Lessons Learned in Assessing International Learning

In fall 2004, ACE received a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education to advance the assessment of international learning with the long-term goal of improving student international learning at U.S. higher education institutions. The project group comprised six institutions that were selected from the Internationalization Collaborative, an invitational forum of 85 ACE member institutions through which community colleges, liberal arts colleges, comprehensive, and research universities come together to share their practices and advance the national dialogue around internationalization.

Project Institutions:

(Review Selection Criteria)

• Dickinson College (PA)
• Kalamazoo College (MI)
• Kapi'olani Community College (HI)
• Michigan State University (MI)
• Palo Alto College (TX)
• Portland State University (OR) 

In a previous FIPSE-funded preparatory project (2003), the six institutions:

• Developed a common set of international learning goals to be assessed across all six institutions.
• Chose assessment methods to be used in a coordinated trial to assess these goals at all six institutions.
• Outlined the plan for a three-year project to assess selected outcomes and evaluate the usefulness of the chosen methods across campuses and institutional types.

Three-Year Project (2004–2007):

The goals of the three-year project were to increase knowledge of international learning assessment at the six project sites, develop skills in implementing assessment and using assessment results, and enhance the knowledge and tools available to the higher education community for assessing international learning. This was accomplished through:

• Translating the agreed-upon international learning outcomes into measurable performance indicators and rubrics.
• Conducting a coordinated effort to assess student achievement of these international learning outcomes.
• Generating plans to improve student international learning at project institutions.
• Disseminating lessons learned to the larger higher education community through workshops and a web-based resource.

A comprehensive web-based resource on assessing international learning was developed as a part of this project. Access the Guide to Assessing International Learning.

This working group was sponsored in part by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education. For information on other U.S. Department of Education programs, please visit http://www.ed.gov/. For more information about the Lessons Learned in Assessing International Learning project, please contact:

E-mail: jill_wisniewski@ace.nche.edu
Phone: (202) 939-9553
Fax (202) 785-8056

Please direct questions about this page to:
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This page last updated on: 09/03/2008