higher education are exceptionally rare. A disconnect between assessment practices and instruction at the classroom level likely contributes to scarce evidence of improvement. In the current study, we provide a didactic example of how outcomes assessment data can be integrated with data concerning the educational intervention students received. This type of information – referred to as implementation fidelity data – allows faculty to more accurately interpret outcomes assessment results, make informed modifications to educational interventions, and link learning improvements back to specific interventions. As more faculty purposefully integrate outcomes assessment data and implementation fidelity data, higher education will better demonstrate its worth.  相似文献   

4.
Student learning outcomes assessment has been increasingly used in U.S. higher education institutions over the last 10 years, partly fueled by the recommendation from the Spellings Commission that institutions need to demonstrate more direct evidence of student learning. To respond to the Commission's call, various accountability initiatives have been launched, profoundly reshaping how assessment has been viewed, implemented, and used in higher education. This article reviews the conceptual and methodological challenges of the assessment agenda for one of the landmark accountability initiatives, the Voluntary System of Accountability, and also documents the notable shift from a strong focus on accountability to an increasing emphasis on internal improvement. This article then discusses the most recent developments in assessment approaches and tools, and proposes a four‐element, one‐enabler assessment cycle for institutions to maximally benefit from their assessment efforts.  相似文献   

5.
Abstract

Higher education student selection has significant societal, institutional and individual impacts. Thousands of applicants apply only for nursing, one of the major higher education disciplines. As the nursing profession is characterised by cognitive requirements, higher education institutions assess the learning skills of nursing applicants. However, there has been no comprehensive analysis of learning skills assessment for nursing student selection. The purpose of this scoping review was to describe the assessment of learning skills in undergraduate nursing student selection. Five databases were systematically searched, and 24 studies published between 2006 and 2016 were included. Learning skills were most commonly assessed using standardised tests in the areas of language and communication, reasoning, mathematics and natural sciences. Overall scores of onsite selection methods were found to best predict future academic performance. The results indicate that higher education institutions may benefit from comprehensive assessment of learning skills in their selection processes. This assessment should focus on a wider range of cognitive aptitudes, including reasoning skills. This review focussed on nursing education, but the results may benefit other higher education disciplines due to the generic nature of learning skills and similar cognitive requirements of higher education studies. The results support the development of more comprehensive and valid methods for assessing learning skills.  相似文献   

6.
美国中北部区域高等教育认证委员会2013年新认证标准对教育质量的评估提出了进一步的要求,强调教育要有质量,质量要有证据,评估重点转型到对学生学习结果的评估,作为判断学生学习质量的主要证据之一。在了解和借鉴境外同行的经验中,处理学校运行常态信息与质量信息的关系,思考教育理念共识与基于文化之教育理念之间的衔接点,可以使教育工作者对教育质量在现实社会大环境中的内涵有比较合理的认识。  相似文献   

7.
This article provides insight into the state of higher education in Serbia, particularly in the context of reform processes based on European Higher Education Area principles. A multidimensional approach was taken, encompassing (a) a review and analysis of legal regulations relevant to the historical context of Serbia, (b) an examination of current working conditions at accredited state and private higher education institutions, (c) and a pilot survey of attitudes among the main participants in higher education teaching. The research gauged attitudes of university professors and students with work or study experiences, respectively, at both state and private higher education institutions. Specific instruments for measuring attitudes were constructed for this study. Professors' attitudes toward state and private higher education were compared through the assessment of aspects of organisational culture including work organisation, stimulating atmosphere, innovation, and creativity. Students expressed their attitudes toward state and private higher education in terms of general atmosphere, curricula, grading criteria, and student status. The results indicate that private higher education was appreciated slightly more than state higher education; both professors and students held more positive attitudes of private higher education for all dimensions investigated.  相似文献   

8.
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9.
While outcomes assessment has become a focus for institutions of higher education, assessment in academic support units remain sparse. Traditionally, assessment has been comprised of one-time student satisfaction surveys and/or supervisor evaluations tied specifically to job criteria. Although informative, these methods fail to account for or measure specific student learning outcomes completed by students via their interaction with faculty and staff. This article presents the development and implementation of a program of outcomes assessment at a 4-year public university in the northeast. Results indicate that students come to college with varying expectations of the role of academic advisors and range on a continuum of academic and social preparation to meet the demands of higher education. A majority of students are meeting the stated learning outcomes. Feedback from this assessment model is being used to improve the quality of services provided to successive cohorts of students at this institution.  相似文献   

