Undergraduate Curriculum Forum (UCF) October 2, 2008

AGENDA ITEM DISCUSSION OUTCOME AND/OR DECISION

NEAAN Conference - November 7, 2008 at Worcester State College M. Kennedy reports that the Provost will provide funding for five (5) faculty to attend the conference. M. Kennedy will send out announcement to faculty regarding conference. If more than 5 faculty are interested in attending, a random drawing will be conducted to select those who will receive funding. Any PRAC members interested in attending should contact M. Kennedy.

Procedures and Processes for Undergraduate Program Review Letters from PRAC to each of the departments scheduled for undergraduate program review will be generated by the Office of Assessment and Planning. Departments will be notified in writing that their reports should include evidence of Standards 1 through 3. Departments will also be notified of the specific date that the report should be submitted to UCF. After discussion, PRAC determined that an electronic submission of the report will be requested. Notifications letters to departments to be sent by early next week.

Meeting between departments scheduled for review during AY 2008-2009 and PRAC As previously discussed by PRAC, we will be inviting departments scheduled for academic review this academic year to our next PRAC meeting (October 16th). The purpose of this meeting is to provide an overview of Standards 1 through 3 and to allow for questions that individual departments may have. L. Rebeschi will send an email invitation to the following departments inviting them to the 10/16 meeting: Journalism, Communication Disorders, Biology, Nursing, Psychology, Media Studies, and Political Science.

Plans for informing and meeting with Departments scheduled for 2009-2010 program review Because departments scheduled for review during the next academic year will need to be actively engaged in their self study, these departments all need the opportunity to meet with PRAC this semester. Some of these departments will be conducting a complete self-study in preparation for outside accreditation and will need to plan for external review. Date for meeting with departments scheduled for review during AY 2009-2010 to be determined at next PRAC meeting.

Program review in relation to department minors E. West and T. Lin raised questions about program review in relation to department minors. As previously decided, program evaluation of minors will not be conducted with this first five year cycle. Specifically, the issues related to minors still needs to be discussed by UWIC and UCF.

Direct vs. Indirect Measures Discussion took place surrounding the variety of measures (i.e. surveys, benchmarking, branding, portfolios) that programs might utilize in their program review. Issues of validity, reliability, and limitations to specific measurements were discussed.

PRAC also discussed the possibility of sharing resources regarding this issue on the PRAC website or in future campus wide workshops sponsored by PRAC. As previously decided, I. Antonios and P. Kahlbaugh agreed to share other types of surveys with the committee at the 10/16 meeting. A continued discussion on this issue is necessary.

Resources for departments undergoing program review D. Weiss raised question of resources that will be provided and how departments will be made aware of these resources. As previously decided by the Provost, departments undergoing a complete program review will be granted 6 credits of reassign time to be utilized as the individual department sees fit. These details will also be included in the letter of notification sent to the department.

The Office of Assessment and Planning will also provide resources for data analysis of surveys conducted by departments. Summary reports will be generated and provided to the department.

Meeting adjourned at 10:55am

Next PRAC meeting scheduled for Thur 10/16 from 9:35a-10:50am