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Return to Normal:  \nHarnessing Chaos to Create Our New Assessment Future  \n[www.learningoutcomesassessment.org](www.learningoutcomesassessment.org)  \nRebecca C. Hong & Kara Moloney  \nContents  \nAbstract   3  \nThere Is No Return to Normal: Harnessing Chaos to Create Our New Assessment Future   4  \nAssessment Rewind: How We Got Here   5  \nAssessment Professionals: Navigating Disruption. . . . .6 A New Way Forward. . . . .7  \nStep 1: Identify Assumptions. . . . .7  \nStep 2: Break Down the Problem to Fundamental Basics. . . . .9  \nStep 3: Build New Solutions. . . . .10  \nWhat We Say Matters. . . . .10  \nFrom Foundational Truths to Practice   11  \nMoving Forward Together. . . . .12 References   13  \nAbout the Authors   14 About NILOA   15  \nPlease Cite As:  \nHong, R. C., & Moloney, K. (2020, October) . There is no return to normal: Harnessing chaos to create our new assessment future. (Occasional Paper No. 49) . Urbana, IL: University of Illinois and Indiana University, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment.  \nNILOA Mission  \nThe National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA), established in 2008, is a research and resourcedevelopment organization dedicated to documenting, advocating, and facilitating the systematic use of learning outcomes assessment to improve student learning.  \nNational Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment | 2  \nAbstract  \nThe United States is in a period of reckoning from which institutions of higher education are not exempt. Rather, we exist at the intersection of the chaos wrought by the novel coronavirus and the spread of outrage about systemic racism beyond Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPoC) communities. The resulting almost universal sense of loss and uncertainty leads many of us to believe that individuals have little-to-no power to inform, never mind implement, change. Systemic problems require systemic solutions. There can be no return to “normal.” We instead invite our assessment colleagues to question the unexamined assumptions which underlie our heretofore taken-for-granted approaches to assessing and documenting our students’ learning; to reconnect with their foundational beliefs and values; and to fully engage with the uncertainty and complexity of the current moment. This paper offers readers a developmental approach for reflection, identifying potential leverage points, and intentionally creating a new assessment future which proactively includes all of our students.  \nNational Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment | 3  \nThere Is No Return to Normal: Harnessing Chaos to Create Our New Assessment Future  \nWe are living in historic times. The global health pandemic sparked by the novel coronavirus (hereafter: COVID-19) continues to wreak havoc in every corner of the  \nworld. When COVID-19 hit the United States early in 2020, institutions of higher education, not known to be early adopters as a general rule, were forced to respond immediately to a crisis of previously unimagined magnitude. Institutions adopted atriage model, which left decision makers with little time for reflection. With little-to-no warning, final exams and courses were pushed to emergency remote teaching contexts. Staff and faculty packed their laptops, books, and other resources to resume their work in home offices and at dining room tables. Students were asked to move out of campus residences, many with only a few days’ notice. The disruptions of daily life from going to work and school, gathering for rituals such as birthdays and commencements, and seeing friends and family, contributed to a shared sense of disequilibrium.  \nCompounding the anxiety caused by the initial dislocation of higher education, COVID-19 infection and death rates numbers in the U.S. continued to climb in March and eventually hit one million cases by April 28, 2020 (Johns Hopkins University & Medicine, 2020) . Mu","cbCaicNpUMLC7FqV","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaicNpUMLC7FqV","pdf",583976,16,"English","# Abstract\n# There Is No Return to Normal: Harnessing Chaos to Create Our New Assessment Future\n# Assessment Rewind: How We Got Here\n# Assessment Professionals: Navigating Disruption. . . . .6 A New Way Forward. . . . .7\n## Step 1: Identify Assumptions\n## Step 2: Break Down the Problem to Fundamental Basics\n## Step 3: Build New Solutions\n# What We Say Matters\n# From Foundational Truths to Practice\n# Moving Forward Together\n# References","[{\"question\":\"What is the central message of the paper?\",\"answer\":\"There can be no return to “normal.” The paper argues that systemic problems require systemic solutions and challenges assessment professionals to rethink underlying assumptions.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper frame the impact of COVID-19 on higher education assessment?\",\"answer\":\"COVID-19 forced institutions to respond immediately, disrupting course delivery, exams, and student life, creating uncertainty that affects assessment practices.\"},{\"question\":\"What steps does the paper propose for creating a new assessment future?\",\"answer\":\"It outlines a developmental approach: identify assumptions, break the problem into fundamental basics, and build new solutions while engaging complexity and uncertainty.\"}]","There Is No Return to Normal - Occasional Paper 49 - Harnessing Chaos to Create Our New Assessment Future | PDF",1792054985]