Resources

Aimed primarily at higher education professionals, this book is a comprehensive guide to assessment issues, particularly for those professionals who are coming to terms with the range of new pressures on their traditional teaching practices. Agents of change such as increased use of IT, flexible assessment methods and quality assurance all converge on the area of assessment, making new demands of assessors. Outlining how traditional assessment practices can be updated and diversified to suit these contemporary teaching and learning methods, this book is a practical resource, with reflection boxes and diagnostic tools that encourage the reader to apply the principles to their own practice. Other areas covered include: Assessing large groups, Authentication of student work, Maintaining assessment standards, Assessing generic skills and Quality assurance. (From the Publisher)

Drawing on a large body of empirical evidence, former Harvard President Derek Bok examines how much progress college students actually make toward widely accepted goals of undergraduate education. His conclusions are sobering. Although most students make gains in many important respects, they improve much less than they should in such important areas as writing, critical thinking, quantitative skills, and moral reasoning. Large majorities of college seniors do not feel that they have made substantial progress in speaking a foreign language, acquiring cultural and aesthetic interests, or learning what they need to know to become active and informed citizens. Overall, despite their vastly increased resources, more powerful technology, and hundreds of new courses, colleges cannot be confident that students are learning more than they did fifty years ago. Looking further, Bok finds that many important college courses are left to the least experienced teachers and that most professors continue to teach in ways that have proven to be less effective than other available methods. In reviewing their educational programs, however, faculties typically ignore this evidence. Instead, they spend most of their time discussing what courses to require, although the lasting impact of college will almost certainly depend much more on how the courses are taught. In his final chapter, Bok describes the changes that faculties and academic leaders can make to help students accomplish more. Without ignoring the contributions that America's colleges have made, Bok delivers a powerful critique--one that educators will ignore at their peril. (From the Publisher)

Written by national expert on assessment, Peter Ewell, this paper reflects on the challenges of general education and assessment reform in the context of recent calls for accountability in higher education. The author argues that by focusing on abilities, alignment, assessment, and action, campuses can both improve general education programs and demonstrate student achievement of learning outcomes key to success in the 21st century. This book is ideal for general education or curricular reform committees and campus discussions about assessment, general education, and accountability. (From the Publisher)

Changes in instructional paradigms are leading to changes in the way student achievement is tested, including group testing, online testing and authentic testing. This issue discusses the theory and practice of these new forms of testing and offers practical suggestions for instructors considering their use. (From the Publisher)

Contemporary theological education is facing profound changes. Fundamental shifts in both church and society have established a volatile context for theological teaching and learning. Seminaries are struggling with the growing diversity of their students, faculties, and institutional commitments. This book addresses these issues both contextually and historically, engages the nature of theological teaching and learning, and offers educational practices that strengthen the vocation of teaching and enhance the school as a place of conversation. (From the Publisher)

Lee Shulman has been president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching since 1997. He is a former president of the American Educational Research Association as well as past president of the National Academy of Education. In this second volume of a landmark two volume collection of Shulman's best work, he addresses such compelling questions as What are the most effective approaches to teaching? How important is knowledge of subject matter to a teacher's success? And, how do we measure success in teaching and learning? (From the Publisher)

Steal This University explores the paradox of academic labor. Universities do not exist to generate a profit from capital investment, yet contemporary universities are increasingly using corporations as their model for internal organization. While the media, politicians, business leaders and the general public all seem to share a remarkable consensus that higher education is indispensable to the future of nations and individuals alike, within academia bitter conflicts brew over the shape of tomorrow's universities. Contributors to the volume range from the star academic to the disgruntled adjunct and each bring a unique perspective to the discussion on the academy's over-reliance on adjuncts and teaching assistants, the debate over tenure and to the valiant efforts to organize unions and win rights. (From the Publisher)

Are the new elitism and conservatism that are creeping into academia degrading undergraduate education? This volume seeks not to resolve the issues surrounding academia today but rather to mark the contested points in the debates on whether to incorporate cultural diversity in the curriculum, whether to compete for the research dollar, and how to evaluate faculty humanely in a changing atmosphere. As Eble urged, in the 1990s it is imperative that we find ways to foster good teaching and learning in an academy that must change to meet the needs of students from different demographic backgrounds and with different levels of preparedness, and academy that is facing continuing political and budgetary pressures. (From the Publisher)

The author offers an in-depth examination of resource-based learning as an important new paradigm for higher education. This concept shifts the focus from teaching to learning by requiring students to select their own learning materials from a wide range of real world information resources. A resource-based approach helps students assume more responsibility for their own learning. It also creates a strong partnership between faculty members and campus librarians. Breivik highlights examples of colleges and universities that are already using this approach successfully and offers a framework to help educators create their own resource-based learning programs. This work will be of significant interest to academic leaders, faculty, and campus information providers. (From the Publisher)

The ability of the Internet and the World Wide Web to provide a wealth of on-line information that can be easily accessed at any time is changing the basic structure and operations of organizations, especially educational institutions. Written by a blue-ribbon panel of contributors -- thirteen experts in various fields of educational technology and teaching and learning -- Technology-Enhanced Teaching and Learning: Leading and Supporting the Transformation on Your Campus offers academic leaders the advice they need to help their institutions initiate, implement, and manage the transformation in order to become Internet-based communication and learning environments. The authors show how leaders can meet the challenge of the information age and the student demand for interactive learning by creating supportive environments that allow faculty to adapt to and sustain this sweeping institutional transformation. This book offers the insights, practical suggestions, and strategies that are essential for engaging the campus community in the transformation process. (From the Publisher)