Date of Award

1-1-2013

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Organizational Unit

Morgridge College of Education

First Advisor

Cheryl D. Lovell, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Frank Tuitt

Third Advisor

Kathy Green

Fourth Advisor

Patti Charles

Keywords

Faculty engagement, Institutional effectiveness, Learning outcomes assessment, Scholarship of assessment, Student learning, Teaching and learning

Abstract

The problem addressed in this study was the assumption that faculty at the postsecondary level in the U. S. are not sufficiently or effectively engaged with student learning outcomes assessment (LOA) activities and/or practices. This issue emerged in two primary ways within the Scholarship of Assessment (SoA) body of literature: (1) as a misalignment of learning outcomes assessment practices between faculty and their institutions, and (2) as a lack of transparency concerning what faculty are, in fact, doing with respect to LOA activities. Two-year colleges reportedly have particular difficulty in discerning whether or not these issues impact institutional efforts to ensure effective assessment practices; thus, this study sought to determine if faculty perceptions about institutional conditions that presumably elicit greater engagement with LOA aligned with academic leaders' perceptions within a community college system.

A new survey measure was developed and tested to explore faculty and academic leaders' perceptions on three newly established constructs, to examine the relationships between the three constructs, and to solicit faculty perceptions about their own levels of engagement with LOA practices. The new instrument was found to be both reliable and valid within the parameters of this study. Findings also reflected the presence of conditions that reportedly elicit greater faculty engagement, and that increased faculty engagement with LOA practices predicted achievement of effectiveness indicators for both faculty and academic leaders. A gap existed between groups concerning whether or not these conditions increased faculty engagement with LOA practices. Faculty demonstrated they were engaged in LOA practices considered to be effective and achieve institutional indicators for effectiveness, although part-time faculty were considered less engaged than full-time faculty. Gaps existed between faculty and their institutions concerning how to use LOA data to improve teaching and student learning, and how to communicate evidence of student learning to the wider community.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Jennifer Lynn Williams

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

410 p.

Discipline

Higher education

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