Quality: Where Is It?

Studies show that the major reason students drop out today is financial, not the level of engagement or difficulty of curriculum.  In short, the things that impact student success today are much different from the influences on the elite agrarian society for which the original system was designed.  And success lies not in education itself, but is now defined much more pragmatically as achievement in   the workplace. 

Thus, how quality is defined must be couched in terms of how students succeed.  And if success is now defined as achievement in the workplace, higher education must ask how to relate the concept of quality to workplace success and determine where it resides and what it looks like.  

Job placement and earnings, which are frequently used as proxies for quality, are subject to many pragmatic factors, like the state of the economy, skill sets acquired, and the interpersonal skills of the individual. However, these things cannot be controlled, so these are not likely places to look for quality.  Rather, quality must be sought in areas where tangible indicators of can be linked to success factors. 

In this regard, indicators can be found ultimately in content and talent.  Content is found in curriculum.  To start with, curriculum must clearly connect to the workplace.  And curriculum must be validated through an outcomes and learning assessment alignment model.  Specifically, outcomes must align from the course level through department, college, and university to the workplace.  Assessment must be related to student learning and relevant outputs and also be related to institutional learning and change.

Talent, of course, refers to faculty.  Faculty must be vetted in the context of a new role discussed in an earlier post.  Further, faculty must be evaluated on relevant, measurable factors aligned with curriculum development and implementation, as well as their role in an unbundled campus.

Next, WHAT is quality?