The Futures Project :: Responsibility for Student Learning Questions

Policy Areas:

Policy Questions:

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Institutions must engage in a process of continual self-assessment and improvement to ensure that students are not merely being shuffled through but are learning what they need to know to succeed in society. This includes a focus on teaching methods and technologies, the quality and involvement of faculty, and measuring what has been learned and then comparing it to benchmarks.

	What knowledge do we expect students to acquire to be productive and effective in the workforce and as citizens? What does it mean to say students are prepared for successful participation in the economy and society?
	What skills and knowledge are necessary for all students regardless of major?
	What knowledge and skills do our students currently have when they leave college?
	What teaching methods are used and are they producing successful learner outcomes for all students?
	What role can technology play in improving teaching and learning? What role can it play in assessing learning?
	What assessment measures should be used to demonstrate mastery of agreed-upon academic goals and knowledge levels?
	What are the priorities and appropriate balance of the faculty role at each institution among research, teaching, advising, and service?
	What institutions are succeeding in achieving high levels of learning? What state policies have helped and which have hindered?

Click here to read our Responsibility for Student Learning Policy Brief.

A goal of the Futures Project is to spark a conversation between policymakers and academic leaders on the public purposes of higher education. What are the public benefits of higher education to society? What are we in danger of losing as postsecondary education becomes more of a private good?

Below you will find a list of key questions--expanding on the sample questions listed above--directed at policymakers and academic leaders to help them think through the process of restructuring higher education and creating a renewed compact between higher education and society. The questions are meant to help start a discussion about the public purposes of higher education and policy issues to be included in the Futures Project's recommended compacts between institutions and the state.

Click here to read our Matrix on Restructuring Higher Education.
Click here to read our Responsibility for Student Learning Policy Brief.