Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/59976
Learned? I How MuchHaveWe Learning outcomes assessment has the potential to revamp entire curricula—but only if it's embraced across campuses and not forced to conform to a standardized testing mandate. In the 20 years I've been involved in learning outcomes assess- ment, I've seen institutions of higher education make great strides in measuring student learning. As far back as ten years ago, more than 95 percent of surveyed administrators said they had imple- mented assessment practices or were planning to do so soon. Clearly, even more faculty today understand what assessment is and how it can benefit both their students and themselves. However, we still have a long way to go. Because there is no single definition of assessment, it often can mean something different from one campus to the next. At one university, every department might be assessing stu- dent learning; at another, perhaps only one unit out of 15 is doing so. While the numbers of colleges engaged in assessment are rising, we don't have good figures to show us how many educators are truly engaged in measuring student learning. Although that's an important concern, I am even more focused by Trudy W. Banta illustration by Marlena Zuber on two other issues related to how assessment is being handled today. One is ongoing—the fact that many faculty members still resist student assessment because they don't understand its value or simply don't know how to devise effective tests. And one is rel- atively new and rather alarming—the push by some policy makers to require that faculty use standardized tests to assess student learning. The former threatens to undermine learning assessment before it has the chance to take root in many business schools, and the latter threatens to unravel the efforts of schools that already have successful assessment models in place. BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005 35