The Grand Challenges for Assessment in Higher Education project is a collaborative effort endorsed by nine higher education organizations with the goal of creating national strategic plans to address pressing challenges facing assessment in higher education.
A number of national and international organizations have identified grand challenges to unify the efforts of scholars and practitioners in a field and catalyze meaningful and lasting progress. Singer-Freeman and Robinson (2020) solicited feedback on potential grand challenges discussed in the literature by surveying members of the assessment community and presenting the results at national meetings. This work resulted in the identification of four challenges with broad support from the assessment community. The leadership team has selected work group co-chairs and created a plan for national strategic planning around these issues.
These working groups are now creating strategic plans to address the challenges. The initiative will run through July 2021, and working groups will produce conference presentations and articles to be published in Assessment Update. We are excited about this project and its potential to effect change in higher education.
Read more about the top Grand Challenges here
Singer-Freeman, K. E., & Robinson, C. (2020). Grand challenges in assessment: Collective issues in need of solutions. NILOA Occasional Paper 47. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois and Indiana University, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment. 1-18. https://www.learningoutcomesassessment.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GrandChallenges.pdf
Singer-Freeman, K. E., & Robinson, C. (2020). Grand challenges for assessment in higher education. Journal of Research and Practice in Assessment. 1-20. https://www.rpajournal.com/dev/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Grand-Challenges-for-Assessment-in-Higher-Education.pdf
Read updates from the working groups here
Listen to a podcast about the project here
See our recent presentation from AALHE 2020 here#
Grand Challenge |
Working Group Chairs |
Leadership Team Liaison |
---|---|---|
Using assessment findings to increase equity |
Shannon Milligan smilligan@ucsd.edu Ciji Heiser ciji.heiser@wmich.edu |
Christine Robinson |
Using assessment findings to direct immediate pedagogical improvements |
Diane Kelly-Riley dianek@uidaho.edu Ruth Slotnick rslotnick@bridgew.edu |
Jane Marie Souza Chelsea Lyles |
Producing visible and actionable assessment findings that drive innovation |
Carley Dear cdear2@umc.edu Melissa Williams mwilliams3@coloradotech.edu |
Jeremy Penn Natasha Jankowski |
Examining changes in institutional effectiveness (including student learning) over time |
Justin Hoshaw JHoshaw@waubonsee.edu Megan Schramm-Possinger possingerm@winthrop.edu |
Gavin Henning Alexa Wesley |