To Learn More about Learning: The Value-Added Role of Qualitative Approaches to Assessment

Daniel W. Newhart   |    Volume Ten  |   

As we face increasing accountability in higher education, how we measure student learning should exceed the calls for an account of learning that places students at the center. Qualitative approaches to assessment and theoretical underpinnings gleaned from the qualitative research tradition may provide a way that we can support a more holistic view of the student college experience, and in some cases, provide a more comprehensive narrative than quantitative assessment methods alone. We argue that as student populations change rapidly, no longer will large, indirect measures of student learning stand on their own as a comprehensive explanation; instead, we turn to philosophical and epistemological foundations of qualitative inquiry as one way to think about capturing the complexity within student learning experiences. Qualitative approaches to assessment could provide new possibilities for our own knowledge in regards to assessment, and also provide a space in which we learn more—about learning.

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