Educational Development Efforts Aligned With the Assessment Cycle

Using an assessment cycle as an organizing framework, this article illustrates how educational development and assessment mutually complement each other. It describes an assessment study conducted to determine if two colleges at a small university met their strategic goals to increase the adoption of learning‐centered teaching. This study served the parallel function of assessing the impact of sustained educational development efforts by the Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTL) to promote learning‐centered teaching. The majority of interviewed faculty reported using learning‐centered approaches. The data collection method itself also served as a teachable moment for faculty who do not attend CTL events. Then, the data were used to create further development efforts, thus completing the assessment cycle. Subsequent events educated faculty about rarely used or not understood components of learning‐centered teaching.