Chronicle: Does Assessment Make College Better?

Article: Does Assessment Make Colleges Better?  Let Me Count the Ways
Author: Joan Hawthorne
Publication: Chronicle of Higher Education
Date: August 19, 2015

In this commentary column, Hawthorne uncovers the ways in which she views Outcomes-Based Assessment has been beneficial to the state of higher education.  In particular, she views some of the greatest benefits to include an emphasis on being transparent and explicit in what faculty members want students to learn, and a shifted focus to student "doing" rather than simply student "knowing."  Additionally, she sees the discussions that resulted among departments around the most authentic ways to measure students' ability to "do" as leading to advancements in both assessment and curriculum development.  In summary, she says:

Regardless of the scale of a fix, assessment is effective for promoting greater thoughtfulness and purpose in teaching — and for focusing our attention on learning. That matters. On that basis alone, assessment works.

Read the original column for more of Hawthorne's views of the importance of assessment in higher education.