T. Dary Erwin

Assessing student learning and development : a guide to the principles, goals, and methods of determining college outcomes

The emergence and purposes of outcome assessment building an effective assessment program establishing objectives for outcome assessment selecting assessment methods designing new methods to fit institutional needs collecting and maintaining information analyzing information and drawing conclusions reporting and using assessment information the promise of assessment for improving educational quality.

A Transatlantic View of Assessment and Quality in Higher Education.

Abstract Drawing on practice in the US and in the UK, the authors argue that the ways in which student learning is assessed constitute a sensitive set of indicators of the quality of the undergraduate experience. Indifferent assessment arrangements can poison otherwise well‐conceived curricula. Distinguishing between the formative and the summative functions of assessment, they identify characteristics of assessment arrangements that support good quality learning, while observing that common practice in the US and in the UK falls short of these ideals. However, socio‐political developments in western democracies make it risky for universities to continue to give tacit support for this state of affairs. A set of characteristics of assessment systems that support quality in higher education is proposed.

Revising the Scale of Intellectual Development: Application of an Unfolding Model

An unfolding model was selected for the scores on the Scale of Intellectual Development to take into account that, for stage-based instruments, agreement with a statement first increases as the student approaches the stage represented by the statement, then decreases as the student progresses beyond that stage.

Measuring the medical school educational environment: Validating an approach from Saudi Arabia

Objective: This study is an empirical analysis of the female students’ attitudes toward the medical educational environment and climate in the College of Medicine at King Khalid University. Setting: The Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM) questionnaire was administered on the same day to 100 female students studying in the third (pre-clinical), fifth and sixth (final) year at the College of Medicine, King Khalid University. Although the sample size was limited in size, it was deemed acceptable for research purposes. Method: The study is conducted using the DREEM questionnaire. This study is different from other studies regarding testing hypothesis and advanced statistical analysis. A set of hypotheses were placed and examined using statistical techniques. Results: In general, we find that the total mean score was 112.95 out of a 200 maximum, the ideal educational environment as measured by this scale. All the hypotheses set were rejected and there was no difference in the results according to year of study such as the difference found in some previous studies. It was found that there are no statistically significant differences in the mean scores according to the year of study. Conclusion: This study follows a long literature of studies in different universities around the world using the DREEM scale. The limitations of previous studies were considered carefully and were used to provide a framework for this work. These results spotlight the need to improve the medical educational environment in Saudi universities in general. This study has highlighted some areas where further research and analysis is recommended.

Esthetic development: a model for the undergraduate experience

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to refine and measure esthetic development. Design/methodology/approach – Three phrases of data collection were conducted utilizing four separate student samples (n = 120, 154, 241, and 343). In Phase I, an initial esthetic development stage model was tested with a constructed response test format using generalizability measurement theory. In Phase II, this conceptual model in esthetic development was refined with a modified constructed response format. In Phase III, a selective response test format was designed with five esthetic development stage scores, which were correlated with several artistic discipline-based and interdisciplinary courses. Findings – Higher esthetic development stages correlate with verbal ability and grades in interdisciplinary general education arts courses. Lower esthetic development stages were associated with lower verbal ability and grades in traditionally taught discipline-based arts courses. Research limitations/implications – What thi...

The Evolution of Assessment Policy: A View from Virginia

the Commission’s report was released, for instance, the National Association of State Land Grant Colleges and Universities (NASULGC, now known as APLU, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities) and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) reacted to the idea that institutions should provide clear and comparable information about, among other things, the learning that was occurring on their campuses by developing the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA). Its College Portrait is a standardized way for colleges and universities to report on, among other things, whether their learning outcomes are as expected or better or worse than expected, given the academic preparation of their incoming students. Other national initiatives include the work of the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ VALUE project, in which institutions are trying to determine the best ways to assess the core intellectual skills that the AAC&U has identified as integral to a collegiate education, and the New Leadership Alliance for Student Learning and Accountability, in which a group of higher education association heads and other higher education leaders have pledged to “to improve student learning through voluntary and cooperative professional efforts to significantly improve assessment of, and accountability for, student learning.” Meanwhile, the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) is collecting information on assessment acA virtual tsunami of accountability policy proposals –from national taskforces, higher education organizations, the federal government, and others—has washed over higher education in recent years. Almost forgotten in this profusion of proposals is the role of the states, which have a large investment in student learning, and—in some cases—a long history of work in ensuring institutional accountability for that learning. This article takes up the case of Virginia, one of the first state entrants into the arena of assessment mandates. It first describes the evolution of the mandate over a period of 22 years; it then presents the thinking of two coordinating board members who led a recent revision in Virginia’s state-wide assessment mandate as one example of how concerned and influential citizens view the issue currently. Lessons drawn from the history and current status of assessment in Virginia may well be both of inherent interest and practically useful to other states and multi-campus systems considering new policy directions related to this aspect of the accountability agenda. As most readers know, the US Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education (2006) elevated the concern about collegiate outcomes to the federal level. Secretary Spellings acted on the Commission’s recommendations by prodding accrediting groups to insist more vigorously that colleges and universities monitor and improve the quality of student learning on their campuses. T. Dary Erwin is a professor of leadership studies and psychology at James Madison University. Joseph DeFilippo is the director of academic affairs for the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Previously he led the SUNY Office of Academic Programs and has taught classics at Grinnell, Pomona, Ohio State, Cornell, and the University of North Dakota. By T. Dary Erwin and Joseph G. DeFilippo