Cases on Institutional Research Systems

Burley (educational psychology, Texas Tech U.) collects 26 cases in institutional research for research practitioners, faculty members and administrators doing program assessments. The first section addresses institutional research as a profession and how to think about the field and implement good practice, including the institutional researcher as a leader and cases on external funding and enterprise resource planning systems. This is followed by discussion of informatics, including data mining for analyzing academic performance, geospatial information systems for strategic planning and research, and machine learning techniques in student dropout prediction. Other topics discussed include the development of higher education courses and culture, with student learning as a focus and discussion of the use of experimental design to study the effectiveness of honor codes. Other cases involve developing distance learning and online hybrid programs and courses; program assessments, with focus on diversity and specific assessment plans; and university or college-wide assessment for specialized accreditation and learning outcomes. Authors are based mostly in the US and work in education, educational psychology, information systems, curriculum and instruction, instructional technology, and other higher education fields. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)