Program-level assessment is a holistic approach for arranging assessments throughout a degree program that supports sequential development of discipline knowledge, transferable skills and career readiness. Currently, the modular arrangement of courses means that student learning is partial, limited to passing the assessment and compartmentalized…

Assessment has become increasingly integral to college and university accreditation. While formal assessment has become more of a responsibility for instructors as related to their individual classes and assignments, program assessment is also at the center of these conversations. However, few guidelines and resources are being shared with regard…

Purpose: Professional program assessment is necessary in an accreditation process, in order to ensure educational quality and public accountability. One avenue of assessment is through an internship. The challenge is to determine how evidence from this indirect learning experience can aid in accreditation. The purpose of this paper is to describe…

Learning outcomes within the context of assessing general education competencies have gained increasing attention within higher education. Accrediting bodies have increased standards for the assessment of general education competencies, employers continue to indicate graduates from higher education institutions are not prepared for success in the…

Among faculty, assessment is frequently discussed as an added burden that does little to improve student learning, existing to appease administrators and accreditors. In fact, at one of the author's institutions, a faculty listserv post argued that assessment was a corporate and political move to standardize all education and destroy faculty…

This issue of "Assessment Update" presents the following articles: (1) Lessons Learned: Graduate Student Assessment (Michael Cherry and Lesley Page); (2) Assessing the Assessor: A Response to Fulcher and Bashkov's "Do We Practice What We Preach? The Accountability of an Assessment Office" (Christine Robinson, John G. M.…

This literature review has been undertaken for the Higher Education Academy (HEA). It explores recent scholarly contributions in the area of assessment and feedback in higher education (HE). As outlined in the HEA's terms of reference for this work, the contents of this review are designed to "help practitioners, policy makers and researchers…

In the education system of Serbia significant results have been achieved in the last ten years regarding the establishment and development of the evaluation system in education and the practical application of various types and procedures of evaluation. This paper gives a short overview of ways in which evaluation is carried out on elementary,…

"iMOOC101: Mastering American e-Learning" is a Coursera-based, free, massive online course aimed at preparing non-U.S. students to succeed in regular, for-credit, online classes in American universities. The course is also intended to help foreign-born professionals integrate into virtual work environments in U.S.-based companies. The…

The present article examines how different institutions that offer psychology study cycles across Europe have adopted quality principles and have taken up particular quality assurance initiatives to raise standards and enhance quality. Thirty-eight different institutions from 32 countries who were members of a European psychology network responded…

This article briefly outlines the history of living-learning communities (LLC) in colleges and universities. It details conceptualization, design, implementation and assessment of such programs. Model recreation and leisure LLC are highlighted and discussed.

Assessment practices and requirements are very broad and vary widely among academic programs and from one institution to the other. Consequently, we noticed, in the recent years, increased volumes of research and interest geared into the assessment process and procedures in various disciplines in higher education. In this paper, we present and…

Accreditation criteria of programs require effective learning outcomes, assessment with documented procedures, tools, results, and actions to close the assessment loop with broad faculty involvement. This article describes a methodology for providing quantitative measurement of a course's learning outcomes. The methodology uses a linkage matrix…

While collaborative learning and collaborative writing can be of great value to student learning, the implementation of a technology-supported collaborative learning environment is a challenge. With their built-in features for supporting collaborative writing and social communication, wikis are a promising platform for collaborative learning;…

This qualitative study explored the conditions that support assessment practice and the impact of the accreditation process on assessment practice in student affairs divisions at three small colleges and universities in the southeastern U.S. Findings indicate that the role of the senior student affairs officer directly impacts staff perceptions of…