accreditation – Assessment by Design

An Accreditation Viewpoint

Posted on November 16, 2016 by sbarre13 — No Comments ↓

If you know me very well, then you know that I am an accreditation geek. What that means in my everyday life is that when I start talking about something in the world of accreditation, people’s eyes glaze over and they look at their watches frequently until I stop. For me, accreditation work is a wonderful opportunity to see what other colleges and universities are doing at a greater depth and breadth than can be observed looking from the outside. I recently had the opportunity to participate in a site visit (no names here) at a community college in the Higher Learning Commission universe. I was excited to see some of the wonderful work the faculty were doing in several areas, innovative programming, increases in student success, and probably the most highly engaged faculty and staff I have ever had the opportunity to meet. But, like all schools, I also observed the areas where the campus was struggling. In accreditation Continue reading An Accreditation Viewpoint→

Serving Two Masters

Posted on May 12, 2015 by mmcmull5 — No Comments ↓

There is a well-known Bible verse in the Book of Matthew that says, “No one can serve two masters.” I was thinking about that adage recently when discussing assessment with some colleagues. We were discussing a department’s assessment plan for the coming academic year and I was repeatedly asked if the accrediting body “would be okay with it.” Assessment has the unfortunate role of trying to serve two masters. The first and primary role of assessment is to measure student learning in the classroom/program/college, and to use this information to inform curricular changes with the goal of increasing student learning. The second master that has begun creeping into my conversations with faculty is the issue of accountability. Will this satisfy our accrediting body? Will the state board think this is okay? Does this meet the requirements? It is hard to meet the needs of two masters that are so fundamentally different in expectations and requirements. So how does academia address Continue reading Serving Two Masters→