Questions for Institutional Reflection
In Preparation for the Educational Effectiveness Review Visit
Questions about:
Mission, Vision, Values, Alignment
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Do you know if the University has a mission, vision, and values? Do you know if they are posted anywhere?
- Do you think our institution’s external constituents know the University’s mission, vision, and values?
- Are our institution’s degrees rigorous and aligned with our mission ?
- Can our institution’s programs be completed in a timely manner?
- Are our institution’s educational objectives and experiences appropriate for our students, given their particular backgrounds and their intended objectives?
- How does our institution’s mission and the characteristics of our students affect our definitions and measurements of student success?
- How effectively does our institution review and modify its courses and programs to reflect new knowledge and changes in the needs of society?
- Have University Learning Outcomes been established?
- Do you know if we check to see if the University Learning Outcomes are being achieved?
- Are our curricula, co-curriculum activities, and other educational experiences aligned with our University Learning Outcomes?
- Does our institution connect its curriculum and services to the surrounding communities, through such initiatives as service learning?
- In what ways does our institution align and commit its fiscal, physical, and human resources to fulfill our mission, and learning outcomes?
- Do our institution’s information resources and related support and facilities support and enhance student learning? Do they meet the needs of faculty and students?
- Does our institution have student support services that are appropriate to our mission, our programs, the needs of our students, our educational objectives, and our particular approach to teaching and learning?
- How does the institution identify the special needs of transfer students and determine that institutional educational objectives are met even if coursework is taken in other institutions?
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University Outcomes and Data
- Are student learning outcomes established, communicated in syllabi and publications, and cited by faculty and advisors?
- Do we gather, analyze, and use information about the needs and preferences of students to create an overall climate conducive to student and institutional learning?
- Does our institution have a systematic process for measuring student achievement? Does it include a summative assessment of student learning?
- To what extent does our institution ensure that students develop expected core learning abilities and competencies before they graduate?
- Does our institution have evidence that it is achieving or making progress toward meeting institutional goals?
- Does our institution publish data on retention and completion? Does it analyze this data in disaggregated form?
- Do our institution’s programs lead to retention and graduation rates appropriate to our institution and student population?
- In what areas does our institution need to make changes to improve retention and graduation rates? What plans have we made?
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Assessment and Review
- Are our curricula, co-curriculum activities, and other educational experiences regularly reviewed and revised, based on outcomes and assessment findings?
- Do program assessment plans include multiple methods of assessment?
- Who collects and analyzes the data for assessment?
- How does Institutional Research support the assessment of student learning processes?
- Are external stakeholders involved in the assessment of the effectiveness of educational programs?
- Is program review used to assess program effectiveness and student learning?
- Are program reviews linked to the resource allocation process to provide for needed improvements?
- Is there support and rewards for faculty and other educators on campus to develop expertise in assessment of students learning?
- Does our institution include part-time faculty in academic processes that affect student learning?
- Do faculty demonstrate responsibility for assessment and improvement of learning?
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Scholarship and Creative Activity
- In what ways does our institution encourage and disseminate innovations in teaching and learning, and discuss their implications for curriculum and pedagogy?
- To what extent do our institution’s resources, services, and information technology respond to faculty needs with respect to scholarly activity and curricular development?
- To what extent does our institution explore assumptions that shape the design and organization of its educational objectives and programs, and generate new approaches to teaching and learning?
- How does our institution engage students directly in scholarship and creative activity?
- Are our master’s programs adequately supported with the full array of resources expected for graduate level study?
- Is there an intellectual culture as would be expected for graduate study?
- In what ways do the institution’s policies and administrative procedures encourage and support scholarship, instructional innovation and creative activity, as well as learning about pedagogy and learning theory?
- How effectively do our workload policies and practices balance appropriate expectations for faculty scholarship and creative activity, teaching assignments, and other uses of faculty time?
- How do policies on promotion and tenure address the scholarship of teaching and learning? Is this scholarship valued by the institution?
- Does our institution provide to part-time faculty professional development to improve teaching and learning?
- Are new faculty provided with appropriate orientation?
- Are faculty provided with training on how to deliver online courses?
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Campus Climate
- Do we promote and uphold sound ethical practices and respect for humanity through our teaching, scholarship, and service, as well as our administrative practices?
- Do we support academic freedom?
- Do we support a climate of academic inquiry and engagement for all members of the campus community?
- Is there a climate of respect for a diversity of backgrounds, ideas and perspectives?
- In what ways does our institution promote and provide a campus environment in which students are encouraged to explore and express a diversity of ideas and opinions?
- Are student grievances and complaints addressed promptly, appropriately, and equitably?
- How effective is advising and mentoring in helping students to benefit from available educational opportunities and resources?
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Planning
- Do we actively use our institution’s educational objectives as guides for decision-making, resource allocation, and action?
- Are assessment plans integrated into strategic plans?
- To what extent do planning efforts lead to priorities and clear institutional implementation activities?
- In what ways does our institution reinforce a culture of evidence throughout the organization?
- Has our institution established benchmarks based on comparable institutions’ performance?
- What are comparable institutions against which we can benchmark results?
- Do we have exemplary or emerging practices worthy of sharing with other institutions in the region?
- What are areas that we know need improvement or change? Have targets or milestones been set?
- Do we have a plan for ongoing attention to educational effectiveness that will cover the next seven to ten years?
- What steps should be taken to ensure that processes for evaluating effectiveness are sustained into the future and embedded into the practices of our institution?
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Leadership
- Does our institution’s leadership communicate effectively with the campus community?
- Is the institution’s leadership effective? Is the institution well managed?
- How does our leadership create and sustain an institutional climate that actively fosters effective teaching and learning?
- How does our institution ensure that its established organizational structures, governance, and decision-making processes are being followed and respected?
- How does our institution encourage and support the active exercise of leadership and responsibility at all levels?
- How does our institution interpret and put into practice shared governance?
- Does the institution incorporate appropriate faculty participation in planning and decision-making?
- Is the faculty vested with sufficient authority over academic programs and policies?
- How does our institution define the role of students in campus decision-making and how is that role exercised?
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Fiscal, Physical, and Human Resources
- Is our institution operating within its operating revenues and budgets?
- How does our institution assess the continuing adequacy of its fiscal, physical, and information resources?
- In what ways does our institution engage the campus community in the process of determining and deploying its fiscal, physical, and information assets?
- In what ways does our institution ensure that its organizational structures and decision-making processes remain appropriately aligned with its size, complexity, character, institutional purposes, and service to students?
- How does our institution ensure that we support non-academic staff in a manner that encourages their effectiveness?
- How does our institution ensure that its members develop the critical information literacy skills needed to locate, evaluate, and responsibly use information?
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