ERIC Number: ED608776
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Oct
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
There Is No Return to Normal: Harnessing Chaos to Create Our New Assessment Future. Occasional Paper No. 49
Hong, Rebecca C.; Moloney, Kara
National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment
The United States is in a period of reckoning from which institutions of higher education are not exempt. Rather, we exist at the intersection of the chaos wrought by the novel coronavirus and the spread of outrage about systemic racism beyond Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPoC) communities. The resulting almost universal sense of loss and uncertainty leads many of us to believe that individuals have little-to-no power to inform, never mind implement, change. Systemic problems require systemic solutions. There can be no return to "normal." We instead invite our assessment colleagues to question the unexamined assumptions which underlie our heretofore taken-for-granted approaches to assessing and documenting our students' learning; to reconnect with their foundational beliefs and values; and to fully engage with the uncertainty and complexity of the current moment. This paper offers readers a developmental approach for reflection, identifying potential leverage points, and intentionally creating a new assessment future which proactively includes "all" of our students.
Descriptors: College Students, College Outcomes Assessment, Systems Approach, Student Evaluation, Educational Change, Futures (of Society), COVID-19, Pandemics, Racial Discrimination
National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment. 340 Education Building MC 708, 1310 South Sixth Street, Champaign, IL 61820. Tel: 217-244-2155; Fax: 217-244-5632; Web site: http://www.learningoutcomeassessment.org
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A