Empowered Learners: The Bedrock of Total Quality Management and Assessment

David L. Luechauer, James E. Shelton, Gary M. Shulman

e define empowerment as the humanistic leadership process Wf acitlty employ to facilitate

clligntnenr of both student and faculty goalsfor the class. Alignment does not and should not be construed to mean forcing the students to wani‘what the teacher wants. Rather, i t implies adopting a set of humanistic, “enlightened,” or Theory Y values and then authentically sharing pow- er in all aspects of the class experience. Thus, empowerment is a value orientation that drives the implementation of a variety of practices designed to facilitate quality, rigor, learning, intrinsic motivation, and educational self-sufficiency.

An empowering climate stems from worlung together with our students to identi- fy and remove the factors that promote feel- ings of powerlessness. Once these factors are removed, we then strive to enact practices that enable our students to take personal re- sponsibility for their learning; engage in tasks that are personally meaningful; feel a sense of ownership in the tasks they perform; feel pulled by the class rather than pushed by the professor or grades; meet their needs for power, significance, autonomy, and cama- raderie; and feel that their performance in class is primarily in their own hands.

We follow six basic guidelines that re- mind us of the importance of encouraging empowerment: (1) We call ourselves fa- cilitators or coordinators rather than pro- fessors and ask our students to think of themselves as associates or partners in the learning enterprise. (2) We openly discuss the nature, strengths, limitations, and frus- trations associated with this type of class in both the syllabus and the class sessions. (3) We ask our associates to identify fac- tors in this and other classes that make them feel powerless and to work with us to remove them. (4) We work with our asso- ciates to generate rigorous assignments and quality expectations so that we all know the high expectations on which the

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class is based. ( 5 ) We continually ask our associates for their feedback regarding how the class is proceeding and act on their suggestions. And (6) we ask our as- sociates to participate in the design and as- sessment of their work.

We believe that adherence to these guidelines helps to reduce the conditions that usually make students feel powerless. Empowerment is the bedrock philosophi- cal commitment and leadership approach that must be taken if we are to have any hope of instilling these postmodern leader- ship practices and beliefs in our students.

In Astin and others’ (1993) “Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning,” a common thread-student in-

used to enact them. Near the end of the fist class session, we distribute the syllabus and ask our associates to go home and gen- erate responses to a series of questions about it (for example, “How do you feel about the mission?”). This assignment sets an important precedent by soliciting students’ reactions to the syllabus rather than forcing them to accept it passively. It also encourages the students to reflect on the values of the class as well as decide whether or not they want to participate in this type of class. The second class is spent sharing their answers. This helps us to gauge attitudes and plan future sessions.

Principle 2: Assessment understands that learning is multidimensional and inte- grated and reveals performance over t h e . Assessment must use a variety of methods over a period of time to capture growth and integration. By allowing students to create a diverse array of assignments that tap both immediate (for example, journals) and long-term learning (for example, semester- long projects), faculty can facilitate both empowerment and assessment processes in their classes. As a general rule, we do not

Assessment inust use a variety of methods over a period of time to capture growth and integration.

volvement-weaves its way through each of the principles. Student involvement pro- vides the linkage among motivation, goals, activities, environment, learning outcomes, future performance, and a desire for con- tinual life improvement. Unfortunately, this involvement will not be achieved if faculty continue to rely on traditional, top- down, professor-controlled, or bureaucrat- ic methods to manage their classes. In our view, empowerment facilitates the assess- ment process as guided by the Principles of Good Practice.

Principle I : Assessment begins uiith values. As should be clear by now, em- powerment and assessment are not tech- niques. Both approaches are based on humanistic and learning-focused values orientation. In assessment lingo, the process starts with a “vision of the kinds of learning we most value for students and strive to help them achieve” (Astin and others, 1993, p. 7). In an empowered class- room, the process begins with a syllabus that outlines these values and the methods

specify what specific tasks the associates must perform in order to successfully com- plete our classes. They are asked to work with us and one another to decide what they wil l do, how it will be graded, and what percentage of their final grade will be based on the tasks they create. In a real sense, our syllabus leaves open the area usually saved for assignment descriptions. It places the responsibility for creating stimulating, challenging, and rigorous as- signments on the associates. We have found that it is a good idea to create groups or project teams that meet separately out- side of class to generate the requirements.

Principles 3 , 4 , and 5: There must be ongoing assessment of processes and goals. “Clear, shared, implementable goals are the cornerstone for assessment that is focused and useful” (Astin and others, 1993, p. 7). The first step in taking responsibility in this class is having associates determine what we mean when we say that the class de- mands high-quality participation. We dis- tribute a form that outlines our desires

Assessment Update July-August 1994 * Volume 6, Number 4

(attendance and keeping up with and dis- cussing the readings in class). We then ask them to work with us in shaping the exact criteria that will be used to measure the quality of their participation.

