News Archive
National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment
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This article describes one professor's use of "gamification" in the classroom to enhance student learning.
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The Texas A&M System dashboard features data on graduation rates, faculty workloads, and student debt, among others is now available.
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This article discusses the results of the U21 Ranking of National Higher Education System, a benchmarking tool used to to assess the quality, impact, and benefit of higher education systems in forty-eight countries in four categories: resources, output, connectivity, and environment.
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National Research Council Report on Institutional Quality Released
A report recently released by the National Research Council titled, "Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education," discusses various ways to measure institutional quality and college productivity. Articles in both The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed provide coverage.
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Talbert's innovative approach to using both formative and summative assessments in the classroom is the focus of this article.
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Find out about what's new with NILOA in addition to recent news items about learning outcomes assessment in this month's newsletter.
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The quality of English universities will be reviewed by the Quality Assurance Agency, as proposed by The Higher Education Funding Council for England, in 2013-2014.
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A podcast on the recent development of edX, a partnership between Harvard University and MIT to offer Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
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A new report titled, "Linking Diversity and Civic-Minded Practices with Student Outcomes: New Evidence from National Surveys," by Sylvia Hurtado and Linda DeAngelo discusses how diverse, civic-minded learning environments can contribute to positive student outcomes.
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Clemson's new requirement of emphasizing critical thinking skills during a student's sophomore year is the focus of this article.
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Recognizing the importance of the ollege credit in today's world, the Saylor Foundation has teamed up with StraighterLine to offer course credit in addition to certificates of completion.
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A commentary on assessing student learning and "value-added" scores in the revamping process of teacher-preparation programs.
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A response to No College Left Behind
W. Robert Connor responds to a recent commentary on accountability in higher education in The Washington Post. He writes:
This piece is appropriate to an election day since it is higher education's equivalent of a "wedge issue", something that divides a constituency that might otherwise be uniting for constructive change. By caricaturing CLA, and waving the red flag of "standardized test" against it, and raising fears that to use it is a step towards No Child Left Behind, and in the gratuitous swipe at Academically Adrift , this article tends to split those who have found CLA one useful means of focusing on improving student learning,dividing them from those who find other measures work better for them, for one reason or another.
People who have participated in CLA in the Classroom and the CLA Academies have really benefited, they tell me -- something totally overlooked here.
In an ideal world cross institutional comparisons would be combined with other measures of student achievement to get a fuller picture of what is happening in an institution, how it compares to its peers, and where to focus efforts to improve.
Think of the things that have emerged from the multiple-measuires approach used in the Wabash National Study, with the follow ups from the Teagle Scholars. Blaich's measures do not include CLA, but yes, "standardized," tests are used. thereby allowing cross-institutional comparisons. And I have seen institutional benefits emerge as a result.
So I cry FOUL.
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Robert J. Sternberg writes a brief commentary in The Washington Post on the use of standardized tests for accountability purposes in higher education.
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The author discusses a model from Dublin which awards faculty for their excellent work with fellowship positions. In these fellowship positions, they work as part of a research team which examine an aspect of teaching and learning on their campus in addition to their own research agenda.
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This article discusses the use of internships to enhance student learning and also benefit the local community.
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A commentary in response to the recently released AACC report, "Reclaiming the American Dream: Community Colleges and the Nation’s Future."
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Prior learning assessment catches on, quietly
Read Inside Higher Ed's articles on the future of prior learning assessment. Part I provides background on the current efforts of using prior learning assessment primarily for adult learners. Part II explores the efforts in awarding credit for prior learning assessment for "college-level learning" by partnerships between corporate businesses (i.e., Walmart, Starbucks) and for-profit higher education institutions.
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This video link examines the use of data analytics to measure student learning.
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Harvard University Latest to Join Open Course Initiatives
edX, a newly formed partnership between Harvard University and MIT and outgrowth of MITx, will now offer open online courses to more students. edX is featured in articles in both The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed.