Degrees that matter : moving higher education to a learning systems paradigm / Natasha A. Jankowski and David W. Marshall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jankowski, Natasha A., author.

Marshall, David W., 1970- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

National Center for Learning Outcomes Assessment (U.S.).

Education, Higher--Aims and objectives--United States.

Education, Higher.

Education, Higher--United States--Evaluation.

Universities and colleges--Curricula--United States.

Universities and colleges.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (220 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Sterling, Virginia : Stylus Publishing, LLC, 2017.

Summary:

Sponsored by Concerned by ongoing debates about higher education that talk past one another, the authors of this book show how to move beyond these and other obstacles to improve the student learning experience and further successful college outcomes. Offering an alternative to the culture of compliance in assessment and accreditation, they propose a different approach which they call the Learning System Paradigm. Building on the shift in focus from teaching to learning, the new paradigm encourages faculty and staff to systematically seek out information on how well students are learning and how well various areas of the institution are supporting the student experience and to use that information to create more coherent and explicit learning experiences for students. The authors begin by surveying the crowded terrain of reform in higher education and proceed from there to explore the emergence of this alternative paradigm that brings all these efforts together in a coherent way. The Learning System Paradigm presented in chapter two includes four key elements--consensus, alignment, student-centeredness, and communication. Chapter three focuses upon developing an encompassing notion of alignment that enables faculty, staff, and administrators to reshape institutional practice in ways that promote synergistic, integrative learning. Chapters four and five turn to practice, exploring the application of the paradigm to the work of curriculum mapping and assignment design. Chapter six focuses upon barriers to the work and presents ways to start and options for moving around barriers, and the final chapter explores ongoing implications of the new paradigm, offering strategies for communicating the impact of alignment on student learning. The book draws upon two recent initiatives in the United States: the Tuning process, adapted from a European approach to breaking down siloes in the European Union educational space; and the Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP), a document that identifies and describes core areas of learning that are common to institutions in the US. Many of the examples are drawn from site visit reports, self-reported activities, workshops, and project experience collected by the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) between 2010 and 2016. In that six-year window, NILOA witnessed the use of Tuning and/or the DQP in hundreds of institutions across the nation.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Table of Contents

Tables and Figures

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: Landscape of Learning Initiatives

Chapter 2: Shifting Paradigms

Chapter 3: Aligning for Learning

Chapter 4: Applying the Paradigm to Curriculum Mapping

Chapter 5: Applying the Paradigm to Assignment Design

Chapter 6: Perceived Barriers in the Learning Systems Paradigm

Chapter 7: Reframing Academic Quality

Appendix A: NILOA National Advisory Panel

Appendix B: NILOA Staff 2008 to 2017

Appendix C: NILOA Degree Qualifi cations Profile/Tuning Coaches

Appendix D: Additional Resources on Degree Qualifications Profile and Tuning

References

About the Authors

Index

National Institute for National Institute for.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-00-344401-6

1-000-97473-1

1-003-44401-6

1-62036-465-4

9781003444015

OCLC:

1390712793