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Now I’m Ready: The Impact of a Professional Development Initiative on Faculty Concerns with Program Assessment

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Abstract

This article examines the impact of a faculty professional development effort on the understanding, confidence, and attitudes of education faculty related to program assessment activities. We applied literature on the adoption of innovations, institutional effectiveness, and professional development to a case study of a series of workshops on assessment. The results suggest that faculty members had improved skills and knowledge, understanding, confidence, and attitudes regarding assessment following the workshops. The opportunity for faculty members to collaborate with colleagues on assessment and to develop an understanding of the kinds of supports in place for assessment work were important elements in the gains.

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Acknowledgements

This article is based on ongoing research into the implementation of a unit-wide assessment system. We thank the faculty members who supported this research through participating in interviews and completing surveys, as well as the College of Education for funding data collection efforts.

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Correspondence to Don Haviland.

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Haviland, D., Shin, SH. & Turley, S. Now I’m Ready: The Impact of a Professional Development Initiative on Faculty Concerns with Program Assessment. Innov High Educ 35, 261–275 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-010-9140-1

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