This issue of "Assessment Update" presents the following articles: (1) Student Interpretation of Selected Degree Qualifications Profile Outcomes; (2) Editor's Notes: Ingenuity: A New Super Skill, a New Assessment Challenge, a New National Conversation; (3) Applying Qualitative Techniques to Assessment in Student Affairs; (4) Developing…

As the digital environment continues to become more pervasive in our lives, academic libraries have had to adapt to ensure that services remain relevant to users' needs. Research was conducted to examine the 2009-2011 refurbishment at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Library and evaluate its success in meeting users' needs in terms of…

Universities are using standardized tests more and more as part of their accountability and assessment of student learning efforts. For the results of these tests to be useful in improving practices that lead to greater learning, they must be meaningful and specific to institutions. The researcher sought to determine how student characteristics,…

How can a degree program, general education program, or other course of study make substantial, widely appreciated improvements in who learns, what they learn, and how well they learn it? Under the right circumstances, such improvements are possible. This article presents suggestions, some counter-intuitive, that increase the chances of their…

As institutions seek to promote student engagement, the National Survey of Student Engagement has become a measure commonly used to document how institutions are meeting educational goals, but there is some question as to its applicability for certain undergraduate populations. 2010 survey results were analyzed for 125 adult and 69 traditional-age…

Civic engagement has become an important element in the mission of many colleges and universities. O'Meara (2005) found that almost two-thirds of the chief academic officers responding to a survey reported that their institution had updated its mission or strategic planning documents to include statements about civic engagement. However, only…

Many assessment experts believe it is essential to develop faculty-driven assessment tools in order to engage faculty in meaningful assessment that can improve student learning. Tennessee Technological University (TTU) has been involved in an extended effort during the last ten years to develop, refine, and nationally disseminate an instrument to…

We examined whether an automated essay feedback system could improve the writing performance of college students. Students in a freshmen composition course received no feedback or varying amounts of formative feedback on their first drafts of three practice essays (none, intermittent, or continuous). The students wrote a first and then a revised…

People are inundated with technology on campuses and in their lives. Students are increasingly technology savvy, expecting faculty and administrators to function comfortably within the digital world. They have responded by using technology more and more in teaching and learning. In this article, the author focuses on one such use--student…

In this article, the author examines various forms of public reporting of student engagement information. Some are controlled by third parties and others by the institutions themselves. He looks at four third-party efforts: (1) the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE); (2) the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA); (3)…

This article describes a course redesign project at the University of North Texas that is in the fifth year of a planned nine-year effort. The goals of the Next Generation Course Redesign (NGen) Project include practicing "never-ending course redesign," affecting teaching and learning at all levels of the institution and beyond, and…

In November 2005, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) invited its institutional members to submit applications for the newly established CHEA Award for Institutional Progress in Student Learning Outcomes. The award acknowledges outstanding institutional progress in developing and applying evidence of student learning outcomes…

Many campuses are adopting freshman learning communities (FLCs) in order to boost retention. FLCs take many forms, but they typically involve enrolling small groups of students in two or more classes together during their first semester in order to create community and promote academic and social involvement. At Georgia State University, a large…

This practice brief is one of a series highlighting key practices undertaken by some of the many successful Building Engagement and Attainment for Minority Students (BEAMS) schools during the project's five years of data collection and action plan implementation. These practice briefs accompany a monograph that details the process BEAMS…

This article offers a brief discussion on the Assessment Skills and Knowledge (ASK) Standards. The ASK Standards provide a consistent framework that outlines the skills and knowledge that should be advanced in educational sessions. It also recognizes the critical importance of assessment in the roles and responsibilities of student affairs…