Faculty Senate Presentation
September 17, 2014
Impetus
 2003-04 – Dean Miller and Dr. Gray collected information on how the core was assessed
within divisions. Mostly Informal Process.
 2005-06 – Academy Effectiveness Board worked on defining the core and mapping
attributes to departments. Core course assessment active at the department level.
 2009 – Academy Effectiveness Board charged with assessing the core compared to the
needs of the Navy.
 2012 – August Academic Assembly Off-Site devoted to assessment of core learning.
 2013 – October MSCHE Self-Study Institute (for institutions preparing for an
accreditation visit)
Effective educational offerings thus begin with expected learning outcomes
statements, expressed in observable terms, of the knowledge, skills, and competencies
that students are expected to exhibit upon successful completion of a course,
academic program, co-curricular program, general education requirement, or other
specific set of experiences.
MSCHE Characteristics of Excellence Standard 11: Educational Offerings
Charge
 November 2013
 Create a process for defining the core curriculum’s
overarching outcomes representing the broad learning
that takes place in the core courses.

Scope: Limited to core requirement (credit bearing
academic courses).
 Senior Professors, Deputy Division Directors and Chairs
of the Faculty Senate Assessment Committee and
Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee

Core Learning Outcomes Task Force
 Two Pronged Approach Determined
CLOTF
 January 2014 – CLOTF Introductory Meeting
 PURPOSE OF THE TASK FORCE. The purpose of the
“Core Learning Outcome Task Force" is to generate a draft list of broad
student learning outcomes that ALL graduates of the Naval Academy ought to achieve,
along with suggestions as to how USNA can assess them. This draft will be forwarded to
the Academic Dean's office for further consideration.
 COMPOSITION OF THE TASK FORCE. As chairs of the Faculty Senate's Curriculum and
Assessment Committees, Prof Peter Guth and CAPT Jeff Macris will co-chair
the Task Force. Other members will include 2 reps from the Curriculum Committee and 2 reps
from the Assessment Committee (Assoc Prof Shirley Lin from Chemistry and CDR Joe
McInerney from LEAD Division), plus CAPT Hank Adams (Pro-Dev Div Dir), CAPT Matt Carr
(Eng & Weapons Deputy Div Dir), and CDR Jay Dantone (a rep from Commandant's office
who's working on the USNA's revision of the Professional Core Competencies). The three
academic division senior professors will be invited to all of the meetings of the Task Force and
should be cc'd on all important correspondence. All divisions are represented on the task force,
and there should be a reasonable mix of civilians and officers.
 Sub-groups should consist of a reasonable balance of civilians and officers. It is expected that
the results of these two parallel investigations can be integrated into a unified list of draft
student learning outcomes.
CLOTF Activities
Study of Existing Core
Course Outcomes
Fleet Perspective: Focus
Groups with Officers at USNA
Directed by Prof. Guth
Directed by CAPT Macris
Study of the courses that are
currently part of the “Core” in order
to make explicit those broad learning
outcomes that are currently being
addressed in the existing core.
Via Focus Groups: Reach out
to USNA rotational Navy and Marine
officers and Permanent Military
Professors to collect a fleet
perspective concerning which
student learning outcomes the Naval
Academy should adopt.
Produced
Core Outcome Matrix
Working DRAFT Overarching
Outcomes
Produced
Summary of Fleet Officer Focus
Group Recommendations
AAC&U General Education &
Assessment Institute
--Week long workshops, consultations and team work
time with nationally recognized experts as faculty and
consultants.
--Limited Space/Competitive Admissions
--Applied and Accepted in February 2014 for June Institute.
Attended by:
Dean Cermak, Dr. D’Archangelo, CDR McInerney, Dr.
McWilliams, and Dean Waters (limit of 5)
AAC&U General Education &
Assessment Institute
Product:
 Integrated learning outcomes from both CLOTF teams
into a single set of DRAFT Core Learning Outcomes.
 Determined alignment between DRAFT outcomes and
the
 USNA 7 Attributes of a Graduate (Internal Consistency)
 MSCHE Required General Education Outcomes
 AAC&U Essential Learning Outcomes (Rubrics)
 Preliminary identification of rubrics and assessment
approaches.
DRAFT
The Naval Academy's interdisciplinary core curriculum exists to develop technically
competent midshipmen who can:
1) Communicate
effectively
develop, organize, and communicate information and ideas through written, oral,
and visual media.
2) Critically reason
sufficiently obtain , critically analyze, appropriately interpret, and use quantitative
data and qualitative information to construct creative solutions to complex
problems.
3) Solve technical
problems
apply fundamental principles from science, engineering, and mathematics to solve
technical problems in both standard operating and unfamiliar contexts.
4) Understand
American heritage
articulate core American values and diverse experiences with an awareness of
multiple cultural contexts.
5) Interpret past and interpret past and current world events through an awareness of different human
current world events cultures.
6) Apply Naval
science and
technology
within the context of the history of the profession of arms: apply the principles of
military warfare, naval science and naval technology to evaluate situations;
generate plans at strategic, tactical and operational levels; and execute decisions.
7) Apply leadership
skills
use contemporary leadership theories to support and motivate diverse team
members in the accomplishment of objectives.
8) Reason
morally/ethically
recognize simple and complex moral dilemmas and use ethical principles to
generate solutions that embody the highest moral standards.
9) Demonstrate
apply self-directed learning strategies to improve their knowledge, skills, and
intellectual curiosity abilities beyond requirements.
While the knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with these learning outcomes are stressed within and across the courses that make up
the USNA core curriculum, these outcomes are also developed in majors courses, training evolutions, and in both formal and informal
Continuing Process
 Present in multiple venues
 Faculty Senate
 Division Leadership
 Supe’s Senior Leadership Team
 Other venues
 Collect feedback from faculty via Google Form :
http://goo.gl/YJihbX (anonymous, but requires a USNA account)
 Task Force regroups to evaluate and further refine
 Goal is to complete process by end of calendar year.