In the past decade or so, the assessment movement has taken American higher education by storm. Legislative initiatives in many states have required public colleges and universities to implement programs that document institutional effectiveness and student development. Accrediting agencies have applied similar expectations to both public and private institutions. Despite its burgeoning popularity, the assessment movement has focused largely on undergraduate education, leaving institutional researchers, administrators, and faculty with scant information on methods for conducting assessments of graduate and professional education and a dearth of the results of such assessments. This volume of New Directions for Institutional Research is a step toward remedying the lack of attention given to the assessment of advanced-degree programs. It should be of value not only to professionals who are directly involved with such programs but also to inividuals who set policies that affect them. Many of the methodological issues and principles that the authors discuss will also be of value to professionals who work with assessment at the undergraduate level, as will the discussion of demand for advanced degrees. This is the 92nd issue of the quarterly journalNew Directions for Institutional Research.

While there is consensus that institutions need to represent their educational effectiveness through documentation of student learning, the higher education community is divided between those who support national standardized tests to compare institutions’ educational effectiveness, and those who believe that valid assessment of student achievement is based on assessing the work that students produce along and at the end of their educational journeys. This book espouses the latter philosophy—what Peggy Maki sees as an integrated and authentic approach to providing evidence of student learning based on the work that students produce along the chronology of their learning. She believes that assessment needs to be humanized, as opposed to standardized, to take into account the demographics of institutions, as students do not all start at the same place in their learning. Students also need the tools to assess their own progress. In addition to updating and expanding the contents of her first edition to reflect changes in assessment practices and developments over the last seven years, such as the development of technology-enabled assessment methods and the national need for institutions to demonstrate that they are using results to improve student learning, Maki focuses on ways to deepen program and institution-level assessment within the context of collective inquiry about student learning. Recognizing that assessment is not initially a linear start-up process or even necessarily sequential, and recognizing that institutions develop processes appropriate for their mission and culture, this book does not take a prescriptive or formulaic approach to building this commitment. What it does present is a framework, with examples of processes and strategies, to assist faculty, staff, administrators, and campus leaders to develop a sustainable and shared core institutional process that deepens inquiry into what and how students learn to identify and improve patterns of weakness that inhibit learning. This book is designed to assist colleges and universities build a sustainable commitment to assessing student learning at both the institution and program levels. It provides the tools for collective inquiry among faculty, staff, administrators and students to develop evidence of students’ abilities to integrate, apply and transfer learning, as well as to construct their own meaning. Each chapter also concludes with (1) an Additional Resources section that includes references to meta-sites with further resources, so users can pursue particular issues in greater depth and detail and (2) worksheets, guides, and exercises designed to build collaborative ownership of assessment.The second edition now covers: * Strategies to connect students to an institution’s or a program’s assessment commitment* Description of the components of a comprehensive institutional commitment that engages the institution, educators, and students--all as learners* Expanded coverage of direct and indirect assessment methods, including technology-enabled methods that engage students in the process* New case studies and campus examples covering undergraduate, graduate education, and the co-curriculum* New chapter with case studies that presents a framework for a backward designed problem-based assessment process, anchored in answering open-ended research or study questions that lead to improving pedagogy and educational practices* Integration of developments across professional, scholarly, and accrediting bodies, and disciplinary organizations* Descriptions and illustrations of assessment management systems* Additional examples, exercises, guides and worksheets that align with new content

This is the 145th issue in the New Directions for Evaluation series from Jossey-Bass. It is an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.

This book is written for engineering faculty and department chairs as a practical guide to improving the assessment processes for undergraduate and graduate engineering education in the service of improved student learning. It is written by engineering faculty and assessment professionals who have many years of experience in assessment of engineering education and of working with engineering faculty. The book reflects the emphasis placed on student outcomes assessment by ABET, Inc., the organization that accredits most U.S. engineering, computer science and technology programs, as well as providing substantial equivalency evaluations to international engineering programs. The book begins with a brief overview of assessment theory and introduces readers to key assessment resources. It illustrates–through practical examples that reflect a wide range of engineering disciplines and practices at both large and small institutions, and along the continuum of students’ experience, from first year to capstone engineering courses through to the dissertation–how to go about applying formative and summative assessment practices to improve student learning at the course and program levels. For most institutions, assessment of graduate education is new; therefore, there are readers who will be particularly interested in the chapters and examples related to graduate education. This book concludes with a vision for the future of assessment for engineering education. The authors cover five basic themes:· Use of assessment to improve student learning and educational programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels· Understanding and applying ABET criteria to accomplish differing program and institutional missions· Illustration of evaluation/assessment activities that can assist faculty in improving undergraduate and graduate courses and programs· Description of tools and methods that have been demonstrated to improve the quality of degree programs and maintain accreditation· Identification of methods for overcoming institutional barriers and challenges to implementing assessment initiatives.

