This is a recording of a live online seminar that was part of the 2006 Academic Leader Conference, a five-week web-based conference series.

Presented by Daniel Weinstein

The CD of the this online seminar will be available for sale after October 22, 2006.

Accountability and continuous improvement have become fixtures in higher education, and all accredited colleges and universities must specify intended learning and institutional outcomes, measure them, and articulate changes based on assessment findings.

Because assessment has not been a part of traditional higher education, faculty and staff generally view it as an extra task or busy work. In this audio conference, Daniel Weinstein will outline steps and ideas on how to create a climate on campus that effectively address this charge. The focus of this audio conference is on the establishment of initial steps any institution can take to effectively specify outcomes and measure them in a way that is meaningful, manageable, and pragmatic.

Learn how to get faculty buy-in for assessment and how to involve students as learning partners with faculty thereby igniting their intrinsic motivation to perform the best they can on assessment activities.

Learning objectives:

• Understand the reality and nature of accountability in higher education today.
• Understand and be able to implement steps to begin to establish a “culture of evidence” and learning on campus.
• Be able to specify meaningful learning and institutional outcomes and the steps to take to “close the loop” on them.
• Understand the difference between classroom evaluation and program outcomes assessment.
• Be able to qualify the best assessment tools (e.g. quantitative, qualitative, standardized, and locally developed).
• Develop appropriate and easy-to-use documentation of outcomes assessmen

Dan Weinstein holds a B.A. and M.A. in sociology and a Ph.D. in higher education. He began his career teaching K-12 and social sciences at the community college level. In 1998 he became Director of Institutional, Assessment, and Planning at Lower Columbia College in Longview, Washington, and in 2003 he became Assistant Provost for Institutional Planning & Assessment at Millersville University in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Dr. Weinstein has numerous publications in the area of outcomes assessment, is a staff member of Institutional Effectiveness Associates, and consults for colleges and universities around the country.