10.
Learning outcomes in higher education are of considerable interest to students, teaching staff, researchers, tertiary education institutions and funding authorities. To improve the quality of learning outcomes may require a better understanding of what happens in the learning process from the perspective of the learner. This study makes use of a number of current instruments for the evaluation of student learning to explore aspects of learning outcomes in terms of academic achievement. The students evaluated were either in their first year of study (N=194) or in the third year of their course (N=118). A causal mode of learning outcomes was developed for each group and evaluated using the PLSPATH program to explore the impact of student‐related causative factors. A number of these factors were shown to have a direct effect on student academic achievement, as measured by annual grade point average (GPA), with some consistency across two year‐levels. The most important factor in predicting academic performance for both groups was students' prior academic performance. Approaches to learning and English language skills were also shown to have some predictive value. Students' metacognitive skills and self‐efficacy, though showing strong inter‐relationships with other factors, did not show a direct effect on academic achievement.  相似文献   

11.
While experential learning has been increasingly explored and adopted by higher education institutions, few have researched the appropriate assessment methods that can be aligned with the learning outcomes of experential learning. A literature review on the diverse forms of assessment currently used for community service types of experiential learning in higher education is presented in this paper to review their appropriateness in assessing experential learning. The paper also describes the assessment framework of the University of Hong Kong Sichuan Reconstruction Community Service Project, which is incorporated into a multidisciplinary community service learning project. Feedback from students and teachers are reviewed to gauge their preferences towards these assessments, as well as their opinions on assigning academic credits to experential learning projects.  相似文献   

12.
To promote student learning and bolster student success, higher education institutions are increasingly creating large active learning classrooms to replace traditional lecture halls. Although there have been many efforts to examine the effects of those classrooms on learning outcomes, there is paucity of research that can inform the design and implementation process. This study investigates how spatial and technological features of a large collaborative classroom support active learning based on the Pedagogy-Space-Technology framework. The findings from our study suggest short lecture and class-wide discussion are essential in framing learning content before group activities, and connecting group outputs to the learning content after group activities. Through interviews, surveys, and focus groups, we found that-while small group activities are generally well-supported in large active learning classroomsfacilitating short lecture and class-wide discussion is key to the success of active learning in large classrooms. Technology should be carefully laid out in the space to accommodate those activities. Specific design and implementation suggestions and implications are provided.  相似文献   

13.
A distinction is often made in the literature about “assessment of learning” and “assessment for learning” attributing a formative function to the latter while the former takes a summative function. While there may be disagreements among researchers and educators about such categorical distinctions there is consensus that both types of assessment are often used concurrently in higher education institutions. A question that often arises when formative and summative assessment practices are used in continuous assessment is the extent to which student learning can be facilitated through feedback. The views and perceptions of students and academics from a discipline in the Humanities across seven higher education institutions were sought to examine the above question. A postal survey was completed by academics, along with a survey administered to a sample of undergraduate students and a semi-structured interview was conducted with key academics in each of the seven institutions. This comparative study highlights issues that concern both groups about the extent to which continuous assessment practices facilitate student learning and the challenges faced. The findings illustrate the need to consider more effective and efficient ways in which feedback can be better used to facilitate student learning.  相似文献   

14.
The goal of this paper is to present the findings of a new research project on teacher candidates' learning style preferences and the implications thereof for their teaching styles. The researchers utilized two different learning‐style assessment instruments based on Dunn and Dunn's learning style model—one paper and pencil and one online learning style assessment instrument to identify course participants' learning styles. Within the same institution of higher education, the learning style concept was introduced and operationalized in two different ways. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches, teacher candidates' individual and group learning style profiles and their reflections on their own learning and teaching styles are discussed.  相似文献   

15.
Assessments of student learning outcomes (SLO) have been widely used in higher education for accreditation, accountability, and strategic planning purposes. Although important to institutions, the assessment results typically bear no consequence for individual students. It is important to clarify the relationship between motivation and test performance and identify practical strategies to boost students' motivation in test taking. This study designed an experiment to examine the effectiveness of a motivational instruction. The instruction increased examinees' self-reported test-taking motivation by .89 standard deviations (SDs) and test scores by .63 SDs. Students receiving the instruction spent an average of 14 more seconds on an item than students in the control group. Score difference between experimental and control groups narrowed to .23 SDs after unmotivated students identified by low response time were removed from the analyses. The findings provide important implications for higher education institutions which administer SLO assessments in a low-stakes setting.  相似文献   