This book explores how belonging differs based on students’ social identities, such as race, gender, sexual orientation, or the conditions they encounter on campus. Belonging—with peers, in the classroom, or on campus—is a critical dimension of success at college. It can affect a student’s degree of academic adjustment, achievement, aspirations, or even whether a student stays in school. The 2nd Edition of College Students’ Sense of Belonging explores student sub-populations and campus environments, offering readers updated information about sense of belonging, how it develops for students, and a conceptual model for helping students belong and thrive. Underpinned by theory and research and offering practical guidelines for improving educational environments and policies, this book is an important resource for higher education and student affairs professionals, scholars, and graduate students interested in students’ success. New to this second edition: A refined theory of college students’ sense of belonging and review of current literature in light of new and emerging theories; Expanded best practices related to fostering sense of belonging in classrooms, clubs, residence halls, and other contexts; Updated research and insights for new student populations such as youth formerly in foster care, formerly incarcerated adults, and homeless students; Coverage on a broad range of topics since the first edition of this book, including cultural navigation, academic spotting, and the "shared faith" element of belonging.

The purpose of Career Development in Higher Education is to provide a broad and in-depth look at the field of career development as it applies to individuals involved in higher education activities, in a variety of educational and vocational training settings. The book will examine some of the field’s major themes, approaches and assumptions using the writings of a variety of regional and international experts/authors. Specific emphasis is spent examining issues reflective of today’s challenges in developing and maintaining a workforce that is diverse, flexible and efficient. Readers will be provided with an action based framework built on the best available research information.

Published annually since 1985, the Handbook series provides a compendium of thorough and integrative literature reviews on a diverse array of topics of interest to the higher education scholarly and policy communities. Each chapter provides a comprehensive review of research findings on a selected topic, critiques the research literature in terms of its conceptual and methodological rigor, and sets forth an agenda for future research intended to advance knowledge on the chosen topic. The Handbook focuses on twelve general areas that encompass the salient dimensions of scholarly and policy inquiries undertaken in the international higher education community. Each annual volume contains manuscripts on such diverse topics as research on college students and faculty, governance and planning, advances in research methodology, economics and finance, and curriculum and instruction. The series is fortunate to have attracted annual contributions from distinguished scholars throughout the world. It encompasses: Comprehensive reviews of contemporary and emerging issues in postsecondary education - Hundreds of citations in a wide range of scholarly journals, including all leading journals of higher education and many other social science and professional journals - An indispensable resource for administrators, researchers and policymakers - Published annually since 1985.

Writing is the principal means by which doctoral candidature is monitored and measured; this, combined with the growing tendency to use publications as proxy measures of individual and institutional productivity, underlines the centrality of writing in academia. One of the central questions for scholars in higher education, therefore, is ‘How do we make writing happen?’, and it is this question which the book seeks to answer. The book provides detailed illustrations of collaborative writing pedagogies which are powerfully enabling, and through theoretical and conceptual interrogation of these practices, the authors point the way for individuals as well as institutions to establish writing groups that are lively, responsive and context-specific. Key topics include: new pedagogical responses for increased writing productivity and the ‘push to publish’; innovations for supporting academic writing quality, confidence and output; scaffolding the thesis writing process; new theoretical explorations of collaborative writing approaches; writing group formulations and pedagogical approaches; writing groups for non-native speakers of English; writing as women in higher education. A particular strength of this book is that it showcases the potential of writing groups for advanced academic writing by pulling together a unique mix of authors and scholarly approaches, representing a wide range of new theoretical and pedagogical frames from diverse countries. Writing Groups for Doctoral Education and Beyond will be attractive to academics seeking new ways to advance their writing productivity, doctoral students, their supervisors and those who are tasked with the job of supporting them through the completion and dissemination of their research.

Combining the latest thinking about mixed methods research designs with practical, step-by-step guidance, the Third Edition includes coverage of two new mixed methods designs – transformative and multiphase – as well as the newest thinking about the use of software in the process of mixed methods analysis.