{"id":26743,"date":"2013-09-20T11:38:59","date_gmt":"2013-09-20T18:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=26743"},"modified":"2016-02-20T12:10:20","modified_gmt":"2016-02-20T19:10:20","slug":"striding-toward-measures-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/striding-toward-measures-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Striding toward measures of success"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laura Huenneke, Provost<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

As some of you know, I have tried to keep up my running (or more accurately jogging) despite the challenges of desk job and time pressures. This summer, I decided to push a little past my comfortable routine by paying more attention to distance and time.<\/p>\n

My husband\u2019s gift of a fancy runner\u2019s watch and GPS unit allows me to track routes, distances, elevation and pace. After downloading results on the computer, one can even re-play a simulation of the entire run. (It\u2019s especially entertaining with one\u2019s spouse in the background belting out the theme from Rocky.<\/i>)<\/p>\n

The data provided great insight and motivation. Though I did not miraculously become younger or speedier, both pace and endurance did improve as I watched results over the weeks.<\/p>\n

I was reminded of the business maxim that you \u201cget\u201d\u2014or can manage and improve\u2014only what you measure. This message applies equally well to our work and accomplishments as a university.<\/p>\n

The state is using performance measures to determine a portion of our appropriated funding. The Arizona Board of Regents is measuring our progress<\/a> toward specific 2020 targets. The broader public, including students and their families, is increasingly interested in documented results.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not so much about inputs (how much enrollment growth, how many programs offered). Instead, it\u2019s about results, in terms of students succeeding\u2014courses completed, degrees granted. And not just in terms of numbers. We are increasingly challenged to describe and demonstrate student learning and development.<\/p>\n

As a public institution, we owe it to our stakeholders to be accountable for results. Last week\u2019s speaker, George Mehaffy<\/a>, saluted the presenters at the Faculty Showcase for being so focused on evidence and data in our student success and course re-design efforts. While initial results might not be all we hope for, looking honestly at those results is the only way to make progress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Laura Huenneke, Provost As some of you know, I have tried to keep up my running (or more accurately jogging) despite the challenges of desk job and time pressures. This summer, I decided to push a little past my comfortable routine by paying more attention to distance and time. My husband\u2019s gift of a…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":25691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[186,469,468,70,38,24],"class_list":["post-26743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-views-from-nau","tag-arizona-board-of-regents","tag-george-mehaffy","tag-higher-education-metrics","tag-laura-huenneke","tag-nau","tag-northern-arizona-university"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}