16.
This study examines how a state system of higher education, located in the Rocky Mountains area of the United States, allowed faculty members from the state's public institutions of higher education to control the design and implementation of a pilot assessment of statewide general education courses. One of the primary reasons faculty were allowed to control the assessment process was to assuage the commonly held fear by faculty, academic departments, and institutions that they could be punished for the poor assessment results of their students who took the pilot assessment. An important conclusion of this study is that the promise of anonymity, given by the state board of regents (and tacitly by the legislature) to individual faculty members, academic departments, and institutions, was essential to the success of the assessment process.  相似文献   

17.
Higher education is becoming a major driver of economic competitiveness in an increasingly knowledge-driven global economy. Maintaining the competitive edge has seen an increase in public accountability of higher education institutions through the mechanism of ranking universities based on the quality of their teaching and learning outcomes. As a result, assessment processes are under scrutiny, creating tensions between standardisation and measurability and the development of creative and reflective learners. These tensions are further highlighted in the context of large undergraduate subjects, learner diversity and time-poor academics and students. Research suggests that high level and complex learning is best developed when assessment, combined with effective feedback practices, involves students as partners in these processes. This article reports on a four-phase, cross-institution and cross-discipline project designed to embed peer-review processes as part of the assessment in two large, under-graduate accounting classes. Using a social constructivist view of learning, which emphasises the role of both teacher and learner in the development of complex cognitive understandings, we undertook an iterative process of peer review. Successive phases built upon students’ feedback and achievements and input from language/learning and curriculum experts to improve the teaching and learning outcomes.  相似文献   

18.
In a context where public action must demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency, and where the links between teaching and the quality of learning are regularly highlighted, it seems relevant to identify the trends and logic that govern university professors’ decisions with respect to the modes of learning assessment favoured within the framework of their delivery of teaching services. Moreover, given that university teaching practices are changing rapidly due to the introduction of different views of the learning process, one might conclude that the same holds for assessment practices. Through our research work, we led to the development of a trilingual (English, French and Spanish) online survey devoted to an international investigation into the classroom assessment practices of higher education teachers. This survey proposes an online platform that will allow institutions of higher learning to document some of their current practices and to compare observed trends with what is happening elsewhere, in accordance with differing missions and traditions. These research notes are thus intended to describe the survey itself and to show how the questionnaire and individual items were structured, in addition to providing an overview of treatments within and between institutions that followed the testing.  相似文献   

19.
This study examines whether feelings of relatedness constitute a substantial means by which learning communities (cohorts) improve learning outcomes in higher education. It applies Ryan and Deci’s Self-Determination Theory to an analysis of the National Survey of Student Engagement. The SDT hypothesizes that environments that support perceptions of social relatedness improve motivation, thereby positively influencing learning behavior. The authors propose that participation in cohort programs constitutes such an environment. Measuring student perceptions of the contributions of their institutions, the study found increased relatedness to peers and faculty and increased higher order thinking assignments (a control variable included in the research model) to be substantial predictors of educational outcomes relevant to literacy, critical thinking, and, especially, job preparation. The researchers suggest that institutions will want to ensure that their learning community designs enhance student feelings of relatedness.  相似文献   

20.
Both students and employers, the main users of the higher education system, need to have confidence that qualifications attest accurately to past achievement and current ability. The standards represented by higher education qualifications need to be explicit and, in an employment market that is increasingly global, qualifications must have a universal currency. The frameworks of higher education qualifications published recently in the United Kingdom provide explicit benchmarks, and do so in a manner that enables international comparisons to be drawn.
Users need assurance that the programmes of study leading to qualifications are effective in enabling the learner both to achieve, and to demonstrate achievement of, the standards embodied in intended learning outcomes. Students in particular want to know that the education in which they are investing will meet their expectations. However, proposed changes in quality assurance of higher education suggest an unwillingness on the part of institutions to demonstrate that the standards embodied in the qualifications framework are being delivered. The interests of the providers appear to be given supremacy over those of the users.  相似文献   

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