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Notre Dame College Self-Study Report

Chapter 7: Conclusions

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Self-Study Report

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Criterion One - Mission and Integrity
• Chapter 3: Criterion Two - Preparing for the Future
• Chapter 4: Criterion Three - Student Learning & Effective Teaching
• Chapter 5: Criterion Four - Acquisition, Discovery, and Application of Knowledge
• Chapter 6: Criterion Five - Engagement & Service
• Chapter 7: Conclusions

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Higher Learning Commission Final Team Report

 

The Introduction to the Self-Study Report began with the stranger’s question, “What’s new?” The first six chapters answer that question in terms of significant changes that have dramatically improved the College as it remained true to the Sisters of Notre Dame’s charism and mission. The Self-Study Report also chronicles the College’s work related to the five criteria required for accreditation. Now the question becomes, “What’s next?” This chapter begins to answer that question.

One important action will be the reinstatement of the Institutional Policy and Planning Committee (IPPC). Members of this committee will take up the Strategic Thinking document with the goal of moving it toward a strategic plan. Within its deliberations the committee will review the ideas forwarded by the groups who researched and wrote the Self-Study Report.

These ideas for consideration are described below. They are organized within the four goals identified by the College for this reaccreditation process. The College has been successful in beginning to meet these goals. However, the assessment measures designed almost two years ago remain elusive. The goals, ideas for consideration, and outcome measures discovered during the Self-Study process, will all be provided to the IPPC for inclusion in its ongoing action.

Statement of Goals for the Self-Study Report

1. Clarify the profile of Notre Dame College and its uniqueness among peer and competitor schools so that we attract a growing number of students (adults, traditional-aged students, and graduate students) who will benefit most from a Notre Dame College education.

Assessment would include:

• Creation and use of positioning language: this would be a document that describes the rationale or purpose for all the major functions of the College, and

• Retention remains high: as the College describes its programs and services to potential students, they would enroll because their needs match what the College offers. They remain because the match grows stronger.

The College community gathered evidence and developed responses to assure that it meets the accreditation criteria. By participating in the discussions and contributing to the text’s content, faculty and staff learned things about the College that, as individuals, they had not known. It was common to hear, “I didn’t know that!” as a response to learning about a piece of supporting evidence. As contributors, readers, and editors of this Self-Study Report, each person has learned much about the collective Notre Dame College.

With this knowledge in hand, it is now possible to begin creating the College’s positioning language. This language will assist the College in improving its marketing material. By clearly describing the College, its programs and services, the students applying for admission will accurately determine if the College matches their needs and goals. Considerations identified throughout the Self-Study Report include:

• The Values List for the Notre Dame College Community, a mission document created within an earlier strategic planning process, which had been lost from public view. It is one of the gems rediscovered through Self-Study. This document has been printed and shared with faculty, staff, and students. A suggestion was made that personal value formation should be stressed in the classroom and beyond. The Values List will facilitate this because a next step is to determine ways to implement and support the behaviors described in the document.

• There is a need in future reviews of the mission documents to consider the usage of specific diversity language so that references to diversity become clear statements. The mission documents include the Mission Statement, the Statement of Purpose, the Catholic Identity Statement, and the Values List of the Notre Dame College Community.

• The Vice President of Academic Affairs should discuss the importance of communicating the College mission, institutional objectives, and course objectives within course syllabi with department chairs. Department chairs should then discuss this topic in their respective departmental meetings. The result should be more faculty using the syllabus template. The College would then conduct another syllabi survey within a year and measure improvement from the last survey done in July, 2005.

• More follow-up is needed in advising students who have not determined their majors. The College could have a major day at which prepared materials for each major would be provided and faculty from the program would be available for discussion. The materials could show the knowledge and skills required within the major, the jobs available in those fields, and how to apply for the program.

2. To construct a practical, on-going educational assessment process that truly effects improved learning by energizing wise changes as we grow.

Assessment would include:

• A plan to improve assessment created by faculty, including the structure, involvement by faculty members in the process, and allocation of resources.

Because we now know more about the College, we can better conceptualize what our students experience as a Notre Dame education. Since we can articulate that we can continue to discover ways to assess that experience. When successful, faculty and students will understand the relationship among a class, a program, and the institution.

