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Thriving in Academe
Faculty-Driven Student Assesment
Is outcomes assessment just
one more external mandate?
By Russell J. Watson and Peter T. Klassen, College
of DuPage
Perhaps it’s a system that
faculty need to embrace to shape the interaction between teaching and
learning.
Some of the techniques I learned even
in the first week still help me through my life right now.
While many of us have heard nightmare
stories about student outcomes assessment—loss of academic freedom
and autonomy, accreditation teams looking through academic microscopes,
increased workload—when assessment operates within a faculty-driven
system and process, not only do the nightmares disappear but faculty learn
much about their students’ learning.
And when the feedback is returned to the
students, the students learn much about their own learning. We all learn
more about how to learn.
In this article we will share how we’ve
developed an assessment effort at the College of DuPage, created by faculty,
for faculty and students, and maintained a high level of faculty involvement
in the process at the largest single-campus community college in the nation.
Success didn’t come easily, and
every now-and-then our efforts stumbled. Support came slowly, built largely
from positive experiences and exchange of ideas through a variety of communication
tools. Read on; you may find some ideas that can help at your institution.
 Meet
Russell J. Watson and Peter T. Klassen
Russell J. Watson is a professor of psychology at College
of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. He is chair of the Student Outcomes
Assessment Committee and serves as an AQIP facilitator through the Higher
Learning Commission. An NEA member since 1971, Russ received his Ed.D.
in 1982 at Northern Illinois University. watson@cdnet.cod.edu
Peter T. Klassen
is professor emeritus of sociology and interdisciplinary studies at College
of DuPage, an assessment consultant in private practice, a nationally
known speaker on assessment, and an AQIP facilitator for the Higher Learning
Commission. Peter received his Ph.D. in 1990 at University of Illinois
at Chicago. He was an NEA member from 1992 to his retirement. p.klassen@att.net
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