Faculty 'Productivity': Charging for Quality
In the "Confessions of a Community College Dean" blog at Inside Higher Ed, Dean Dad notes, with links, an ongoing online discussion in a number of blogs about full-time faculty workload. Dean Dad's focus is on whether or not non-elite institutions can really charge for quality, or not: "A thrilled student doesn't pay any more than does a barely-contented student." He ends up asking: "Is there a sustainable way for colleges to charge by quality rather than quantity?"
A couple of his related thoughts that we thought were interesting: - What looks like a static workload over time has actually become more due to faculty "mission creep" and
- There's really a minimum limit to class size, below which quality can actually drop.
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: Labels: academic planning, faculty, productivity, quality, resource and budget planning, workload
'Credit Hours' or 'Chunks of Learning'?
 Credit hours? Chunks of learning? The Chronicle's Goldie Blumenstyk observes that the recent angst between the DOE's Inspector General and the North Central's Higher Learning Commission has given new life to the question of "credit hours." Are they outdated? A relic? Do they do more harm than good? Along the way, Blumenstyk mentions an interesting Lumina-backed effort to create a new college ecosystem ( DGREE, it has a conference going on this week), touches base with Carol A. Twigg at NCAT, and notes an internal Department of Education initiative to redefine "credit hour": Meanwhile, the Education Department may itself take that step. Last month, during negotiations with 16 representatives of colleges and associations over new rules to govern federal student aid, the department proposed its own credit-hour definition, based on the Carnegie Unit (one credit would equal one hour of class time or direct faculty instruction and two hours of out-of-class work per week for approximately 15 weeks; in cases where there was no formal class, the college, with the accord of its accreditor, could establish equivalents). It's uncertain if this proposal will be adopted. Negotiators are expected to vote on the credit-hour definition, along with other proposed rules, in late January.
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:
 Labels: academic planning, assessment, credentials, credit hours, credits, learning outcomes, quality
Measure, Measure, Measure . . . Then What?
Scott Jaschick of Inside Higher Ed recently spent some time listening to folks heavily engaged in various assessment activities. He writes here about NSSE, National Survey of Student Engagement, and here about a report from the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA). The latter study found that the top use of assessment data is, no surprise, for another form of assessment: accreditation. The NSSE folks and the NILOA folks, according to Jaschik, each would like to see more use of assessment data in order to effect change. T he Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education finds success can be had by using NSSE assessment data to effect change. The NILOA report, which can be found in its entirety here, breaks down assessment data in a number of use type categories and in a number of institutional categories.
Labels: accreditation, assessment, learning outcomes, NILOA, nsse, quality
The New Guys in Assessment Town: Companies
[T]here’s a new kind of help on the way, from outside the institution. Of course many campuses have engaged external consultants to jumpstart the assessment process; that’s not new. And neither is the use of tests and instruments designed by others. What’s new is an influx of for-profit assessment providers offering tools and services that promise, variously, to make assessment easier, faster, less intrusive, more useful, and/or more cost effective.
Some of these firms were founded in the last two or three years and are just getting started. Others have a longer, already prosperous history of work in other aspects of education (like course management) and are now moving into the assessment niche. A few have their roots in other industries—like quality assurance in health care—and have recently added student assessment to the mix. Some are run by academics or former academics and some by people with a corporate background.
Labels: academic planning, accreditation, assessment, industry, it, quality, technology
It's the Learning, Stupid: Learning Matters Most!
This is the Howard R. Bowen Lecture given by Lumina Foundation president Jamie P. Merisotis at Claremont Graduate University on October 14: Learning doesn't just matter. It matters most . . . All of these efforts, and others that I lack time to mention today, are rooted in and serve to amplify two basic truths: The first is that learning - all types of learning - can be objectively measured. And the second is that these measurements are absolutely vital in ensuring the relevance and value of a college credential. Labels: assessment, learning, learning outcomes, Lumina, quality
Sue This School? Should a College Pay When a Grad Can't Find a Job?
