[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: [xmca] Evaluation of learning



Laure,

I work at a university as an administrator, and I am very much involved in
the process of accreditation. The Middle States Commission on Higher
Education (MSCHE) is the accrediting body for all institutions of higher
education in the northeast region of the US. They set the standards for
evaluating higher education, and in recent years they have moved the issue
of "assessment of student learning" to the center and forefront of
institutional accreditation activities. I am attaching a document they
produced in which they describe the Standards that all institutions must
adhere to. Standard 14 (on page 78 of the attached document) has recently
become the centerpiece of the accrediting process. It lays out the general
approach to how all student learning outcomes are to be assessed. My own
opinion is that the Standard is reasonable and practicable.

While there has been a great deal of discussion by colleges, universities,
and related professional organizations (such as my own--the Association for
Institutional Research) focused on measuring outcomes, what concerns us
Vygotskians is really the issue of studying learning interactions and
dynamics. Reporting the outcomes is more of a common-sense issue. On the
former issue, I'm afraid I can be of no help. But for the outcomes
assessment piece, the attached document is a good place to get started.

Hope this helps!

Peter


On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 11:57 AM, Laure Kloetzer <laure.kloetzer@gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Have some of you been working on evaluation of learning outcomes and
> learning dynamics from a cultural-historical, activity-based
> perspective?
> In that case, would you have some ressource people and recent papers
> to recommend?
> I would like to build an evaluation framework which is consistent with
> the learning theory and methodology we believe in (in the Activity
> Clinic perspective, i.e. Vygotskian, concrete, dialogical) but I don't
> know any good starting point to do so.
>
> What I would like to evaluate is adult learning in free-choice,
> collaborative learning environments. I am interested (no other choice)
> in evaluating outcomes but even more on identifying learning
> interactions and dynamics.
>
> I guess some people from the list may have been working explicitly on
> analyzing interactional data for tracking learning processes. This is
> also something I am investigating now.
>
> Thank you for any clue on these two topics,
> Best
> LK
> __________________________________________
> _____
> xmca mailing list
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>



-- 
Peter Feigenbaum, Ph.D.
Associate Director of Institutional Research
Fordham University
Thebaud Hall-202
Bronx, NY 10458

Phone: (718) 817-2243
Fax: (718) 817-3203
email: pfeigenbaum@fordham.edu

Attachment: MSCHE_Characteristics of Excellence in Higher Education.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document

__________________________________________
_____
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca