Aligning Goals and Practices

1
Aligning Goals and Practices

• Meg Malmberg
• Alan Belcher

2
Context for Change

• Declining enrollments
• Expansion by public institutions
• Tuition differential
• Lack of distinctiveness
• Lack of quality indicators

3
What Changed?

• Learner-Centered Environment
• Program Reviews
• Public Culture of Assessment
• Performance Appraisal

4
Learner Centered Environment

• Superior graduates
• Barr Tagg, 1995
• Recognition of changing population
• Creation of distinctive approach

5
What We Did

• Change in pedagogy
• Focus on differing learner needs
• Liberal Learning Outcomes
• First Year Experience Foundation
• Across all levels, all disciplines
• Senior Capstone development

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How this changed us

• Hard work
• Faculty workload changed
• Faculty recruiting changed
• Student recruiting changed

7
Speedbumps

• Lack of clear understanding
• How to infuse across curriculum
• Constant changes
• Certain unwillingness to change

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Program Review

• Assure development of outcomes at program level
• Assure quality of academic programs
• Assure appropriate allocation of scarce
  institutional resources

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What We Did

• Instituted required biennial program reviews
• Third iteration this year
• Committee rates each program
• Committee recommends changes and resource
  allocation
• Committee calls for follow-up by faculty

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More

• Closed programs
• Changed organizational structure
• Reallocated faculty resources
• Recommended changes to facilities and
  institutional processes
• Requested reports from non-academic programs

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How this changed us

• Programs became mission-centered and
  outcomes-driven
• Acceptance of peer-review process
• Allows free discussion of problems
• Highlights impact of multiple facets facilities,
  academics, budget
• Mechanism for public recognition of excellence

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Speedbumps

• First round enrollment driven
• Lack of follow up on first round
• Program-selected external reviewers not always
  objective
• Confidentiality during process
• Hard to get committee members

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Culture of Assessment

• Evidence that our outcomes approach promotes
  learning and produces superior graduates

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What We Did

• Developed comprehensive assessment plans
  student, course, program, institution
• Used external and internal tools
• Developed peer review of courses
• Defined need for direct measures

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How this changed us

• Integrated academics and student life
• Provided cross-discipline collaboration
• Focused on resource allocation
• Provided for more faculty scholarship
• Defined need for faculty development
• Forced new students into appropriate levels
• Shared results with faculty, administration,
  students, and board

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NSSE Benchmark
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Assessment Committee

• Academic program plan development
• Rubric
• Peer review of student learning
• Accountability

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Academic Profile
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Speedbumps

• Cost
• Time and energy
• Transfer students
• Parallel systems
• Independent learning plans

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Performance Appraisal

• Promote or force institutional and individual
  change
• Demand from board
• Demand from high performers

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What We Did

• Specified the scale for all employees
• Identified single criterion for faculty
• Set aside salary pool at front of budget process
• Trained department chairs to make merit
  recommendations

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More

• Aligned faculty merit performance appraisal with
  criteria described in faculty governance manual
• Aligned staff merit performance with goals linked
  to mission
• Identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
  challenges for staff
• Linked merit with strategic vision

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How this changed us

• Performers are rewarded
• From culture of affiliation to culture of
  achievement
• Expectations are clear for faculty
• Evidence from faculty garnered respect from
  non-academic administrators
• Increased attention to reflective practice

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Performance Scores
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Performance Scores
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Speedbumps

• Must simplify the process
• Must tie appraisal to contract renewal
• Grievance process
• Must train dept. chairs to critique faculty
  performance
• More emphasis on reflective practice

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Challenges

• Simplify our processes
• Develop better understanding among all employees
• Improve retention
• Strengthen creativity outcome

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Successes

• CIC Foundations of Excellence

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Successes

• CIC Foundations of Excellence
• AACU Integrative Learning

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Successes

• CIC Foundations of Excellence
• AACU Integrative Learning
• NSSE Scores

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Successes

• CIC Foundations of Excellence
• AACU Integrative Learning
• NSSE Scores
• Academic Profile Evidence

32
Successes

• CIC Foundations of Excellence
• AACU Integrative Learning
• NSSE Scores
• Academic Profile Evidence
• National Recognition

33
Comments and Questions

• www.ucwv.edu