This author says, "Yes." We've all seen the headlines about the New York woman who is suing her alma mater for $70,000 because she could not find a job after graduating. Mark Gimein, writing in a Slate blog, examines the actual situation "on the ground: and suggests that . . . "the more you know about Thompson and the school she's suing, the more likely it is that you might start thinking that whatever her chances of winning in court, she's right. The story of Thompson's suit isn't a one-liner about a grad too naive to know that graduating from college doesn't guarantee a job. It's a story about what 'college' means and about marginal, for-profit "colleges" that squeeze four years of fees from their students and leave them with all the debt and little of the education or prospects that they counted on." Labels: accountability, cost, Monroe College, quality, suit
History of Accreditation and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education
Positioning Faculty Support as a Strategy in Assuring Quality Online Education
We think that Innovate: Journal of Online Education is quite innovative, in both its Web publishing and the interaction that you can have during live sessions with authors. In the current issue, the article most pertinent for SCUPers is probably the one titled Positining Faculty Support as a Strategy in Assuring Quality Online Education. With the rapid growth of online programs and courses at Fort Hays State University (FHSU), the university has faced the challenge of supporting faculty members as they transition to online teaching. Hong Wang, Lawrence V. Gould, and Dennis King share the comprehensive approach the university has developed, an approach that depends on effective cooperation among administrative, professional, and peer support systems. Wang, Gould, and King argue that a strong technical and organizational infrastructure, recognition and financial rewards for faculty, and an integrated approach to course design have allowed FHSU to create a collaborative course development process that provides faculty members with the support they need to design and administer high-quality online instruction. Labels: faculty, online learning, quality
Connotation, Quality, Accountability. . .
Getting Past 'Accountability'
Very interesting, fun, and even useful essays about various "syndromes" and how to get past them. For example, one syndrome is the "Sisyphus Syndrome: Institutional inquiry is paralyzed by questions framed at such a general level that answering them is overwhelming and impossible. As a result, the institution pushes and pushes but never gets to meaningful analysis and reflection." To which the answer is: "Ask manageable questions that can be answered empirically." Read about them here: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2009/06/02/behrLabels: academic planning, accountability, assessment, quality, strategic planning, syndrome
Louisiana: Tougher College Admissions Standards Boost Graduation Rates
This Times-Picayune article contains a link to a chart of graduation rates of state institutions and is somewhat focused on the State University of New Orleans' plans to increase graduation rates by having tougher entry standards, following the apparently successful process already undertaken by Louisiana State University Baton Rouge over the last decade. It briefly addresses concerns that state budget cuts will affect student support services. We also provide a link to the Louisiana State Board of Regents Planning, Research and Performance website. Times-Picayune article: http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/tougher_college_admissions_sta.htmlLouisiana State Board of Regents Planning, Research and Performance: http://regents.state.la.us/Planning/prphome.htmLabels: access, accountability, assessment, budget cuts, graduation rates, Louisiana, picayune, quality, student services
Which Colleges Actually Graduate Their Students (and Which Don't)?
A new report, titled "Diplomas and Dropouts," from the American Enterprise Institute begins: "In the fall of 2001, nearly 1.2 million freshmen began college at a four-year institution of higher education somewhere in the United States. Nearly all of them expected to earn a bachelor’s degree. As a rule, college students do not pack their belongings into the back of a minivan in early September wondering if they will get a diploma—only when. . . . For many students, however, that confidence was misplaced. At a time when college degrees are valuable—with employers paying a premium for college graduates—fewer than 60 percent of new students graduated from four-year colleges within six years." We have a link to a USA Today story about the report here: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-06-03-diploma-graduation-rate_N.htmAs well as a link to where you can download the full 80-page document: http://www.aei.org/paper/100019Labels: accountability, AEI, assessment, graduation rates, quality, USA Today
Peace in Accreditation Land
Writing in Inside Higher Ed, Doug Lederman summarizes recent happenings in "accreditation land" this way: "In stark contrast to 2007, federal negotiations over accreditation rules end in accord, overcoming dispute over student learning outcomes that might have derailed the proceeding[s]." "Those issues were on the agenda again as another panel of negotiators completed several months of work on accreditation at an Education Department office building Tuesday, but with a dramatically different result (and dramatically less drama). The college administrators, higher education lobbyists, accreditors, state officials and others around the conference table -- including Education Department staff members -- reached "consensus" on a package of 16 regulatory proposals to carry out changes Congress made in legislation to renew the Higher Education Act last summer. (When such negotiating sessions end with "consensus" among the parties on a package of regulatory changes, a federal agency is bound to propose them as is; when no consensus is reached, the agency can essentially do whatever it wants.)" Read the full article here: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/05/20/accreditLabels: 2007, accountability, accreditation, assessment, DOug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed, policy, quality
Higher Education Community Engagement and Accreditation: Activating Engagement through Innovative Accreditation Strategies
Lorilee R. Sandmann, Julie E. Williams, and Eleanor D. Abrams, studied two very different public institutions and, in Planning for Higher Education, share the benefits they see in linking accreditation with an institutional commitment to student engagement.
