Originally posted on October 26, 2014, on LindaSuskie.com
I am so grateful to Taskstream for hosting Thursday’s webinar, “Five Dimensions of Quality: A Common Sense Webinar on Accreditation and Accountability.” In the webinar, I explained the model of higher education quality that I’m advocating in my new book Five Dimensions of Quality: A Common Sense Guide to Accreditation and Accountability, released last week by Jossey-Bass.
One of the things I’m trying to do in the book is shift the vocabulary we are using. I’m getting tired of the word “assessment” because to many people it means the assessment process rather than the purpose and results of assessment. So in my book I refer not to a culture of assessment but to a culture of evidence. Similarly, I’m avoiding the word “improvement” because to many people it means tweaking what we’re doing around the edges, not rethinking what we’re doing to become more responsive and relevant. So in my book I refer not to a culture of improvement but to a culture of betterment. And, while almost all accreditors require goals and plans, I’ve found that many colleges have too many goals and too many plans and that they emphasize preserving the status quo over moving to new levels of excellence. So one of the dimensions of quality in my book is not “goals and plans” but focus and aspiration.
For more information on the book, including the table of contents, and to order a copy, visit Jossey-Bass.