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[oldfullprof]

The way they went about this is wrong.  It should have been a joint project with the instructors for the course designing it.  This is essentially the University of Phoenix approach.  (Yes, I taught a few courses for them.)  And, I wouldn't expect it to stop with just this course.

[kedves]

I understand why you would have a problem with the process--how this was done--but that is a problem with the way your department, or this committee, operates.

Concerning the fact that this was done, what are the alternatives if the department wants to assess, for whatever reason, outcomes in this course?  How would they do so without guidelines to ensure that students are producing the same sort of work to be graded, and some sort of rubric to ensure grading reliability across instructors within and across semesters?  It's not necessary to create assignment and grading criteria for a multiple-choice exam.  It is necessary for a paper. 

There is so much assessment pressure around these days that you might be able to improve the instrument (the rubric, etc.) if it turns out to be bad at measuring student outcomes, but you won't be able to get rid of it.

[spyzowin]

I wish to ask you for your opinion.

I am teaching a graduate course which has multiple sections. The curriculum committee of my department has decided to measure educational outcomes in this particular course. For the measurement purpose, the committee members ,who are not teaching this course, wrote the rubric which specifies the contents of assignment, its sections, and grading points for each section. And faculty instructors (who teach) were told to use this prescribed assignment and grading in their classes. Unbelievably, this is not recommendation, but mandatory. By the way, I am on faculty at a research university.

Can you comment on whether this is violation of academic freedom? Or has academic freedom been dead long ago? I would like to hear from you.

Academic freedom is NOT your ability to get out of doing outcomes assessments. Neither does academic freedom excuse you from keeping a clear grade book, or from returning assignments in a timely manner. Nor does academic freedom entitle you to ignore departmental guidelines in setting course learning objectives and so. It certainly doesn't cover you opting out of multi-section assignments. Absolutely not. No way. Not a chance.

Academic freedom is your ability to teach controversial topics without fear of legislative or administrational reprisal.

And before people chime in and say that academic freedom covers how they teach a course--it doesn't. You cannot set your own course meeting times, class durations and term structure. Nor, usually, do you have an absolute say whether the course is offered face to face, blended or fully online. Ultimately, if your chair wants you to offer your course on Monday and Wednesdays at 8:00 am, you are out of luck.

People over use the term academic freedom all the time. To use it to argue against performing your collegial due diligence for something such as outcomes assessment  (which is perhaps driven by some regional accreditation body) is incorrect and dilutes its true meaning.

[mad_doctor]

First, the short answer...  Academic freedom is dead, because it was never alive in the first place except in the minds of professors. 

Now the long answer...  It is an illusion.  It is something professors dream about that nobody else in the system gives a r@t's @ss about.  As far as I know, no professor has ever won a case on the grounds of academic freedom.  As far as the courts are concerned, it doesn't exist.  On the university campus, for all practical purposes, there is nothing that professors can do or say in the name of academic freedom that the university administration cannot legally use as a reason for discipline or termination, and that includes curriculum committees.  Even among your faculty colleagues, those who who believe in academic freedom, you will find that there is no unanimous opinion about whether academic freedom applies to cases like yours, because each professor's dream is a little different than the next one's.

My best advice to you is to just do it.  You won't change anything by making an issue of it.  Put it behind you and move on. 

[oldfullprof]

...Well, I'm still not using "rubrics."  I can probably retire before they're required.

[brainstorm]

Thanks all for your inputs, helping me put in perspective.

[neutralname]

Academics have plenty of freedom in some ways.  We can say things about administrators that would get employees in other lines of work fired if they said them about bosses.  Tenure provides a good amount of freedom.

With regard to outcomes assessment and all of that bureaucracy, it is easy to resist in the manner of a surly teenager, doing the least possible to satisfy those wanting changes, giving them meaningless BS which seems to make them happy, and then going on and doing whatever you wanted to do in the first place.  I wouldn't resist it on the grounds of academic freedom though -- that's a stretch and it probably won't work.

[madhatter]

I agree that academic freedom is often misunderstood and misused. The wellspring of academic freedom is the AAUP's 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure. If you haven't read it, you should. Here it is.

It's a short document, even with the interpretive notes from later years, and a good read. You may be surprised that the AAUP's definition of academic freedom in the context of classroom teaching is extremely focused and limited. It boils down to one key sentence:

Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject, but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matter which has no relation to their subject.

I can't find anything in that sentence that addresses the issue raised in this thread.

I would also like to point out, although this may seem obvious, that the AAUP is not a regulatory or governmental agency. Individual institutions can choose to develop or not develop their own academic freedom policies. They may base theirs on the AAUP statement, adopt it wholesale, or ignore it completely. However, for historical purposes and understanding of the general definition and scope of academic freedom, the AAUP statement is invaluable.

[archman]

I have never seen a standardized grading system implemented in any college department I've worked at, except for *some* assignments for *two* freshman majors classes taught by graduate students.

My guess is that if somene tried to mandate such a thing in places I've worked/currently am working, faculty would just ignore it. The only thing that I ever see standardized are learning outcomes, and *maybe* the textbooks.