"Convergence is occurring between external demands placed on U.S. higher education institutions, such as those from state and federal governments for greater accountability, and calls for higher education’s recommitment to public purposes. One important example of this convergence is the redesign of accreditation processes and standards. Because of this redesign, accreditation—traditionally an academic and administrative activity—now has the potential to elevate and advance an institution’s commitment to greater community engagement, a more contemporary, innovative institutional priority. "
Link to Planning for Higher Education: http://ams.scup.org/i4a/ams/amsstore/category.cfm?product_id=8601Labels: assessment, engagement, in Planning for Higher Education. accreditation, quality
Towards a European Higher Education Area
This post quotes a message received by SCUP. We attended this event and it was very comprehensive and enlightening. We hope you will enjoy it via iTunes. The iTunes album is well organized.
The European Union Center of Excellence at the University of Michigan announces new content on iTunesU at U-M: Album "Towards a European Higher Education Area.” The international workshop "Towards a European Higher Education Area: Bologna Process and Beyond," took place in March 2009 at the University of Michigan's School of Education and explored how the Bologna Process relates to broader processes of globalization, internationalization, and diversification. Conveners were Janet Lawrence and Michael Bastedo, University of Michigan. Panelists included: Patrick Clancy, University College, Dublin; Anne Corbett, London School of Economics; Judith Eaton, Council for Higher Education Accreditation; Heather Eggins, Staffordshire University; Ase Gornitzka, University of Oslo; D. Bruce Johnstone, State University of New York at Buffalo; Barbara Kehm, University of Kassel; Marek Kwiek, Poznan University; Peter Maassen, University of Oslo; Christopher Morphew, University of Georgia; Christine Musselin, Sciences Po; and Bjorn Stensaker, Norwegian Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education. Links: Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education http://www.soe.umich.edu/cshpe/ Center for European Studies-European Union Center http://www.ii.umich.edu/ces-euc or http://www.ii.umich.edu/ces-euc/academics/projects/bologna Album "Towards a European Higher Education Area” http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/umich-public.2086929890
Labels: assessment, Bologna, Europe, quality
Accountability Measures
Subtitled, " States rely on new "data systems" to track institutional success and student outcomes," this author concludes that it does not require "new ways of doing things" for states to do a better job of collecting data about institutional performance—models that work exist right now, they're just not widely distributed. More institutions are using what some call information analytics: What state accountability systems don't tend to do is the one and only thing that accountability systems are ultimately for: improve colleges and universities on behalf of students and the public at large. This we know because affordability is declining, graduation rates are stagnant, and the few indicators of college student learning we can find, such as the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, are so terrifying (most college graduates aren't proficient on a test of prose literacy) that we all but pretend they don't exist.
Fortunately, there are reasons to be optimistic. While most states are not gathering useful information about teaching and learning in higher education, some are. While most states do not use the information they gather to create real incentives for institutional change, some do. If every state did nothing but adopt the best practices that already exist elsewhere, higher education accountability in America would be greatly improved. This possibility is further enhanced by the single biggest difference between 1986 and the present: the explosion in availability of inexpensive, timely and reliable information. Labels: assessment, data, information analytics, quality
Towards a European Higher Education Area
This post quotes a message received by SCUP. We attended this event and it was very comprehensive and enlightening. We hope you will enjoy it via iTunes. The iTunes album is well organized.
The European Union Center of Excellence at the University of Michigan announces new content on iTunesU at U-M: Album "Towards a European Higher Education Area.” The international workshop "Towards a European Higher Education Area: Bologna Process and Beyond," took place in March 2009 at the University of Michigan's School of Education and explored how the Bologna Process relates to broader processes of globalization, internationalization, and diversification. Conveners were Janet Lawrence and Michael Bastedo, University of Michigan. Panelists included: Patrick Clancy, University College, Dublin; Anne Corbett, London School of Economics; Judith Eaton, Council for Higher Education Accreditation; Heather Eggins, Staffordshire University; Ase Gornitzka, University of Oslo; D. Bruce Johnstone, State University of New York at Buffalo; Barbara Kehm, University of Kassel; Marek Kwiek, Poznan University; Peter Maassen, University of Oslo; Christopher Morphew, University of Georgia; Christine Musselin, Sciences Po; and Bjorn Stensaker, Norwegian Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education. Links: Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education http://www.soe.umich.edu/cshpe/ Center for European Studies-European Union Center http://www.ii.umich.edu/ces-euc or http://www.ii.umich.edu/ces-euc/academics/projects/bologna Album "Towards a European Higher Education Area” http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/umich-public.2086929890
Labels: assessment, Bologna, Europe, quality
Accreditation: "Would You Still Need Me, Would You Still Feed Me, Without Title IV?"
