Using Assessment to Bring About Cultural Change: The Value of Asessing Learning Spaces

This recent article is from Assessment UPdate: Progress, Trends, and Practices in Higher Education. Assessment UPdate is a commercial publication from Wiley Interscience but you may find that your institution has a subscription, in which case the website will recognize your IP address and permit you to have access. This article is in the May/une 2008 issue #3 of Volume 20:

In considering the issue of transforming higher education, people tend to think of the university in the abstract: the idea of providing education and what that means in these changing times. The authors suggest that the physical university should also be considered. At Ferris State University, educators have made a comprehensive effort to transform the university by creating a learning-centered culture focused on three central elements: (1) classrooms; (2) learning spaces outside the classroom; and (3) professional development. They undertook a multistage project to renovate learning spaces in a systematic fashion, combining the renovations with professional development efforts for faculty and administrators. They transformed the academic milieu both physically and intellectually with the primary purpose made of fostering a more learning-centered culture and environment. In this article, the author discusses the multistage renovation project and the role of assessment in creating a learner-centered environment.