Degrees That Matter: Moving Higher Education to a Learning Systems Paradigm

by Natasha Jankowski, David W. Marshall

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 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.

218 pages, Hardcover

Published August 17, 2017

Reviews

[MJ James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Degrees that Matter focuses on the Tuning system of assessment. It is about approaching learning assessment at an institution from a holistic approach. The book is more a theoretical approach to how assessment should be administered across the institution. While it does not go into the step by step details of assessment, the more broader based approach is of immense value. It is a great book for individuals who are responsible for all aspects of a higher education institution, but also a useful read for those of use who are only responsible for our pieces.

The book does go and focus more on curriculum mapping and assignment design. The curriculum mapping had the most applied data, unfortunately it was also the least engaging chapter of the book. Assignment design left me pondering the specific value of using assignments for measuring student learning.

Overall I found the book to be engaging and pushed me to think beyond my current understanding. Although it did not really present anything new, per say. It did present the information in a way that I think many will find a useful way to connect to.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thought-provoking discussion of higher education and a clear explanation of a paradigm shift that could revolutionize what we do and how we do it and, more importantly, how everyone from administrators to faculty to staff to student can become more cognizant of what college actually does.