All that said, I've *heard* that some departments occasionally standardize curricula or grading for specific assessment research. However, this standardization is strictly temporary (the duration of the study -usually 1-2 semesters), and only a few faculty volunteer to be put under this "yoke".

[daniel_von_flanagan]

Ultimately, if your chair wants you to offer your course on Monday and Wednesdays at 8:00 am, you are out of luck.

This is a matter of contract, departmental culture, and departmental autonomy, and I would argue that a department where the chair has such power without it being delegated as part of collective governance is dysfunctional, but you are quite correct that it is not a matter of academic freedom.

To use it to argue against performing your collegial due diligence for something such as outcomes assessment  (which is perhaps driven by some regional accreditation body) is incorrect and dilutes its true meaning.

Correct again.  There are many sound principles with which to fight useless makework, "academic freedom" however does not apply. - DvF

[nebo113]

Freedomschmeedom.  My experience with the nonsense of outcomes assessment was that I was supposed to report my own students' outcomes.  So I did.  I filled in all the right bubbles and dots which told them exactly what they wanted to hear.

[melba_frilkins]

I agree that academic freedom is often misunderstood and misused. The wellspring of academic freedom is the AAUP's 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure. If you haven't read it, you should. Here it is.

It's a short document, even with the interpretive notes from later years, and a good read. You may be surprised that the AAUP's definition of academic freedom in the context of classroom teaching is extremely focused and limited. It boils down to one key sentence:

Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject, but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matter which has no relation to their subject.

I can't find anything in that sentence that addresses the issue raised in this thread.

I would also like to point out, although this may seem obvious, that the AAUP is not a regulatory or governmental agency. Individual institutions can choose to develop or not develop their own academic freedom policies. They may base theirs on the AAUP statement, adopt it wholesale, or ignore it completely. However, for historical purposes and understanding of the general definition and scope of academic freedom, the AAUP statement is invaluable.

Thank you, Madhatter. I was going to look for that myself.

Although the assessment process in question may be useful or not so useful, it's not really a matter of academic freedom.

As for the specific assessment in question by the OP, either do or don't do it. Or cover your bases and do the assessment but don't turn in the results and find out what exactly does happen. And if it's bad consequences for you, you can whip out the assessment results and say "oops, here they are, I forgot to turn them in on time".

And for everyone out there: The assessment mandate is not going away any time soon. Ignore it and you'll end up having someone else developing assessments for you. Get involved while you have the chance.

[canadatourismguy]

If you really object to the assignment and have tenure....make it worth 5 pts., give it the attention it deserves, and fill out the paper work required to show you are a good departmental citizen.

[nebo113]

I agree that academic freedom is often misunderstood and misused. The wellspring of academic freedom is the AAUP's 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure. If you haven't read it, you should. Here it is.

It's a short document, even with the interpretive notes from later years, and a good read. You may be surprised that the AAUP's definition of academic freedom in the context of classroom teaching is extremely focused and limited. It boils down to one key sentence:

Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject, but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matter which has no relation to their subject.

I can't find anything in that sentence that addresses the issue raised in this thread.

I would also like to point out, although this may seem obvious, that the AAUP is not a regulatory or governmental agency. Individual institutions can choose to develop or not develop their own academic freedom policies. They may base theirs on the AAUP statement, adopt it wholesale, or ignore it completely. However, for historical purposes and understanding of the general definition and scope of academic freedom, the AAUP statement is invaluable.

Thank you, Madhatter. I was going to look for that myself.

Although the assessment process in question may be useful or not so useful, it's not really a matter of academic freedom.

As for the specific assessment in question by the OP, either do or don't do it. Or cover your bases and do the assessment but don't turn in the results and find out what exactly does happen. And if it's bad consequences for you, you can whip out the assessment results and say "oops, here they are, I forgot to turn them in on time".

And for everyone out there: The assessment mandate is not going away any time soon. Ignore it and you'll end up having someone else developing assessments for you. Get involved while you have the chance.

I absolutely agree that the assessment mandate is not going away any time soon.  While I  don't disagree with melba about getting involved in the process, I tend to opt for gaming the process, such that I can do what's in the best interest of my students while placating the assessment gods and goddesses.

Unfortunately, my experience with outcomes assessment is not positive.  At any institution, and higher ed is definitely an INSTITUTION, both the process and the product are as much a political process and a political product as they are concerned about students and what those students learn.  Even with outcomes assessment, the linkages between and among the courses in my discipline are poorly defined with students not being well served and therefore often poorly prepared for the next level.  

Once an INSTITUTION decides on a course of action, that course will be set, and too often, involvement is futile, because the outcomes of the course of action are predetermined.

On preview:  Candadiantourismguy is a subversive of the first order.

[oldfullprof]

Cosign this last.  And I'm not a member of AAUP, and am a strict constructionist on academic freedom.  Basically I'll teach the class the way I see fit.  I may bring up things some may consider tangental (probably won't, but who knows how others may see it.)  I'll render things unto Ceasar sometimes, and may resist some of them either directly or passive-aggressively.