Due to the relative newness and inherent fluidity of the higher education assessment field, hot topics and trends are in constant flux. The research undertaken in order to evaluate the success of higher education initiatives and the landscape of data made accessible by assessment brings with it a host of issues and shifting needs. Also, the increasingly apparent impact of the use of technology, both in academia and student affairs and within the assessment field itself, has its own benefits as well as newfound concerns. In many ways, higher education professionals undertaking assessment endeavors are charting new territory, and instances of both research-based and reflective, theoretical dialogue on the issues of greatest concern to those assessing higher education programs are both abundant and considered necessary.
Some current hot topics and trends regarding assessment that are on the forefront of scholarly discourse right now are:
- The use of technology and assessment software to fulfill assessment needs
- Preventing over-assessment
- Accountability and the occurrence and general value of one-size-fits-all, federally mandated assessment as opposed to homegrown, individualized assessment initiatives that can’t be compared easily across departments, institutions, states, and countries
EditTechnology and Software
As more and more universities take on assessment initiatives to meet accreditation standards and institutional goals, the need for organized, accessible methods of data collection and storage is on the rise. In order to effectively manage and analyze large amounts of data, colleges are increasingly turning to computer programs. Outside companies and universities themselves are developing software programs in order to provide assessment professionals with ease of use and a sense of cohesiveness.
[1]Supply is starting to meet demand as technology advances and Internet use is proliferated.
[2] And technology is increasingly being used not only for the storage and analysis of data, but also for the collection of data. As technology becomes a more necessary cog in the assessment circuit, the variety of and uses for assessment software are on the rise, as well as research into the benefits and concerns brought on by this relatively new component.
EditSoftware Programs
Software and Internet programs built to aid assessment efforts come from a variety of sources. Some institutions face their assessment woes head on by employing their computer technology departments to create programs that would simplify the quantification and qualification of assessment data. Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), for example, created a program called Weave, which initially helped satisfy academic accreditation needs but eventually attracted other institutions and separated from VCU to serve universities as its own company, WEAVEonline.
[3] Several companies dedicated solely to the needs of higher education assessment professionals (e.g., StudentVoice) offer data storage and analysis, survey administration, and/or institutional assessment goal management capabilities.
Other companies focus on the software needs of higher education faculty and administrators in delivering general coursework needs (e.g., Blackboard). These companies offer programs that speak specifically to academic assessment and accreditation.
[4] EditBenefits
The benefits of assessment driven and supported by technology are both obvious and obscure, practical and conjectural. Some practical benefits include:
- The elimination of the monotonous and typically error-prone task of data entry.[5] With the assistance of computer programs, large quantities of data can be collected, stored, and analyzed quickly and easily, with a smaller margin of error than the manual entry of paper surveys.[6]
- Data that once took up large amounts of physical space, crammed into spreadsheets, binders, and file folders, can now be compressed and stored in a cyber environment.[7] In an environment where assessment surveys and data are easily stored, they are also easily searched and reused.[8]
- An exponential decrease in shipping and printing costs.[9]
- The immediacy with which a higher education administrator can see and use the data being collected in assessment efforts means trends and problem areas can be realized and improved upon more promptly and effectively than with pen-and-paper methods. Technology affords immediate, often real-time access to survey results and data.[10]
- Technology provides the ability to simultaneously broaden and regulate access to surveys and data. Worldwide access to the Internet means people can be surveyed more simply, on a more massive scale, at any time, from any place.[11] And at the same time, administrators can control who has access to survey data with the use of Internet security measures, such as passwords and secure websites (https://).
The implementation of software and the Internet with assessment efforts have revealed other benefits that perhaps could not have been forecasted. Some of these more sweeping and emergent advantages include:
- The room for improvement in efficiency and usefulness that technology affords. Computers are already being widely used to track data and recognize problem areas and trends, but newer updates in some programs extend the usefulness of these programs to also map methods of improvement and outline institutional goals.[12]
- Assessment initiatives that began as accreditation tools in academic disciplines can easily be used for other campus assessment programs.[13]
- The option of survey randomization.[14] Survey administrators can be given the option to randomize survey question order, increasing the validity of results by removing any bias that could come out of survey organization.
EditConcerns
References