Outcomes Assessment Is Here to Stay, Get Faculty Buy In

The trend toward greater accountability is often viewed as something that is imposed upon higher education institutions, something that infringes on an institution’s autonomy and faculty members’ academic freedom and adds to their workload. When framed in this manner, is it any wonder that some faculty members are reluctant about or downright opposed to learning outcomes assessment?

Part of the problem is that senior administrators do not adequately explain the purpose of and motivation for doing learning outcomes assessment, says Daniel Weinstein, assistant provost for institutional planning and assessment at Millersville University of Pennsylvania. “A lot of my counterparts at institutions throughout the nation approach faculty members and say, ‘You have to engage in assessment, and it’s my job to ensure that you do.’ They pretty much leave the conversation there, and faculty are left to their own devices. I can understand that in an environment like that, assessment is not going to make much progress.”

Weinstein says that effective learning outcomes assessment requires an approach that comes from the administration but that is embraced by the faculty members. Without this collaboration, progress will be limited.

Ideally, the institution will have a resident expert to:

• Identify measurable or ascertainable assessment criteria
• Identify appropriate assessment tools
• Close the loop on outcomes assessment by helping faculty identify changes to what they teach or how they teach based on the assessment

Distinguishing between classroom evaluation and outcomes assessment

One of the reasons faculty are reluctant to engage in learning outcomes assessment is that they often have difficulty understanding what learning outcomes assessment is. When told, “To help you achieve the level of self-reflection you need to get the evidence on the table that indicates that you are delivering quality education to your students,” faculty often reply, “We’re already doing that. We lecture; we give students assignments; we give them tests. They’re assessed. Why are we having this conversation?”

“I tell them, ‘Good question. There is a difference between classroom evaluation and outcomes assessment. [Classroom evaluation] falls far short in giving the kind of information you really need to effect change in your program,’” Weinstein says.

One of the limitations of using grades as a means of assessing learning outcomes is that it is not always evident (particularly to those outside the discipline) what level of student performance constitutes an A, a B, a C, etc., particularly when some faculty members award extra points for attendance or doing extra work. There is also the issue of grade inflation (or deflation). Grades reflect more than just student learning outcomes, Weinstein says.

Workload

Assessing student learning outcomes does not necessarily mean a substantial increase in faculty members’ workload. In many cases, graded assignments and exams can be modified to provide useful assessment data. For example, a research assignment can be changed to include an oral presentation component, an expanded bibliography, or group work to be used to assess students’ learning outcomes in those areas.

“As much as you can, utilize what’s already in place. Utilize the good work and good tools that faculty already have, but find ways to tweeze outcomes information out of it and document it accordingly,” Weinstein says.

To prevent faculty from feeling overwhelmed by the assessment process, Weinstein recommends that rather than trying to assess each learning outcome throughout a course, program, or degree, faculty should look at three learning outcomes per year.

“You don’t get in a faculty member’s face and say, ‘You’re falling down on the job because you’re not doing [learning outcomes assessment].’ That’s a quick way to alienate them and to get them to well up with self-defense. And I don’t blame them. You come to them and say, ‘You are the academic professional. You are the author of your own discipline on this campus. I have no business telling you what your intended student outcomes are. The best I can do is troll the Internet and come up with examples from other institutions about learning outcomes, but it’s up to you to tell me what a degree in biology from [this institution] means,’” Weinstein says.

Increasing pressure for assessment

Thus far, there are no clear national standards for learning outcomes assessment; however, accreditation bodies are becoming increasingly prescriptive in what they require of institutions. “Before long, these commissions on colleges are going to mandate certain learning outcomes in disciplines. That scares me because it flies in the face of academic freedom, which I uphold emphatically.

“Visiting team members of these regional commissions are getting focused training on what to look for in terms of outcomes assessment, so they’ll know if an institution just slapped together [its learning outcomes assessment] or it is something that has been ingrained into the system of the institution,” Weinstein says.

Weinstein reminds faculty that this increasing accountability has not yet encroached on their academic freedom. “I like to remind faculty that there is as much academic freedom tied to their outcomes assessment as there is tied to the curriculum and pedagogy. They like that, and they respond to it.”

The trend toward more prescriptive measures, however, could impact academic freedom. The commissions on colleges are becoming more prescriptive “because there are not enough institutions coming out with quality outcomes assessment,” Weinstein says.

Commend faculty for participating

Assessing learning outcomes is a big step for many faculty. In addition to the time it takes to develop measurable learning outcomes, selecting appropriate assessment tools, many faculty are concerned that the process can point to their shortcomings as instructors. It is important, however, to ensure that student learning outcomes assessment is kept out of faculty job evaluations. “I tell faculty, you engage in outcomes assessment for you. If you don’t make all your targets but you specify what you’re going to do next time, that will result only in commendation from your administration.

“The fact that you’ve done it and documented it and got something from it, the administration is going to commend you for it. You were bold enough to collect data that shows that you are not accomplishing everything you intended to accomplish, but that is the point of outcomes assessment— that you have some mechanism that gives you feedback on how well you are doing in communicating with your students,” Weinstein says.

Contact Daniel Weinstein at Daniel.Weinstein@millersville.edu.

The above article first appeared in Academic Leader, a monthly newsletter that helps deans, chairs, and other academic decision-makers provide effective leadership within their colleges or departments and fulfill their institutions' primary missions of teaching and scholarship. Click here for more information and to subscribe.