indirect assessment

Definition

Measuring learning outcomes through proxy evidence like surveys and self-reports rather than direct demonstrations of skill, because sometimes you need to ask students if they learned something rather than actually testing if they did. The educational equivalent of asking people if they're healthy instead of running blood tests.

Example Usage

The department relied heavily on indirect assessment through exit surveys, which revealed that 95% of students believed they could write well, despite evidence to the contrary in their actual papers.

Origin

Emerged from accreditation requirements distinguishing between direct evidence of learning and perceptual measures

Fun Fact

Accreditation bodies typically require both direct and indirect assessment, because they've learned that student confidence doesn't always correlate with student competence.

Source: Higher education accreditation standards and assessment literature

Related Terms

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reverse transfer

The practice of awarding an associate's degree to students who transferred to a four-year institution before completing their two-year degree. Because apparently, we need participation trophies in higher education too.

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retention rate

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interdisciplinary

Academic jargon for when multiple departments need to collaborate, usually resulting in meetings where no one fully understands what the others are talking about. It's the university's way of saying "teamwork" while making it sound more prestigious and grant-worthy. In practice, it means twice the bureaucracy with the added challenge of navigating different institutional cultures.

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academic senate

A faculty governance body that debates curriculum changes, policies, and academic standards while possessing varying degrees of actual power depending on institutional structure. Democracy theater at its finest, unless the provost actually listens.

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VAP

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writing center

A campus resource providing tutoring to improve student writing, staffed by graduate students and undergrads tasked with teaching skills high schools and faculty allegedly address. Academic emergency room for prose.

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