Lessons Learned from the 2002 AAHE Assessment Conference

In June 2002, a team of Towson faculty and staff attended the American Association of Higher Education's 2002 Assessment Conference in Boston. The insights they gained from the conference include the following (in no particular order):

	The best assessment practices are faculty-driven and well supported by the institution. To engage faculty, don't tell them exactly what to do; instead, simply ask them what's working. Don't impose a strict assessment plan on them; encourage faculty to brainstorm and contribute ideas; recognize faculty who have undertaken solid assessment efforts with something like a wine-and-cheese reception; encourage faculty to "start small
	Faculty need plenty of professional development opportunities to learn how to assess.
	Assessment can be viewed as an example of fractals: microcosms of the teaching/learning experience that need to be linked to develop full understanding.
	"Assessment" is a term that troubles some faculty. To encourage assessment, talk not about assessment per se, but about teaching, our values, and what we want students to learn.
	Faculty and students both need explicit information on the major learning goals for courses and programs. Establishing learning goals for a program and for its required courses should be a communal process, with all program faculty involved. While individual sections of key courses should share common learning goals, the academic freedom of faculty to decide how ot teach those goals and what else to address in their sections must be honored.
	We all need a fuller picture regarding what's happening with assessment at our institution. Course, program, and institutional assessment efforts should be coordinated. Assessment efforts in student life programs should be shared with those assessing academic programs and vice versa.
	Towson faculty and staff need more information on our alumni (what they're doing and how they feel about their education here) and why dropouts leave.
	The development of a sense of ethics in students can be encouraged by asking students to "live the examined life": behave ethically and talk to others about ethical behavior.
	Collaborative assignments can be a powerful learning tool. To help ensure the effectiveness of these ventures, have students assess each others' contributions.
	Informal student feedback on their learning experiences, using tools such as Angelo & Cross's Classroom Assessment Techniques (1993, Jossey-Bass), can be used to improve teaching and learning.
	Self-reflection, while a powerful assessment tool, can be very difficult for some international students to engage in.

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Page maintained and updated by: Robert Wingfield
Last updated: 1.28.05

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