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Assessing gains in learning has received increased attention as one dimension of institutional accountability both in the USA (Arum and Roksa, Academically adrift: Limited learning on college campuses, 2011) and abroad (OECD, http://www.oecd.org/document/22/0,3746,en_2649_39263238_40624662_1_1_1_1,00.html, 2013, http://www. oecd.org/edu/skills-beyond-school/AHELOFSReportVolume2.pdf, 2012). Current approaches to assessing college learning are dominated by objective tests as well as student self-reported questionnaires, such as the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). This study examined how the three NSSE deep approaches to learning scales contribute to the narrative on academic rigor at a large, public research institution. Using Confirmatory Factor Analyses and Structural Equation Modeling, results showed that the three deep approaches to learning constructs were internally valid, but deep learning was not related to GPA. Findings raised questions regarding good measurement of student learning and student reward for rigorous performance.

In a modern context of constrained resources and high demands, faculty exert agency to strategically navigate their careers (Baez 2000a; Neumann et al. 2006). Guided by the O'Meara et al. (2011) framework on agency in faculty professional lives, this study used Structural Equation Modeling to investigate which departmental factors (perceptions of tenure and promotion process, work-life climate, transparency, person-department fit, professional development resources, and collegiality) influenced faculty agentic perspective and agentic action. Results showed that faculty perceptions of certain departmental contexts do matter in faculty career agency, such as work-life climate, person-department fit, and professional development resources. These contexts have a particular influence on faculty agentic perspective. Results also showed a large effect of agentic perspective on agentic action. The study has important implications for administrators regarding departmental role in faculty agency and contributes to the growing body of literature on faculty sense of agency in academe.

This article describes quantitative observation as a method for understanding college educational experiences. Quantitative observation has been used widely in several fields and in K-12 education, but has had limited application to research in higher education and student affairs to date. The article describes the central tenets of quantitative observation, using an example protocol, the College Educational Quality (CEQ) study, to illustrate its potential application to higher education and student affairs research. Quantitative observation allows researchers to witness the educational process as it unfolds, and does so in a systematic way that enables understanding patterns across time, groups, and settings.

Based on the largest multiinstitutional observational study of undergraduate courses in the United States, this article describes exemplar teaching practices in engineering courses as an interdisciplinary science field. The College Educational Quality (CEQ) research project studied 587 courses in nine different U.S. colleges and universities. This article reports on findings from engineering courses in the study. The article describes in-depth subject-matter teaching, using students’ prior knowledge and cognitive complexity, and also discusses the course contexts (e.g., size, faculty, mode) in which there is a greater likelihood of using exemplary practices in U.S. engineering courses.

It is often assumed that higher prestige colleges and universities, via the rankings, have a better quality of education. Yet, the prestige structure in U.S. higher education favors resources, research, and student selectivity over teaching and undergraduate educational practices. Using quantitative observational data from 587 courses across 9 institutions of higher education in the U.S., this study examines whether courses in high prestige institutions have stronger teaching and academic rigor than courses in lower prestige institutions. Using a broad scale observational protocol, the study provides a closer look at course practices as they unfold, while also examining trends across contexts. Findings show initial evidence that the assumption that higher prestige institutions in the U.S. have better in-class educational experiences could be re-examined.

As the field of higher education has used several methods to assess college teaching, the validation of these measures and how they relate to each other has been sparse. This study drew on data from a multi-institutional study of 587 college courses to examine the efficacy of two methods of measuring college teaching (class observation and syllabus analysis) in understanding six college teaching constructs. Results of the multi-trait multi-method (MTMM) modeling analysis revealed a confluence of theory and method in validation: observation was better suited for situated teaching theories that are embedded within disciplines and learners, while syllabus analysis was stronger for robust constructs (such as time on task) that examine coursework across contexts.

Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) has become increasingly popular in the higher education literature, but there is significant variability in the current approaches to the conducting and reporting of HLM. The field currently lacks a general consensus around important issues such as the number of levels of analysis that are important to include and how much variance should be accounted for at each level in order for the HLM analysis to have practical significance (Dedrick et al., Rev Educ Res 79:69–102, 2009). The purpose of this research is to explore the use of a 3-level HLM model, appropriate contextualizing of results of HLM, and the interpretation of HLM results that resonates with practice. We used an example of a 3-level model from the National Study of Living Learning Programs to highlight the practical issues that arise in the interpretation of HLM within a higher education context.

While decades of research on college teaching has investigated several forms of classroom practices, much of this research approaches teaching as falling into mutually exclusive paradigms (e.g., active learning vs. lecturing). This paper enters inside the college classroom using external raters to understand patterns of pedagogical practices embedded in heterogeneous groups of courses. The study used quantitative observation and draws on data from a multi-institutional study of 587 courses across nine institutions to understand the patterns of teaching practices within courses. Latent class analyses demonstrated that there were five patterns of seven course practices that cluster around active learning, lecturing, and cognitively responsive practices: Comprehensive, Traditional Lecture, Active Lecture, Integrative Discussion, and Active Only.

Over the last decade, many research universities have adopted policies and support mechanisms to help academic parents balance work and family. This study sought to understand what facilitates faculty agency in making decisions about work and family, including parental leave. We conducted 20 interviews with 5 men and 15 women at a research university that had initiated a parental-leave policy for academic parents. Factors influencing faculty sense of agency included the presence or lack of role models, departmental norms, university standards for working at home, the amount of capital that faculty felt they had acquired in departments, and parental-leave policies themselves.