Related, A concurrent session at SCUP–44, July 18–22: Promoting Institutional Progress: Integrating Priorities and Processes Through Strategic Planning
This is a top-notch story by Doug Lederman reporting from the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges annual conference: Sylvia Manning has heard all the complaints about accreditation before -- heck, she thought a lot of them herself during her nearly 40 years as a college administrator. Colleges find the process to be a mere obligation because it focuses on minimum standards and too often produces little of value to help the institutions improve. Critics who want more higher education accountability question whether accreditation is rigorous and transparent enough. Potential educational innovators say the process is inflexible and discourages creative approaches.
The critiques flow largely from the fact that higher education accreditation seeks to do two totally different things: ensure a minimum level of quality (with the accreditors in effect playing a compliance role on behalf of the federal government) and encourage individual colleges to improve themselves.
***
Manning, who nine months ago became president of the country's largest regional accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, almost immediately appointed a committee to rethink the commission's approval process with those and other critiques in mind. This week, at the commission's annual meeting here, she unveiled a proposal to overhaul the accrediting agency's process for renewing its approval for already accredited colleges. Labels: accreditation, assessment, Higher Learning Commission, North Central Association, quality
Is Europe Now Doing a Better Job of Assessment?
The Bologna Process for U.S. Eyes: Re-learning Higher Education in the Age of Convergence (PDF) is a new report by Clifford Adelman for the Institute for Higher Education Policy. The associated press release has some nice summary statements and choice quotations from the 258-page report itself, which is available online for free download. While the United States remains concerned about its standing in terms of participation in global higher education and completion of degrees, 46 countries in Europe have been working for a decade on a completely different set of issues: bringing their higher education systems closer together in terms of standards for degrees, credit systems, more flexible pathways into and through higher education (hence, access), and accountability criteria. They call their undertaking “The Bologna Process,” and it is still a work in progress.
The Institute for Higher Education Policy’s (IHEP) new study, The Bologna Process for U.S. Eyes: Re-learning Higher Education in the Age of Convergence, contends the nation has misplaced its focus with pointing out that the countries involved in the Bologna Process are producing more and better degrees whose reference points in student learning outcomes is transparent—something that cannot be said for American awarded degrees. Countries outside of Europe have already recognized the profound revolution rolling from Cork to Vladivostok with parts of the Bologna Process having been imitated in Latin America, North Africa, and Australia, resulting in a global shift in higher education leadership.
For a long time, U.S. higher education did not pay much attention to the Bologna Process, but since IHEP published a long essay in May 2008, titled The Bologna Club: What U.S. Higher Education Can Learn from a Decade of European Reconstruction, the U.S. higher education has started listening seriously. Our nation is now starting to act, most notably, on learning outcomes in the context of the disciplines.
In fact, three state higher education systems—Indiana, Minnesota, and Utah—have begun their work examining and testing the Bologna “Tuning” process in six disciplines to determine the forms and extent of its potential in the United States contexts. Scarcely a year ago, such an effort, called “Tuning USA,” would have been unthinkable. Labels: accreditation, assessment, Bologna, Europe, quality
From TQM to Blue Ocean Strategy and Beyond: Employee Development as a Contributor to Organizational Growth and Effectiveness
 May 1— Can Faculty Development and Curricular Innovation Help You With Your Budget Crisis?, featuring Nicholas Santilli and Lauren L. Bowen, both of John Carroll University. They are presenting a concurrent session at SCUP–44. Santilli is also a SCUP Institute faculty member. Discussants will include former SCUP presidents Michael F. Middaugh, Laura Saunders, and Planning for Higher Education executive editor Tom Longin. Learn more or register now.
Rio Salado College is considered by many to be an innovative leader. Here's how it uses staff development as a TQM tool: Staff development programs have allowed Rio to introduce strategic initiatives through training to define the college’s expectations for employees and to support and advance such concepts. TQM, customer service, collegewide meetings, and The Rio Way are staff development programs used by Rio Salado between 1991 and 2006, and they provide an opportunity for the college’s leadership to create the college’s culture through learning opportunities for its employees. Rio Salado continues to use collegewide meetings, specifically, as a primary component of staff development. Each year at one of these annual meetings, the college president recognizes employees for years of service, celebrates educational programs and their successes, and communicates current strategic initiatives with all the employee participants.
Rio tends to evolve and incorporate business practices through staff development offerings. It is common for the college to use aspects of different business models that can be applied to workplace practices. Laura Helminski, chair of the communications department, explains, “It [the full scope of business models] becomes too rigid for us if we do every piece of a concept. We have found that some of the mechanical and statistical aspects slow us down, so we focus on the softer, people-oriented aspects.” She further states, “It’s not a pure approach, but we think it’s working. People tell us they believe we’re on to something! It feels right for us.”
Labels: community college, quality, Rio Salado, staff development, TQM
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