Anthology Blog

Student affairs practitioners can feel as if they’re on a constant crusade to justify the impact of their programs, services, and interactions. Collecting and analyzing data and sharing the findings – and any efforts to make improvements and change – goes a long way toward building credibility for programs and services. To do that consistently and effectively, student affairs practitioners and leaders must strive for a culture of evidence.

In today’s higher education environment, faculty regularly find themselves being pulled in more directions than ever. No longer debating whether they should be a sage on the stage or a guide by their students’ side, faculty now...

Is your course evaluation data being used to develop or to evaluate your faculty? That was the key question in my recent conversation with Ken Ryalls, PhD, President of IDEA.

In Give and Take: Finding the Value in Classroom Feedback, I made a case for the value of formative assessment data in the development of teaching and learning.

Picture yourself as an undergraduate student. Alright, maybe that was another time and place. But try to remember what it felt like to be a learner in a college environment, and give yourself the full sensory experience.

As students return to campus and settle in for the new semester, administrators must face the daunting task of unpacking a complex and all-important problem: retention. The stakes are high in those first few weeks, as the excitement subsides and the reality of college life sets in. Given this scenario, it’s easy to see the benefits of implementing an early alert system.

What if in order to receive your driver’s license, all you needed to do was pass a written test? The road would be a very dangerous place. Personally, I feel much better knowing that the driver in the next lane went through multiple measures (a written test, driver education course, required minimum hours of driving experience, and final road test) to assess driving skills before receiving a permanent driver’s license. This is also the case in higher education. One assessment generates evidence, which in turn can be used to make decisions about student learning and development, as well as improve program quality and effectiveness. However, the use of multiple measures encourages more comprehensive and accurate assessment. This benefits not only the students who are learning but also the instructors who are doing the teaching.

Friday is trash day at my house. Every Thursday evening, I break down the recycling, fill the cans, and roll them down to the end of my driveway. It’s easy because someone gave me the cans, put wheels on them, and promised to stop by every Friday morning and take it all away.