Re-visioning:
The current Committee on Student Learning Mission
:
“The primary purpose of the Committee on
Student Learning is to promote the integrated
use of University resources for the holistic
development of students. The Committee will
coordinate programs and make
recommendations to senior administration,
designed to create a “seamless” learning
environment at Western Carolina University.”
Charge: Mission & Identity

Continue to facilitate integrated and
interdisciplinary collaborations across
academic and student affairs among students,
faculty, staff, and administrators.

Create a model that is action oriented and
grounded in research and best practice.

Ground the mission, objectives, strategies,
and assessments to promote and foster
successful student learning outcomes.
Mission:
Partners in Student Learning
The Partners in Student Learning Committee
aims to foster the integration of WCU
resources and personnel to enhance student
success with learning outcomes and their
overall educational experiences through
holistic and purposeful approaches that
address challenges, goals, and opportunities,
as informed by research and best practice.
Steering Committee

Oversight
 Carol Burton
 Jane Dunford

Committee co-chairs
 Glenda Hensley
 Shawna Young

Task Group
 2-6 member core: to be determined based on
projects identified – will determine additional
needs and directions
 Research and project development
 Implementation and assessment
WCU Leadership
Steering Committee
Co-Chairs
Working Group - Research
Working Group - Implementation
WCU Community
Sustainability
Goals

Promote integrated and engaged learning across the
campus community, as advocated by the QEP.

Facilitate opportunities to enhance student learning
outcomes and educational experiences with
significance, relevance, and enrichment.

Promote integrated use of university resources.

Strengthen the collaborative relationship between
Academic and Student Affairs through communication
and engagement with students in and out of the
classroom.
Goal 1
Promote integrated and engaged learning across the
campus community, as advocated by the QEP.
Objectives
Strategies
Assessment
Benchmarks
Identify problem
statements or
theoretical
frameworks to
foster a climate of
continuous
improvement.
Other university
committee &
council reports.
Joint meeting to
disseminate
results/progress.
Student focus
groups
Faculty focus groups
Post discussions
Surveys
Post-surveys
General
perceptions are
that the work is
successful and
useful. Public
perception
supports and is
supported by
data.
Assessment Office
recommendations
Comparative
reports
Post discussions
Goal 2
Facilitate opportunities to enhance student learning
outcomes and educational experiences with
significance, relevance, and enrichment.
Objectives
Strategies
Assessment
Problem/theory
statements will be
driven by student
learning outcomes
and will specify
how they intend to
address student
success.
Establish research
task groups.
Pilot the solution.
Establish
implementation
task force.
Document existing
institutional
practice.
Review literature of
best practice.
Benchmarks
Identified student
learning &
Participant surveys, experiential
outcomes are
pre/ post tests.
successfully met
with verifiable data
Disseminate
results.
outcomes via
workshops &
presentations.
Document data.
Goal 3
Promote integrated use of university resources.
Objectives
Strategies
Assessment
Benchmarks
Streamline
processes and
eliminate
redundancies
Review targeted
unit
organizational
charts to assess
overlaps &
intersects
Assessments
will evolve from
Goals 1 & 2
Outcomes are
sustainable
within WCU
resources.
Goal 4
Strengthen the collaborative relationship between
Academic and Student Affairs through
communication and engagement with students in
and out of the classroom.
Objectives
Strategies
Assessment
Benchmarks
Promote diverse
perspectives,
experiences, and
expertise to foster
holistic solutions
and opportunities
for students.
Promote projects
publicly & timely to
encourage wide
participation.
Assessments will
evolve from Goals
1&2
Steering
committee
represented by
Academic and
Student Affairs.
Project & data
analysis review to
document
formative and
summative
reports.
- Diverse
participation of
administrators,
faculty, and staff.
- Students
demonstrate
collaborative
behaviors.
- Students
demonstrate
synthesis
Projects for 2010-11

Academic Learning Communities
[piloting re-introduction]
 Coordinator: Glenda Hensley
 Pilot cohorts in place for fall semester [2]
 Task groups collaborate with the cohorts

Transfer Student Success
 Coordinator: Shawna Young
 Transfer Advisory Group (TAG)
FAQ’s: Academic Learning Communities
An Academic Learning Community (ALC) -- implements the Student Sense of Place and
Integration of Knowledge Fundamental Principles.
 fosters integrated learning environments.
 provides a significant impact on learning outcomes.
 consists of cohorts of students and instructors in a
selection of grouped courses.
 provides students the opportunity to develop
friendships and experience learning as a dynamic
exchange of ideas and perspectives.
Students who choose to participate in a Learning
Community must enroll in each defined linked
course. For example, it is not an option to take only
one course of a community pair or trio.
Goals: Academic Learning Communities






Encourage students to discover and appreciate
relationships of disciplines and knowledge.
Provide a sense of place within the university
community.
Encourage integrated and interdisciplinary teaching
and learning designs, allowing connections through a
holistic approach.
Provide a framework through which to participate in
service learning, civic engagement, and creative
scholarship opportunities.
Empower a successful transition into college life by
creating strong connections to the new college
environment.
Strengthen collaborative practice between Academic
Affairs and Student Affairs.
Learning Community Cohorts: F 2010

LC01: Career Exploration and the Law
This learning community will provide students with
an overview and foundational understanding of the
legal profession, law in the private and public
sectors, and related government, corporate and
nonprofit careers.

LC02: How Real is Race?:
Race as a Psychological and Cultural Concept in
Contemporary (post-racial?) America
This learning community draws on resources in
psychology and contemporary literature and film to
construct responses to questions about the
psychological and cultural concept of race.
ALC & FLC (Faculty Learning Community)




Summer 2010: Teams from Academic Affairs and
Student Affairs participated in a retreat in preparation
to launch the ALC pilot and to discuss future
strategies.
2010-11: Established a Faculty Learning Community,
hosted by the Coulter Faculty Commons, for this pilot.
Those interested, may sign up in the CFC.
The FLC will provide a formal framework in which to
build a sustainable program and to document the
resulting scholarship.
Fall 2010: With two cohorts in place, we move
forward with the commitment of many support units
and programs.
History - Transfer Advisory Group
In November 2009, the Retention Steering
Committee invited representatives from
Admission, Advising, Orientation,
Registrar’s Office, and Education
Outreach, to share their perspectives on
the current status of transfer students
 A key recommendation was to create a
committee of offices involved with transfer
student issues to specifically address the
needs of transfer students

Goals – Transfer Advisory Group
Engage stakeholders.
 Investigate the state of the transfer student
experience at WCU from a wide variety of
perspectives.
 Investigate best practices in higher
education.
 Create and implement an action plan to
enhance the transfer student experience
from admission to graduation.

Representative Action Item – Transfer
Advisory Group

The November 2009 meeting found that transfer
students, community college counselors, and
faculty find the Transfer Students Web site
challenging to navigate.

A subgroup of the Transfer Advisory Group will
create a site more specific to transfer students’
needs.
 The redesign will begin only after the
appropriate information and resources are
available.
 The redesign will be aided by the fall 2010
redesign of the Admission and Student Life
websites.
Action Model
Research
Best
Practice
Assessment
Student Learning Outcomes
and Experience
Re-visioned….
Student
Affairs
Partners
In
Student
Learning
Research
Academic
Affairs
PSL
Best
Practice
Assessment
WCU
Community