Talking Stick - November/December 2016 - 50

New Assessment Book
Is Here
As housing and residence life programs
increasingly are asked to demonstrate
their positive effects, assessment
becomes even more important. This
month, ACUHO-I introduces a new book
that will prepare campuses to implement
assessment practices in a way that will
make an immediate difference.
Making a Difference: Improving
Residence Life Assessment Practices
was conceived and edited by Kirsten
Kennedy, the executive director of
university housing at the University of
South Carolina at Columbia. She and
her team of authors put together a
comprehensive look at the assessment
process for residence life programs. From
frontline staff to organizational leaders,
everyone plays a role in the collection
and analysis of assessment data and
- most importantly - in utilizing that
knowledge in a timely fashion to make
a marked difference in programs and
services.
Book chapters explain how to
develop assessment frameworks,
determine different means of data
collection, choose the appropriate
assessment methodologies, share the
assessment results, develop a culture
of assessment, and consider the ethical
implications of assessment.
The book includes a foreword by F.L.
Upcraft. Contributing authors include
Sabrina Anderson, Heidi AndersonIsaacson, Amber Fallucca, Kathleen
Gardner, Rebecca Goldstein, Amy
McGovern,
Sean Sukys,
Matthew
Venaas, and
Sherry Woosley.
The book is
available to
pre-order now,
with delivery
expected in
December.

50

TALKING STICK

challenges will require thinking through ethical conundrums, and, as
technology continues to evolve, consequences are just emerging. Ethical
professionals will need to concern themselves with doing the right thing
for students and departments. However, ethics are determined within a
context where the resulting questions can place values in competition,
making ethical decisions even more complex to manage.
Some of the basic ethical concerns for assessment come down to
data ownership and management. A set of basic data elements, plus the
data necessary for additional study of the selected concepts or theories,
should provide the means to answer the most frequently asked questions
about the administration, status, quality, operation, and performance of
a residence hall operation and its communities, as well as the areas of
interest for the assessment professional. Furthermore, data management
procedures should include a defined plan for data destruction or the
elimination of personal identifiers for secondary analysis.
A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education recounts how
a group of academics, education-tech company representatives, and
foundation leaders met to discuss policies "regarding the research,
application, and representation of adult student data." This group

Collection policies address
not only what information is
collected, but also how and
when the information will be
used and destroyed, if ever.
settled on five operating principles regarding data analytics programs,
products, and relationships: maintaining a commitment to a mentality of
transparency; ensuring that the action of educators is based on what the
group calls "informed improvement" (i.e., "what they learn from their
data analysis"); ensuring that decisions made about data analytics are
"under 'continuous consideration' that, ideally, is embedded in an explicit
governance process"; and maintaining open access when data analytics
are used to predict student success. These principles can serve as a
valuable model as residence life professionals manage the responsibilities
of data ownership in an ethical manner. This responsibility - often
navigated in cooperation with information technology professionals
- includes processes for data collection, data organization, and data
integrity.
Other industry best practices and guidelines can assist in these
efforts. The Federal Trade Commission's Fair Information Practice
Principles (FIPPs) offer one framework that can guide data owners.
Talking Stick - November/December 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - November/December 2016
