Impact: High
Effort: Medium

KPI A1: Students will demonstrate competency in SCSU’s five core values as well as an understanding of diverse and global perspectives; departments/programs will establish baselines and determine targets, develop plans for improvement, and report improvement of these competencies.

Definition/Strategies/Action Plan: SCSU needs to collect some baseline data in order to set numeric goals for some of the KPIs developed. Perhaps surveys could collect data to set targets for general education. Course success would then be determined through assessment of student learning based on what faculty claim they are teaching. Ongoing data collection would then provide information for a continuous improvement cycle.

The General Education program will be assessed in accordance with guidelines established by NCA. Student competency will be determined relative to the five core values. General goals for the five core value areas follow:

Core Values 1 and 2: Students will construct and analyze written and oral discourse from a variety of theoretical perspectives as they pertain to their disciplines.
Core Value 3: Students will construct and analyze mathematical problems and provide solutions. Core Value 4: Students will use classical and modern logic and reasoning to formulate questions and provide arguments to support their answers.
Core Value 5: Students will define participatory democracy and integrate civic responsibility into their lives.

The global nature of courses in the general education program will be determined. Students will develop multicultural and global awareness through course content, readings, discussions, activities, and, when possible, through international experiences. Departments/programs will identify/define current diverse and global learning opportunities and will determine the ability for students to participate in these opportunities, i.e. part of curriculum for program of study, substitutes for elective courses in program, activity used to provide class discussion, etc. These opportunities are not restricted to traditional classroom experience. New opportunities should be identified and incorporated. NSSE (see questions as 1.e., 1.k., 7.a., 7.e., 7.f) might be used as an indirect measure of this KPI.

Impact: High
Effort: Medium

KPI B/C/F1: Students will demonstrate discipline specific competency including basic knowledge and connection between theory and practice; departments/programs will establish baselines and determine targets, develop plans for improvement, and report improvement of these competencies.

Definition/Strategies/Action Plan: All major/minor and graduate programs will establish and undertake assessment plans that conform to NCA guidelines. Academic excellence is not confined by the discipline but needs to be anchored by specific student outcomes. Many professional societies and accrediting agencies have developed rigorous outcome-based continuous assessment. Programs are encouraged to incrementally implement the broadest of these learning objectives followed by more program-specific learning outcomes. Accreditation standards and/or national guidelines will be used where appropriate. Quality indicators are in place for graduate programs and should be used where appropriate.

Learning outcomes represent the principle knowledge a student must gain in an area of study. Each area of study may have distinctly different needs, but some aspects of all undergraduate programs may be universal. In general, students should demonstrate knowledge of their fields through a variety of assessments (i.e., tests, papers, presentations). The ability to access information and provide a synthesis of ideas in written or oral form is an important asset students acquire during their college experience, and students should analyze texts (in the broadest sense) from a variety of theoretical perspectives as they pertain to their disciplinary knowledge. Students should also be able to use technology appropriate to their disciplines. More specific content or skills competency would be required based on the discipline.

Students should demonstrate understanding of the connections between theories and practices and demonstrate understanding of these connections through a variety of experiences (i.e. projects, internships, community actions, performances). Students should conduct culminating research projects, analyze, contextualize, and report the results for an academic audience. Scholarly sources must be available to support students and faculty in their scholarly and creative activities. Written and oral communications are essential to all college graduates.

Impact: High
Effort: Medium

KPI D/E1: The University through its units will increase opportunities for students to participate in a rich learning environment that provides for interaction, collaboration with faculty through scholarly and creative work; departments/programs will establish baselines and determine targets, develop plans for improvement, and report improvement in these opportunities.

Definition/Strategies/Action Plan: Goals D and E target the intellectual environment provided for students to develop and mature as scholars. At the university a specific component necessary to provide an intellectually challenging environment is creative and scholarly activity on the part of students and faculty.

Faculty, departments and programs should define intellectual environment, taking into account student and community members' needs and expectations. Evaluation should include the influence of faculty/student ratios, class size, advising, mentoring, internships, performances, research experiences, academic clubs, or other like activities. Faculty should develop professional standards such as those suggested in the Boyer model of scholarship and model these for students to promote an intellectually and academically rich and tolerant environment.