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Compliance Certification Section 3.4.1
Educational Programs Standards for All Educational Programs
The institution demonstrates that each educational program for which academic credit is awarded is (a) approved by the faculty and the administration, and (b) establishes and evaluates program and learning outcomes.
Coker College is in compliance.
Faculty and Administrative Approval
All educational programs for which the College awards academic credit
are approved by the Curriculum Committee of the Faculty Senate. The Bylaws
of the Faculty Senate [608]
,
state the purpose of the Curriculum Committee:
7.1.5 This committee will periodically review and recommend policies on the following matters to the Faculty Senate, with the final position in these matters resting with the Faculty Senate:
7.1.5.1 the curriculum structure of the college; and
7.1.5.2. all substantive catalog changes related to curriculum, such as introduction of new courses, designation of prerequisites, changing of course levels, dropping courses, and changing of course descriptions. [608, p 5, Article VI-7.1]
The Faculty Senate
is given by the college bylaws the authority to formulate the academic
program of the College in [428, Article VI part J: Constitution of the Faculty Senate]. Since the bylaws were adopted in January 1988, the senate
has maintained the curriculum using this procedure. The minutes of the
Faculty Senate clearly show the process of approving and controlling curricular
matters, which includes the introduction of any new programs.
The administration is also involved in this approval. Under the description
of the duties of the President,
the Bylaws of Coker College state that "he or she shall have authority
to veto any action of the faculty, when in his judgment such action is
not in harmony with the aims and laws of the College, or when he may deem
such action unwise" [428, p 11, Article V part A].
This provision gives the President the authority to veto the creation
of a new program if he deems it to be unwise or contrary to the aims of
the College. Therefore, only with presidential approval can a new program
be created.
The most recent example of program creation is the Criminology
Program, which was approved by the Faculty Senate in January, 2003,
as is shown in minutes of the meeting, found in [326, p 5].
Establishing and Evaluating Learning and Program Outcomes
Outcomes for learning specific skills (e.g. foreign language) or bodies of knowledge (e.g. calculus) are established and evaluated by course instructors through exams, papers, and presentations. Syllabi are required to include a standardized checksheet with the technology skills that will be used in the course.
Outcomes for learning the four general education core skills found in
the second paragraph of the college mission
statement are established and evaluated through the Institutional
Effectiveness Committee, using an online survey of instructors (see
the instructions in [1052]). Evidence supporting competencies in these
skills is found in Section
3.5.1.
The Institutional Effectiveness Committee requires that each major program has a plan for establishing and evaluating learning and program outcomes. See Academic Programs for links to documentation of individual programs. The College's effectiveness model is described in Section 2.5 .
Two required elements of each program's plan are: incorporation of core skills outcomes, and use of capstone course outcomes. Because students must pass the capstone experience to graduate, this is a major learning outcome for each program. This is evidenced by the following excerpts from effectiveness improvements history documents (on the program pages):
Since 1994, members of the English faculty have evaluated English 400: Senior Seminar papers and submitted grades to the professor teaching the course. All of the students completing the class in the fall semester of 2003 were able to analyze and synthesize material from a variety of sources. Their papers demonstrated their ability to present an argument via support and organization. The papers also attested to the students' masteries of clear writing and appropriate tone [1320]
Capstone experiences include actual applications for jobs, internships and graduate schools in the senior seminar class, the presentation of a senior thesis project in dance and performance of mastered skills in informal showings. (Dance, from [1461]
The math capstone course program (Math 498) was established in 1993-1994. Because it was immediately seen as successful, the initial one-credit requirement was expanded to three one-credit classes, one per semester during the last junior semester and both senior semesters. We also developed an in-class assessment form to keep track of student performance and to give student feedback from both the professors and their peers. This has been an excellent assessment tool. The skills of students in this seminar are easy to discern. They each give presentations that showcase their oral and written communications skills as well as their mathematical acumen and knowledge of the discipline. (Mathematics, [1412]
[T]he 22 teacher education students who completed their studies at Coker College in the 2001-2002 academic year had a 95% pass rate on the content and curriculum portions of the Praxis II tests. (Education, from [1363]
Other typical methods of evaluating program outcomes include:
- Program retention and graduation rates
- Achievement of admissions goals for programs
- Exit interviews with graduates
- Uniform written exit surveys
- Performance on professional or licensure exams
- Graduate school attendance and success (at other institutions--Coker College has no graduate school)
- Successful employment after graduation
- Responses from alumni a few years after graduation, on the alumni survey
Reference Documents Cited
| ID | Type | Source | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 326 | HTML DOC PDF | Fac. Senate: Faculty Senate Chair | Faculty Senate Meeting, 01-16-03 | Meeting Minutes |
| 428 | HTML DOC PDF | Board of Trustees | Bylaws | College Bylaws. Mission and goals, trustees, faculty senate, officers of the college, honorary degrees, emeritus faculty, calendars, amendments |
| 608 | HTML DOC PDF | Fac. Senate: Faculty Senate Chair | Bylaws of the Faculty Senate | Faculty senate bylaws, membership, officers, meetings, divisions, departments, standing committees, special committees, elections, amendments |
| 1052 | HTML | Office: Institutional Research | Instructions for Core Skills Survey | Instructions on how to fill out the end-of-term survey of students on effective writing, speaking, analytical thinking, creative thinking using the web-based form |
| 1320 | Academic: Language, Literature, and Comm. Dept. | English Assessment Report, 2003 | English Assessment Report, 2003 | |
| 1363 | DOC PDF | Academic: Education Dept. | Education Program Effectiveness Improvements, 2000-03 | History of effectiveness improvements to the Education Program |
| 1412 | DOC PDF | Office: Business | Business Operations Description and Effectiveness Improvements | Describes the functions of Business Operations and improvements made 1998-2003 |
| 1461 | DOC PDF | Academic: Performing Arts Dept. | Effectiveness Plan for Dance | Dance Effectiveness Plan; Assessment-Objectives |