Assessing the Ineffable

How can we measure what we truly value in a liberal education?

Literary Study, Measurement, and the Sublime

Donna Heiland and Laura Rosenthal Eds.The Teagle Foundation 2011

Summary and Thinking Points

What we truly value about a liberal education, especially in arts and humanities fields like literary studies are so-called “ineffable” qualities

Learning outcome assessments do not and cannot capture these ineffable qualities

Assessment threatens to reduce learning within the humanities to solely “peripheral” and “instrumental” qualities

The Ineffability Debate

Those “Ah-ha!” moments that signify intense, passionate engagement with and understanding of a subject leading to original creative insights and a love of learning

What are “ineffable” learning outcomes?

Learning Outcomes

Instrumental Ineffable

Basic reading/writing/ communication skills

Knowledge of key terms and concepts

Research and citation of secondary sources

Ability to construct and support an argument

*Critical thinking

Love of learning Passionate

engagement with course content

Analytical “shrewdness”

Creative cognitive insight

Shaping of character and intellectual habits

…truly un-measurable?

But is the Ineffable…

Rethinking AssumptionsCreating an Ineffable Assessment Plan

Bring the tools and language within a discipline to bear on the assessment process

Ex. Theories of the sublime 1

◦ Attempt to understand what happens in moments of intense engagement between subject and object

◦ The conditions under which such moments occur◦ What the subject and object look like before and

after sublime experiences◦ Acknowledge that sublime experiences cannot be

fully captured but are worth pursuing We assess the ineffable elsewhere, so why

not in learning?

Philosophy

Level of student enthusiasm/engagement◦ Engagement in “high impact” activities2

Reading Practices◦ Thesis->antithesis->synthesis◦ Affective reading experience

Measure growth of students’ “need for cognition” using the NSSE’s “deep learning” scale and Wabash National Study of Liberal Education Survey◦ Survey questions: “Have you ever been so

absorbed in a book/poem/discussion that you lost track of time?”3

(In)Direct Assessment Measures

Assessment in the language and terms of the discipline

Greater faculty support

Shape to curricular practices

Needs: Discipline-Oriented Assessment

The value and terms of so-called “instrumental/peripheral” outcomes are easier to articulate, to explain, and to assess

Ineffable outcomes have been relegated to “catch-all” and abstract categories like:◦ Critical/creative thinking—e-portfolios◦ Broadening of worldview

Rubrics—Not Just for Assignments4

◦ Build in flexibility◦ Collaborative, dialogic, and evolving

Needs: Clearer Articulation of Ineffable Learning Goals (!)

Learning to think outside the “inbox” Understand the power that comes from the

skillful use of words and images Makes “working”—engaging processes of

analysis, understanding, and creation—enjoyable, encouraging students to think broadly and innovatively, helping them achieve work positions they will find more fulfilling

Engages an affective experience that is also another dimension of learning; not just a means to an end but an end in itself

Value of Ineffable Learning

1. The concept of the sublime is used as an organizing principle throughout the reader, but the particular breakdown of the concept used here comes from: “Approaching the Ineffable: Flow, Sublimity, and Student Learning” by Donna Heiland

2. Rachelle L. Brooks discusses George D. Kuh’s concept of “high impact” educational practices in: “Making the Case for Discipline-Based Assessment”

3. Heiland, “Approaching” with discussion of Thomas F. Nelson Laird, George D. Kuh, and Rick Shoup’s “Measuring Deep Approaches to Learning Using the National Survey of Student Engagement”

4. For further discussion of assessment and rubrics see: “Fearful Symmetries: Rubrics And Assessment” by Sarah Webster Goodwin

Sources