Evaluation, assessment, and accreditation are incredibly important in higher education. Having been involved myself in a number of processes related to assessment and accreditation for an academic department, this course was both familiar and strange. In some ways, there were a lot of conversations in this course that I had experienced previously as a part of my professional work; however, making the distinction between evaluation and assessment is something that is not often discussed–at least with me–in my work. Diving deeper into the distinctions between the two was incredibly helpful.

 

The book club and review was also a great experience! I have been a part of book clubs before for literature rather than academia and enjoyed them immensely. To have the opportunity to participate in that with an academic focus was wonderful. It generated a lot of good conversations about the book itself, but also practices discussed in the book. In fact, it actually touched on an issue that I had previously commented on in a discussion board post–faculty buy-in for assessment and evaluation–without knowing I would read more information on it. I also enjoyed working on the accreditation review as well; while I am involved in data collection for accreditation, I do not often directly engage with NECHE. It was a good professional exercise to familiarize myself more with the inner workings and policies of the accrediting body.

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I look forward to implementing my newfound knowledge in practice.