Improving the Assessment of Student Learning: Advancing a Research Agenda in Sociology

Goals, Expectations, and Satisfaction of Criminal Justice Majors: Implications for Faculty, Students, and Programs*

“…As part of the assessment process, graduating seniors were given an anonymous four-page survey instrument during a massadministered session on a Saturday morning. 2 The use of the survey technique has been specifically recommended by a number of assessment researchers (see, for example, Pike 1993; Weiss et al 2002). This instrument covered a variety of topics, including questions on reasons for choice of major, satisfaction issues, and future career plans.…”

“…Interest in the assessment of student learning has come in part from external constituencies (the public and politicians), who are concerned about "value for money" and expect colleges and universities to turn out "products" that have something to show for their years of education. Although there seems to be some disagreement over the exact meaning of assessment (see Johnson 1997), writers seem to agree that assessment of higher education institutions and programs is important for determining program quality, addressing whether goals and objectives are being met, identifying areas for improvement, and justifying resources (see, for example, Johnson 1997;Krehbiel et al 1998;Myers 1994;Weiss et al 2002). Several authors have also noted that assessing educational outcomes gives faculty and students more information about themselves and each other, which may lead to clearer faculty expectations for students and better programs for students (Johnson 1997;Veneziano and Brown 1994).…”

“…Perhaps faculty are not persuaded by any of the foregoing arguments concerning the advantages of assessment. One study, cited in Weiss et al (2002), noted that while 60% of administrators rated assessment as extremely important, this group estimated that the majority of faculty (70%) considered assessment to be either only somewhat important or not important at all (Weiss et al 2002:66).…”

SOTL, SHE, and the Evidence of an Incomplete Paradigm Shift. A Response to “The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning—Done by Sociologists: Let's Make That the Sociology of Higher Education”

“…Certainly this field of research emerged during roughly the same time period as the growth of assessment in higher education. In addition, clearly the insights from research on teaching and learning should be applied to the study of assessment and the assessment movement (Weiss et al 2002). Nonetheless, I would argue that the two are distinct.…”

Greedy Institutions: The Importance of Institutional Context for Teaching in Higher Education

“…Related institutional features or trends beyond the scope of this article include increases in developmental education and academic support services for students, general education and other curriculum reform, increased emphasis on diversity and multiculturalism, demographic changes in students, and renewed interest in service learning opportunities (Calhoun 1999;DeZure 2000). Additional institutional features that have been addressed comprehensively in Teaching Sociology include the impact of technological advances on instruction (Benson et al 2002), assessment of student learning (Weiss et al 2002), and faculty evaluation (Lucal et al 2003).…”