Accountability, Pragmatic Aims, and the American University [Paperback]

Accountability, Pragmatic Aims, and the American Universityframes the debates on teaching and learning accountability in Higher Education. By examining significant historic periods in Higher Education, Mart?nez-Alem?n explores the present apprehension about accountability in todays colleges and universities. Throughout the books chapters, Mart?nez-Alem?n uses the pragmatic philosophy of John Dewey to enlighten current understandings of professional freedoms and she also discusses democratic imperatives in light of accountability obligations: the teaching of undergraduates, data and empirical research on college teaching and learning, and the institutional policies for graduate student and faculty teaching development. This book reveals the tensions between the democratic character of the universityqualities that may seem irreconcilable with accountability metricsand the corporate or managerial economies of modern American universities. Higher Education faculty, administrators, public policy makers, and students enrolled in Higher Education Masters and PhD programs will find that this book informs their practice and will serve to contribute to the debates on accountability for years to come.

1. Introduction: Accountability and the Universitys Democratic Imperatives

2. The Historic Purposes of Higher Learning in America and the Challenge of Accountability

3. Postsecondary Teaching

4. The Rise of Managerialism

5. The Academic Profession and Undergraduate Teaching

6. Higher Learning in the 21^stCentury University

7. Conclusions

Finally, the higher education community has a clear work that brings thoughtfulness to university accountability! Mart?nez-Alem?n brings presidents and provosts to their senses with a concise, insightful guide through thl3s