Assessment information should be actionable in that findings must be used to improve the student experience and educational effectiveness. Assessment is a worthwhile undertaking when campuses generate meaningful data, thoroughly consider and discuss evidence-based improvement initiatives, and ultimately use results to improve educational…

The formal assessment of student engagement, as it has developed in recent years, is not necessarily a faculty-driven activity. Most faculty members who teach undergraduates are involved in the informal assessment of student engagement by taking attendance, observing student behaviors or expressions in class, providing feedback on assignments, and…

This article describes the Ethnography of the University Initiative (EUI), a six-year-old cross-campus program at the University of Illinois that offers students the opportunity to conduct original ethnographic and archival research on their own institutions and supports faculty who guide that research. It helps the researchers and faculty…

This study examined attitudes of people about benefits of the economic impacts of two local colleges (Palmer College of Chiropractic and Scott Community College) in the metropolitan Quad Cities area of Rock Island County (Illinois) and Scott County (Iowa). The study compared impacts considered important by the community with those estimated by the…