53.070 - Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities in Higher Education Student Learning Outcomes Assessment

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

The climate in which higher education exists has significantly impacted the assessment of student learning outcomes. Whereas traditional assessment efforts focused on accountability, more recent movements emphasize the use of assessment information to improve teaching and learning. Assessment has also shifted its focus from traditional general education outcomes (e.g., critical thinking, communication, quantitative literacy) to an expanded set of skills, including broad, integrative skills, noncognitive factors, and factors that defy the cognitive-noncognitive classification (e.g., creativity, perseverance, sociocultural competence). Lastly, assessment has increasingly student-level implications, in addition to institutional uses. This session will discuss these trends, ongoing research and best practice in the field, as well as implications for colleges, universities, and their constituents.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Measurement and Assessment in Higher Education

Chair

• Megan Rodgers Good, Auburn University

Papers

• Assessment for Improvement - Javarro Antoine Russell, Educational Testing Service; Ross Edward Markle, Educational Testing Service

• Student-Level Assessment - Ross Edward Markle, Educational Testing Service

• Expanding Skills in Higher Education Assessment - Maria Elena Oliveri, Educational Testing Service; Ross Edward Markle, Educational Testing Service

Discussants

• Natasha Alexis Jankowski, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Keston H. Fulcher, James Madison University