Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/56065
ing activities because the benefits are abstract, while the costs are concrete. Furthermore, the benefits—better learning— accrue to the students, while the costs—additional work— accrue to the faculty. Third, and this is paramount, they think these programs impinge on their academic freedom. They are adamant about maintaining complete authority to design and deliver their courses as they see fit. But it is possible for schools to design assurance of learn- ing programs that overcome these obstacles to faculty partic- ipation. At Bryant University's College of Business, we have adopted strategies that have resulted in more than half of our faculty participating in the assurance of learning process. Other areas of the university have also benefited, as many of our assessment practices have spilled over into the College of Arts & Sciences. We believe there are five key factors in making faculty enthu- siastic about assessment: a supportive administration, a faculty champion, an evolving development process, a well-defined structure, and an emphasis on excellent communication. In our case, two other factors helped us enlist faculty support when we needed it most: an impending AACSB Maintenance of Accreditation visit, and a growing program that appealed to new faculty, who might have been more receptive to assurance of learning than more entrenched professors. But while these last two components provided an extra push, we believe that the real keys to our success are the first five factors—and that any other school can employ them as well. One: Top-Level Support For any program to succeed, the most senior-level members of the administration must be behind it. At Bryant, our most ardent supporter of faculty-led assurance of learning proved to be Jack Trifts, who became dean of the College of Business in 2005. Trifts immediately convened an Assess- ment Committee composed of one representative from each college department. He also served as an active participant on the committee. In three ways, he signaled to faculty across the college that assurance of learning was critical. First, by serving on the assessment committee himself, he showed how impor- tant he thought it was, and he encouraged other faculty members to move quickly on assessment efforts. He also modeled behavior and provided insights about assessment practices, since he had served on AACSB reaccreditation teams for a number of schools. Second, he made sure assessment was an agenda topic at all collegewide faculty meetings, which were held three or four times a year. At those meetings, even faculty who weren't yet actively involved in assurance of learning were kept informed of the progress made by members of the Assessment Committee. Finally, Trifts gave other members of the committee financial and strategic support. He made sure they were sent to AACSB assessment conferences, and he gave them cop- ies of Assessment of Student Learning in Business Schools: Best Practices Each Step of the Way, edited by Kathryn Martell and Thomas Calderon. Two: A Faculty Champion A school that wants a faculty-led assurance of learning process must have an outspoken proponent who is knowledgeable about the subject and will speak about it enthusiastically to anyone, anywhere, anytime. This assessment cheerleader should be a full-time faculty member with teaching, research, and service responsibilities who has credibility with the rest of the faculty and is respected by colleagues. He or she also should be an outgoing person who proactively connects with other faculty and actively shares information. Ideally, the champion can share positive outcomes from other assessment experiences to show that, indeed, assessment is a good thing! At Bryant, I serve as our faculty champion. Although I was new to the college in 2005, I had assessment experience at my previous school, Northern Illinois University, and I staunchly believe the assessment process has benefits for both students and faculty. I first served as our department's repre- sentative to the Assessment Committee, and I became chair of the committee in 2006. As faculty champion, I always listen to alternate opinions and suggestions, but I will not let problems or criticisms get in the way of progress. In fact, that attitude—that determina- tion to move forward constantly despite setbacks—is essen- tial for anyone involved in the assessment process. Three: Continuous Development School administrators shouldn't wait to craft the perfect assessment plan before they start implementing it, or they will surely fail. They need to design an initial plan and then jump right in, making incremental improvements as they go along. At Bryant, our goal was to develop and implement our assurance of learning process quickly, recognizing that it wouldn't be perfect but that we could improve upon it over time. We started out by identifying learning goals and objec- tives for the primary undergraduate program, the BSBA. We presented a draft of the learning goals to the faculty in spring 2006, and we were already planning how to assess them while BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2010 25