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Association
of American Colleges and Universities Press Release
For
Immediate Release
Contact:
Debra Humphreys, Association of American Colleges and Universities
Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs
202-387-3760 (ext. 422)
Humphreys@aacu.org
Nearly
80% of Colleges Now Have a Broad Set of Learning Outcomes
for All Students and more than 70% Now Assess Outcomes Across
the Curriculum Beyond The Use of Course Grades
National
Survey of Academic Leaders Reveals Widespread Focus on Helping
Students Track and Assess Their Progress Toward Broad Goals
With 57% Using Electronic Portfolios For At Least Some Students
Washington,
DC - April 28, 2009 - The
Association of American Colleges and Universities released
findings today from a survey of its members revealing trends
in undergraduate education and documenting the widespread
use of a variety of approaches to assessing learning outcomes.
Completed by chief academic officers at 433 colleges and universities
of all sorts (public and private, 2-year and 4-year, large
and small), the survey shows that campus leaders are focused
both on providing all students a broad set of learning outcomes
and assessing students' achievement of these outcomes across
the curriculum.
Learning
Outcomes for All Students
A large
majority of institutions surveyed (78%) say that they have
a common set of intended learning outcomes for all their undergraduate
students. Stated learning outcomes at these institutions
include a wide array of cross-cutting skills and areas of
knowledge, including many on which earlier surveys suggest
employers want colleges to focus. The skills most widely addressed
in college and university goals are writing, critical thinking,
quantitative reasoning, oral communication, intercultural
skills, information literacy, and ethical reasoning.
The knowledge areas most often required for all students are
humanities, sciences, social sciences, global cultures, and
mathematics.
"The
findings from this survey indicate an important shift in focus
for American higher education away from measuring progress
by students' seat time and accumulation of credits toward
clarifying more transparently what students are expected to
learn," said AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider.
"Colleges and universities increasingly are emphasizing
educational practices that help students both achieve essential
learning outcomes and also demonstrate their achievement
across multiple levels of learning."
One area
where survey respondents acknowledge the need for improvement
is in communicating the importance of these outcomes to their
students. Among those institutions with common learning
outcomes, only 5% of those surveyed say that they think almost
all students understand their institution’s intended
learning outcomes. Another 37% believe that a majority
of their students understand them.
Assessment
of Learning Outcomes Now The Norm
More than
seven in 10 (72%) of AAC&U member institutions are now
assessing learning outcomes across the curriculum, and an
additional one in four (24%) say they are planning for this
assessment.
Most colleges
assess cumulative learning outcomes at the departmental level
rather than in general education. Nonetheless, nearly
half (48%) of institutions surveyed are assessing at both
the departmental level and in general education.
Fully 94% either are already assessing (52%), or plan to assess
(42%), general education learning outcomes across multiple
courses. In an earlier AAC&U survey published in
2000, only 32 percent of institutions reported that they assessed
student performance relative to general education goals either
"very much" or "quite a lot."
Colleges
and universities are using a variety of approaches to assessing
learning outcomes with 40% using rubrics applied to student
work, 37% using capstone projects, and 35% using student surveys
for assessment purposes. Relatively few are using standardized
national tests of general knowledge (16%) with about a quarter
(26%) using standardized national tests of general skills,
such as critical thinking.
Capstone
Projects and Electronic Portfolios Take Hold
As more
campuses focus attention on helping students - especially
the large numbers of students transferring between and among
institutions - integrate the different aspects of their learning
and track their progress over time, interest has grown in
such practices as capstone projects and e-portfolios.
Nearly
all institutions, for instance, now offer capstone projects,
with most making them available in departments rather than
in general education and the majority offering them as an
option rather than a requirement. Nearly 40% require
capstone projects of all or most students in departments and
19% require them of all students in general education.
More than
half of those surveyed are now using electronic portfolios,
but few are requiring them of all students. Fifty-seven
percent of responding institutions use electronic portfolios
in some form, but only 42% are currently using at least some
of them for assessment purposes.
"Recent
national surveys of employers that we have conducted for AAC&U
indicate that employers see real potential for the use of
capstone projects and electronic portfolios to help students
develop the high level of skills, knowledge, and integrative
abilities they need for success in today's workplace,"
said Abigail Davenport, senior vice president of Peter D.
Hart Research Associates and co-author of the survey.
"This survey suggests that many colleges are already
using these approaches that employers feel add value for students."
For a
full report on the findings of this survey, see www.aacu.org/
For findings
from employer surveys, see http://www.aacu.org/leap/public_opinion_research
A second
report on additional findings from the current survey on trends
in general education from the same survey will be released
in May, 2009.
The
survey was conducted on-line From November 19, 2008, to February
16, 2009 by Peter D. Hart Research. Completed surveys were
received from 433 Chief Academic Officers or designated representatives
at AAC&U member institutions. The margin of error
is ±4.7 percentage points for the entire sample, and
it is larger for subgroups. The total population for the survey
included 906 AAC&U member institutions that were invited
to complete the survey, and thus the response rate for the
survey is 48%.
AAC&U
is the leading national association concerned with the quality,
vitality, and public standing of undergraduate liberal education.
Its members are committed to extending the advantages of a
liberal education to all students, regardless of academic
specialization or intended career. Founded in 1915, AAC&U
now comprises more than 1200 member institutions -- including
accredited public and private colleges and universities of
every type and size.
AAC&U functions as a catalyst and facilitator, forging
links among presidents, administrators, and faculty members
who are engaged in institutional and curricular planning.
Its mission is to reinforce the collective commitment to liberal
education at both the national and local levels and to help
individual institutions keep the quality of student learning
at the core of their work as they evolve to meet new economic
and social challenges.
Information
about AAC&U membership, programs, and publications can
be found at www.aacu.org.
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