Advocates of liberal arts education believe that liberal arts institutions and programs inherently produce thoughtful, humane leaders who communicate well, value diversity, and make informed judgments. However, what evidence is there that we are really doing all that we hope and claim to accomplish?
The assessment philosophy at the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts is simple:
- First, a commitment to liberal arts education necessarily entails an institution-wide commitment to reflecting critically on, and gathering evidence about, both teaching and students’ learning.
- Second, assessment without reflection upon what a liberal arts education intends
to provide and how to improve it is a waste of time and other resources.
Many liberal arts institutions create assessment programs in response to the pressure of accreditation. While this is a legitimate reaction, it can create an assessment process aimed at satisfying accreditation requirements first, and helping faculty improve their classes second. This approach can lead to the kinds of assessment programs that faculty abhor—faculty are overwhelmed by paperwork, myriad surveys are administered, the data is filtered down to the "assessment people," and finally it’s all put on the shelf where it rarely benefits the faculty who are, ironically, the people in position to put any relevant information to immediate use.
So how can we, as liberal artists, better approach the realm of assessment? In sum, we should do just what we request of students—ask the bigger questions, explore the means that we believe lead to liberal arts education outcomes, and gather evidence about these outcomes.
We highlight some questions below that can help you think reflectively about the connections between liberal arts education and assessment.
