The Development of JCIRP: Self-reported Survey System to Assess Student Learning Outcomes

Universities and colleges in Japan have experienced sweeping and sudden changes during the last ten years. Many factors are related to the change, including the universalization of HE and an obligatory accreditation system. The eQuality assurance´ movement has rushed us into the reform of the curriculum, programs, and pedagogy. Many universities and colleges have now put an emphasis on teaching and learning rather than research. One of the new trends is exemplified in the rising movement for learning outcomes assessment. However, in Japan, we have comparatively less historical experience of assessing learning outcomes and students´ growth through standardized tests and student self-reported surveys. Since 2004 our research group has developed an approach employing student survey systems for learning improvement, the so called JCIRP (Japanese Cooperative Institutional Research Program). This paper demonstrates how we have tackled the development of indirect assessment and how we have connected it to direct assessment in the framework of quality assurance.