Standard Number 3.4.1: The institution demonstrates that each educational program for which academic credit is awarded (a) is approved by the faculty and the administration, and (b) establishes and evaluates program and learning outcomes:

(Recommendation 5) The Committee recommends that the University be consistent in establishing learning outcomes across all educational programs and in developing and implementing assessments to evaluate these outcomes.

Georgia Southern University prepares several reports having a direct or indirect relationship to the establishment and evaluation of educational program and learning outcomes:

•  Program Reviews (mandated by the Board of Regents) for the purpose of “evaluating academic programs in terms of their quality, viability, and productivity of efforts in teaching and learning, scholarship, and service as they related to the institutional mission.”

•  Annual Reports for the purpose of highlighting accomplishments that occurred during the year of record.

•  Level III (academic and support unit) Strategic Plans.

•  Institutional Effectiveness Plans (IEP) for the purpose of formal assessment, on a 3-year cyclical basis, of student learning outcomes and programmatic outcomes and connection of the outcomes with the University's mission and strategic plan.

Although there is some mention of program outcomes in the Program Reviews, Annual Reports, and Level III Strategic Plans, none of these documents was designed to focus particularly on student learning outcomes. The first use of IEPs for assessing and reporting on student learning outcomes occurred over the period of 2002-2005. As acknowledged by the University, based on the results of this first year cycle of use of the IEPs, understanding of measurement and assessment tools in evaluating student learning outcomes has been inconsistent across academic units. The University is taking several steps to ensure a more consistent identification of student learning outcomes and the evaluation of learning outcomes across all academic units:

•  Engaging faculty in workshops to broaden understanding of the development of student learning outcomes and their assessment and evaluation.

•  Initiating a new cycle of IEPs.

•  Proposing the elimination of Level III Strategic Plans for academic departments.

•  Using findings from the IEPs in Program Reviews and Annual Reports.

The Committee acknowledges the University's ongoing review of the IEP process and its relationship to other planning and evaluation activities and also acknowledges the University's plans to conduct another IEP cycle with modifications based on the findings of the review.

Response:

As noted in Georgia Southern University's peer review and referenced in the on-site review team's response above, the University is taking several steps to ensure a more consistent identification of student learning outcomes and the evaluation of learning outcomes across all academic units, including initiating a new cycle of Institutional Effectiveness Plans (now called Action and Assessment Plans) [see second bullet, Comprehensive Standard 3.4.1, p. 2]. The Leadership Team's response to Comprehensive Standard 3.3.1 (p. 4) provides the timeline for this new cycle of Action and Assessment Plans and describes the Leadership Team's efforts to refine the processes involved in this next round of data collection (Comprehensive Standard 3.3.1, pp. 2-4).

In addition, the University is taking several steps to ensure a more consistent identification of student learning outcomes and the evaluation of learning outcomes across all academic units, including engaging faculty in workshops to broaden understanding of the development of student learning outcomes and their assessment and evaluation (first bullet, Comprehensive Standard 3.4.1, p. 2). The training sessions undertaken as well as those planned for the fall semester have been described in the response to Core Requirement 2.12 (Recommendation 1, pp. 2-3). Other efforts undertaken by the Leadership Team to clarify the processes that support the creation of institutional effectiveness plans and the establishment of appropriate student learning outcomes have been previously documented in the response to Comprehensive Standard 3.3.1 (p. 3). In addition, work sessions related to general education learning outcomes were held throughout June and July of 2005**. The chair of the General Education Committee attended the AAC&U Institute on General Education (May 20-25, 2005) related to assessment and learning outcomes as well as the “Evidence-Based Decision-Making” workshop at Texas A&M.

Again, as noted, the University is taking several steps to ensure a more consistent identification of student learning outcomes and the evaluation of learning outcomes across all academic units, including proposing the elimination of Level III Strategic Plans for academic departments (third bullet, Comprehensive Standard 3.4.1, p. 2) and using findings from the IEPs in Program Reviews and Annual Reports (fourth bullet, Comprehensive Standard, p. 2). A discussion of the University's new planning process which includes the elimination of Level III strategic plans for academic departments is contained in the response to Comprehensive Standard 3.3.1 (pp. 3-4). The 3.3.1 response also describes the manner in which the findings of the Action and Assessment Plans will be used (pp. 3-4).

** The General Education Committee consisted of Dean Jane Rhoades Hudak, Dean Anny Morrobel-Sosa (Chair), Associate Dean Bret Danilowicz, and Associate Dean Olivia Carr Edenfield.