
Making assessment user-friendly helps students succeed
On October 23, 2018 by aquenette@gmail.comSometimes you come across an idea/process/presentation and it is Ah.Mazing. Today for me, that presentation was given by Dr. Clifton Franklund from Ferris State University at the 2018 IUPUI Assessment Institute. Amidst what sounds like a discouraging and chaotic situation on campus, Dr. Franklund has developed a beautiful, intuitive and actually useful method of collecting,

I threw out my grade book
On October 11, 2018 by aquenette@gmail.comIt happened to me like a bolt of lightning. I was grading work, sitting in the public library, while my kids ran around pretending they were taking a time travel rocket back to the age of the dinosaurs. While I might have preferred to be reading one of the many books on my Goodreads list, I

Instructor as grace – Bringing goodwill to the classroom
On January 4, 2020 by aquenette@gmail.comWith another close of the semester, it’s a great time to reflect and re-energize before the next begins. The end of the semester is often fraught with student complaints (anxieties), professor frustrations (stress), and tricky situations (ethical and moral problems) to manage. That said, we’re exhausted by the time those final grades are posted. It

A Problem of Faculty Accountability
On October 29, 2019 by aquenette@gmail.comIn the non-externally accredited fields, we have a crisis. This crisis has been lurking for many years. It is persistent, often unspoken. It derails quality initiatives and ensures we will continue with middling levels of student achievement, retention, graduation rates, and successful job placements. I’m talking about faculty accountability. As faculty and instructors, we are

A Factor of Many
On August 24, 2018 by aquenette@gmail.comAs like most people, I’m not one thing. I’m a factor of many. And so are you. Occurrences in this domain are beyond the reach of exact prediction because of the variety of factors in operation, not because of any lack of order in nature. –