Each associate keeps a performance log that operationalizes the participation guide- lines that have been established. This form asks the associates to rate their own contri- butions to each class session. This symbol- izes that we trust them to be honest in their

Principle 7: Assessment riiiist begin \ d h issues of use mid illuminate questions that people r e d l y care d7oi~t. To be useful, assessment must be connected to issues or questions that people really care about (Astin and others, 1993, p. 7). The same must be said for course content. “The chal- lenge for empowering faculty is to make the connection between course assign- ments and high-quality meaningful work abundantly clear to students” (Shulman

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Through assessment and empowerment, educators meet their responsibilities

to students and the public.

assessments and records. These scores are averaged and serve as each associate’s par- ticipation grade for the semester.

Assessment of other assignments by themselves or their peers is another aspect of the empowerment process. Because classes have varied in the types of assign- ments they have generated as course “requirements,” this step toward empower- ment is somewhat difficult to explain. Es- sentially, using methods similar to those of the class participation assessment process, we work with our associates to develop cn- teria they can use to iissess either their own work or the work of their peers during the semester. We have used this system to have associates grade such aspects of their class experience as midterm exams and papers, weekly topical reflection papers, journals, contributions to group projects, and asso- ciate-facilitated and associate-led class sessions. The key is to establish together rig- orous grading criteria that help associates assess both the quality of their own work and the work of their peers on a range of as- signments.

Recently, we began to assess how well we are doing in creating interesting, en- lightening, and engaging class exercises to convey the content under examination for any given class session. At or near the end of class, we distribute a form that asks associates to assess the strengths and weak- nesses of the material covered, the exercis- es used, the materials provided, and the facilitator’s preparation, organization, and contribution. This provides immediate feedback regarding the efficacy of the cho- sen approach that helps guide the pace for future class sessions.

and Luechauer, 1991, p. 6). To be sure, everything faculty ask students to do for class cannot be immediately satisfying. “Therefore, they must at least communi- cate to students what actions will lead to delayed satisfaction and the circumstances under which they will experience this sat- isfaction” (Shulman and Luechauer, 1991, p. 8). To the extent that empowerment processes or assessment efforts fail on this principle, we can expect little in the way of high-quality outputs from either of them.

Perhaps the linkages between these concepts is best stated by simply rephras- ing the last principle. Through assessment and empowerment, educators meet their responsibilities to students and the public. All of us have a deeper obligation to im- prove, and that is precisely what empow- erment and assessment are all about.

Current thinking in organizational stud- ies points to the effectiveness, importance, and need for empowerment in all types of organizations. Modern managers can no longer act as dictators, police, task masters, or bosses. Rather, they must act as educa- tion facilitators who promote developmen- tal processes such as autonomy, quality, personal growth, and the ability to initiate and cope with change.

At present, those who practice empow- erment appear to be few and far between. Those who are capable of leading the re- forms that our organizations need may be even fewer and farther apart. We believe that the root of this deficiency lies in an ed- ucation system that creates a paradox for many students. That is, while many facul- ty preach the virtues and need for quality and empowerment, they conduct class in a

bureaucratic fashion. As a result, too many students graduate with a mind-set and skill base that is out of line with the needs of the various types of organizations that will employ them.

Ultimately, empowerment is the be& rock for philosophy and practices from which any journey toward continuous quality in either industry or academia must begin. Philosophically, empowerment is rooted in trust, in the belief that students want more from a class than a grade, and in the idea that if given a chance both students and faculty can perform all the work re- quired to implement such a paradigm. Practically, the key is to engage in behav- iors that are in line with those values that help fashion an open, creative, team envi- ronment in which both faculty and students understand the vision and are motivated to contribute to its success. Therefore, we hope that this article challenges and in- spires educators to apply the concepts pre- sented here so that students can make the transition from the classroom and become transformational leaders in the worlds they inhabit and explore.

References Astin, A. W., and others. “Principles of

Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning.” Assessment Update, 1993, 5 ( I ) , 6 7 .

Shulman, G. M . , and Luechauer, D. L. “Creating Empowered Learners: Merging Content and Process.” Paper presented at the Lilly Conference on College Teach- ing. Oxford, Ohio, 1991.

David L. Luechauer is assistant professor of management at Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana. James E. Shelton is principal of 20120 Leadership, Sparta, New Jersey. Gary M . Shulman is associate professor of communication at Miami Universiry, Oxjord, Ohio.

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