Focus Group Responses for Standard 4
Strategic Thinking and Planning
A. Effective planning and evaluation occur within the institution at multiple levels across
units and lead to priorities and clear institutional implementation activities.
We Do This Well
Aspects Need Our
Needs Significant
Not Enough
Attention
Development
Evidence
9%
73%
18%
0%
Comments:
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Where does planning occur?
i. Faculty level
ii. Department level
iii. Program level
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Developing assessing portfolio project
Are there too many steps; are all the steps necessary?
Non-credit always evaluating course offerings to cull out courses hat don’t
work and apply resources toward successful courses
Persistence = $ = student success
Persistence requires institutional commitment
Is there a way to make necessary changes mid process?
Need a clearer picture of why students are at UHMC and their purpose while
at UHMC
Develop survey for determining student motivation for attending UHMC.
Ambiguity is a given
Difficult to plan for all student needs
Peer pressure to attend and drop out
Survey monkey to determine when students want classes
Some programs are disconnected
How are we aligned throughout the institution
What are our vision, mission and goals?
Will our mission continue?
Business model layered over education model to increase revenue
Ability to make course changes faster to improve educational
effectiveness/student learning
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B. Institutional planning activities are well defined, evaluated and align with the
institution’s strategic objectives and priorities.
We Do This Well
0%
Aspects Need Our
Attention
64%
Needs Significant
Development
36%
Not Enough
Evidence
0%
Comments:
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Is it time to revisit mission/vision?
Is AA supporting or and obstacle to student success?
Proactively anticipate consequences of change
Don’t loose or weaken “community”
Evaluation and Assessment are important
Responsive to workforce and community
Look outside college for information
Partnerships are essential
C. Planning processes are informed by appropriately defined and analyzed data, and
included evidence of educational effectiveness, including student learning.
We Do This Well
9%
Aspects Need Our
Attention
27%
Needs Significant
Development
55%
Not Enough
Evidence
9%
Comments:
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Not there yet, but have made great strides
We don’t have a shared vision of role of program review
Need to create meaning for institution wide data/information
Still short of culture of evidence
Lack of clarity
Wrong metrics
Faculty seem to feel disconnected from administrative planning
D. Planning incorporates quality assurance, assessment and tracking, comparative data,
and use of results to revise and/or improve the process.
We Do This Well
9%
Aspects Need Our
Attention
36%
Needs Significant
Development
55%
Comments:
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Yes!
What are the forums on campus to analyze data/information?
Where do we ask if student learning happens?
Do we need more formality?
Assessment at early stage of development
Assessment tools are being developed
Institutional outcomes not defined
Not Enough
Evidence
0%
E. Institutional research capacity is used to assess effectiveness and student learning.
We Do This Well
0%
Aspects Need Our
Attention
18%
Needs Significant
Development
64%
Not Enough
Evidence
18%
Comments:
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No
Sporadic
Not easy to collect needed data
Create research structure upfront
More training
Knowing what evidence to collect
Student services perspective
i. What is it that you need to know about your students
ii. What are the leading indicators?
Align with system priorities without sacrificing institution quality
Look at distance traveled
Need to develop a better understanding of students
Work back from drivers
Think Big
Incorporate NSF REU
More linkages with faculty (partnering) and student research projects
Explore partnerships with other universities and colleges
Remain open to visiting scholar research
F. College leadership (faculty, staff and administration), are committed to continuous
improvement.
We Do This Well
18%
Aspects Need Our
Attention
73%
Needs Significant
Development
0%
Not Enough
Evidence
9%
Comments:
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Yes, to a degree
Ned to create systemic process to maintain focus on continuous improvement
through analysis of data, not data alone
Contract renewal process help for temporary faculty. What about permanent?
G. Inquiry into teaching and learning leads to improvement in curricula, pedagogy and
evaluation.
We Do This Well
27%
Aspects Need Our
Attention
27%
Needs Significant
Development
45%
Not Enough
Evidence
0%
Comments:
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Act more like a system
Data an excellent prompt for analysis/discussion
Average faculty not involved with discussion
Pockets are involved
Need more consistency
Assessment should create structure to lead this conversation
Small programs find it difficult to engage colleagues
Math has system list
System connections are important
Most student life offices are one person shows
H. Stakeholders are actively involved in the assessment of the effectiveness of
educational programs and their feedback is disseminated and used to inform
improvement.
We Do This Well
0%
Aspects Need Our
Attention
45%
Needs Significant
Development
55%
Comments:
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We don’t know where students go…
Internships programs survey
Survey of lectures
Internal and external stakeholders
Not Enough
Evidence
0%