Return of the Pig: Standards for Learning Improvement

Keston H. Fulcher, Kristen L. Smith, Elizabeth R. H. Sanchez, Allison J. Ames, & Cara Meixner   |    Volume Eleven  |   

Higher education has made impressive progress concerning student learning outcomes assessment practices. Yet – despite the assumption that better assessment would lead to better student learning – few examples of demonstrable student learning improvement exist at the academic degree or university levels. In 2014 Fulcher, Good, Coleman, and Smith addressed this concern in a NILOA Occasional Paper titled, “A Simple Model for Learning Improvement: Weigh Pig, Feed Pig, Weigh Pig”. The “pig paper” elucidated basic steps for improvement: collect baseline data, intervene effectively with curriculum and pedagogy, and then re-assess to examine if learning did indeed improve. The current paper builds upon these steps by offering standards for learning improvement. We articulate these standards via a rubric and a hypothetical learning improvement report. These tools are intended to elevate learning improvement conversations, and increase the number of learning improvement examples across higher education.

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