All of my life, I have heard the phrase, “We’re all in the same boat.” Growing up on the water in Florida gave me ample opportunity to hear it. I recently tried to track down the original quote and found references all the way back to Sophocles, so I think it is safe to say that it has been operative for quite a long time.
I thought of this phrase recently in chatting with some colleagues from a community college in St. Louis. The campus is bringing a team here to JCCC in October to visit with our office and the college’s Assessment Council about assessment issues. They want to know how we are approaching assessment, what is working well, and what doesn’t work. I believe they are hoping we have a magic pill that we can share that will help them engage more of their faculty in assessment initiatives on campus.
It is a conversation I have often with colleagues at both the regional and national level because everyone is dealing with the same issues regarding assessment. We are, proverbially speaking, “All in the same boat.” So what does it mean to be in the same boat when it comes to assessment? I have a few thoughts:
- Everyone in higher education has been called to accountability in terms of providing evidence of student learning.
- Too often the voices calling us to accountability don’t understand the complexity of what is being asked.
- The assessment movement has been around for over 20 years and is not going away – despite the hopes of some to the contrary.
- There is no magic pill in assessment; faculty remain the rudders for this boat.
So how do we make sure we are all rowing in the same direction, rather than pulling against each other and going in circles in our proverbial boat?
- Remember that the key to engaging faculty in assessment means keeping the focus on what is important – student learning.
- Faculty need to invest in assessment initiatives that are sustainable and meaningful.
- Assessment plans must be tied to curricular improvement.
- Assessment must be faculty-driven. The role of administration is to support assessment efforts with appropriate resources and to celebrate successes.
As institutions, we are indeed all in the same boat. But how we each decide to conduct the journey is our decision alone. We can row together to reach a destination or we can continue to circle. What will we choose to do?
Sheri H. Barrett, EdD
