While institutions have crisis management plans, they are often focused on face-to-face students and the physical campus. In this case study, researchers investigated the crisis response for online students at one institution after Hurricane Harvey hit the Houston, Texas, area in the fall of 2017. While face-to-face students were not severely impacted, more than a thousand online students were in the impact zone and in danger of dropping out. With financial resources and student retention at risk, campus leaders approved a strategy to delay online courses for several weeks. This study examines the experiences of the front-line staff who implemented the plan. Findings suggest that institutions need a proactive crisis plan for online students that includes understanding where this population resides, how different campus units can provide support in a crisis, who should lead the crisis response, and what kind of care can be offered to the front-line responders during the crisis period.
Although touted as beneficial to student learning, cultures of assessment have not been examined adequately using validated instruments. Using data collected from a stratified, random sample (N = 370) of U.S. institutional research and assessment directors, the models tested in this study provide empirical support for the value of using the Administrators’ Survey of Assessment Cultures as an assessment tool. The resulting first order model provided good fit statistics and included five factors: a) Faculty Perceptions, b) Use of Data, c) Sharing, d) Compliance or Fear Motivators, and e) Normative Purposes for Assessment. Internal consistency estimates were also good (Cronbach’s α = .792 to .922). Use of the Schmid-Leiman solution afforded further support for the higher order factor, Culture of Assessment. Predictive discriminant analysis correctly classified the majority of the respondents (80.7%) as belonging to a student learning or accreditation group based on the linear classification scores. Implications for assessment leadership, practice, and future research are offered.
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