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Cindy Cogswell is a postdoctoral fellow for Assessment and Evaluation at the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning (DCAL).
Cindy has graciously agreed to answer any questions that you might have about assessment, or about her experience as an alt-ac postdoc.
Question 1: What is is your educational background, the job you have now, and your dream job?
My dream job involves work that explores issues of learning at a variety of levels within higher education. The details of how I accomplish this work will probably transform over time. In one role, I will discuss how we can improve higher education at the national, regional, and state levels. I will conduct research, communicate stories about data use and institutional change, and fly to D.C. frequently to meet with elected officials, and the USDE.
In another role, I would like to teach in a higher education program and serve as a campus administrator, perhaps doing program review. In another role, I’d like to work for a state department of higher education. I’d like to publish a book within the next 3 years. And, less related, I wouldn’t mind getting paid to teach yoga at some point, and be the lead in a musical somewhere.
In my current position, I am the postdoctoral fellow for assessment and evaluation at Dartmouth College. From my scan of the field, positions like mine are one of two things. Either a new position, where the institution is trying to determine if the campus is responsive to an assessment professional. Or, the role is project focused and the individual is helping to assess or evaluate a specific campus initiative. I see my work fitting into both of those categories.
I have 3 degrees and 1.5 certificates. A BA from the University of Akron (vocal music), MA in from Baldwin-Wallace University (leadership in higher education), and a PhD from Indiana University (higher education and student affairs, with a minor in teaching and learning). I have a certificate in project management, and half of a certificate in institutional research from Indiana University, and I hope to finish the requirements for it before the end of the year.
Question 2: What sorts of jobs, at what sorts of places, do people with similar educational backgrounds as yourself aspire to?
They aspire to leadership. They are leaders at colleges and universities, consulting firms, state departments of education. They lead innovation at think tanks and private research firms. They are faculty, evaluators, consultants, and higher education administrators.
Question 3: What are the big questions, hot controversies, and enduring debates in your discipline?
I wish everyone believed both assessment and accreditation can be inherently meaningful activities; they don’t. I love accreditation, I think it is fascinating and a bit of an intellectual game. Who are the players and what set of rules, parameters, consequences do we need to advance collegiate learning in this country? I don’t think I’ll ever tire of that question.
Most people don’t feel this way, they view it as burdensome, time consuming, and another compliance exercise. There is limited research on accreditation, but the research suggests that the institutions that embrace the self-study as an opportunity to focus on improvement (maybe it’s just one thing) benefit far more than those who passively comply.
Question 4: So, that leads me to one of my own questions. What is the difference between assessment and research? Is there a difference?
I think every assessment book I own starts off with defining what is and is not assessment. Do you know what we’ve been talking about increased accountability for institutional performance for thirty years? Thirty years. This conversation is old enough to have a mortgage and probably some graduate coursework too. But seriously, the conversation is traced back to the mid-1980s where several white papers called for evidence of student achievement, and the National Governors Association kicked off requirements for public institutions.
Assessment most commonly refers to the measurement of what an individual knows and can do. I like to refer to Banta and Palomba’s (2015) definition, “assessment is the process of providing credible evidence of resources, implementation actions, and outcomes undertaken for the purpose of improving the effectiveness of instruction, programs, and services in higher education.”
Research aims to make generalizable claims. The works of assessment and research can look quite similar, and many times are.
Question 5: What advice would you give about succeeding as an alternative academic (alt-ac) postdoc?
I think many people would have delayed some of the choices I’ve already made based on fear, or preconceived notions of what experience you must have for certain age brackets. If there is something that energizes you, excites you, and that the world needs-- go after it. And, if you know what you want to do requires a doctorate-- get it.
Continue to cultivate disciplined habits. If you’re tottering on the edge of a career switch, consider if it’s the kind of risk that excites you and fills you with wonder-- those are the kind most often worth taking.
Do you have any questions for Dr. Cogswell?