The assessment considerations identified throughout the Self-Study Report that will be forwarded to the Institutional Policy and Planning Committee can be categorized into three groups: institutional, curricular, and cocurricular assessment.

Institutional Assessment:

• The College should monitor institutional effectiveness and perform periodic environmental scanning, track and assess outreach efforts and event attendance, monitor feedback, evaluate survey results, and gather and maintain institutional statistics. The last environmental scanning was accomplished in 2004. As part of an earlier strategic planning process, a SWOT analysis was completed. This analysis might be reviewed or another type of environmental scan implemented.

• The College facilities are at capacity. Share the URS facility development findings with the Institutional Policy and Planning Committee. Engage the College in discussions about capacity and its strategic implications.

• Create core service measurement and evaluation techniques for all partnering ventures to prevent further dilution of current efficiencies.

• Board development should continue to include more opportunities for interaction among members of the Board and College faculty to establish greater appreciation for and understanding of the teaching and learning process at Notre Dame. One way to accomplish this might be to invite Board members to share their expertise and talents as guest speakers in the classroom.

Curricular Assessment:

• Revive the program review, a mini-self study done within each division every five years.

• Continue to send faculty to Alverno Summer workshops.

• Assist faculty in continuing to organize and systematize the assessment process perhaps with a part-time administrator.

• Use the Education Division’s Tk20 model of gathering student data online as a possible plan for all students.

• Form peer teaching groups of three or four faculty who would observe one another, share teaching strategies, and ways to assess students and one another.

• Build into the end of each semester an Assessment Day, similar to the Study Day for students. On this day, there would be no classes. All faculty would meet to interpret the assessment data they have collected. They would give their results to an assessment coordinator who would look for patterns of growth as well as patterns of student weakness. The Educational Policy and Planning Committee could strategize institutionwide ways to improve learning.

• Build into assessment plans some instruments to measure the Values List of the Notre Dame College Community.

Co-curricular Assessment:

• Service learning should be increased and formalized. Resources need to be increased to offer more service learning opportunities. Increase applications for obtaining grant money in this area. More faculty and staff will be needed as enrollment goes up and class sizes increase. The College needs to track its continued commitment to service.

• A mechanism should be in place for evaluating outreach. A scan for identifying community needs should be done every five years.

3. To enhance and expand faculty governance structures and staff management structures for efficient direction of institutional growth.

Assessment would include:

• A plan to document and monitor operations that would make it more effective such as operations manuals, procedure protocols, templates, etc.

As a small institution, Notre Dame College has functioned informally. As it grows it becomes necessary to install formal structures. More than 40 ideas were contributed through the criteria teams for consideration by IPPC. These are sorted into five categories. Improved written communication or publications received the most ideas for improvement, followed by general communication. Employee support, technology, and facilities are the remaining categories.

Publications

Institutional:

• The phone directory should include hidden responsibilities. For example, the person who manages room reservations is the secretary for Center for Professional Development. That responsibility should appear in the directory.

• Create an operations manual for every job in every department to insure a smooth transition of a new person in the job. This includes chairs of academic departments and chairs of major faculty committees. Several departments indicate that they have operations manuals already.

• Send minutes from meetings and other College documents to the Archives. This is already expected practice; however, making it better known may increase compliance.

• While scholarly activities of students and faculty are listed on the College’s intranet, more should be noted on the College’s website so that visitors to the site would be made aware of faculty achievements. In the same way, create a community service web page promoting students and their achievements.

• Increase marketing staff to better promote our unique resources and programs.

Board of Directors:

• Include Board members on the distribution list of the electronic newsletters and announcements that are sent to faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Board members began receiving the weekly eFalcon, the online faculty and staff newsletter in January 2007. Board members do receive other announcements based on the relevance of the message.

Faculty:

• The academic College Catalog should be designed for easier navigation and should provide clearer information for graduation requirements. The present VPAA is committed to revising the format.

• Chairs of academic departments would benefit from the creation of handbooks that would help them easily assume this position and keep the necessary records. A template that delineates what information should be retained regarding chair responsibilities should be included.

• Create a distribution list of adjunct off-campus e-mail addresses and include this in all faculty e-mails. As students are expected to use their Notre Dame College e-mail accounts for College business instead of personal e-mail addresses, so are faculty members. Adopting this idea would require a change in practice.

Staff:

• The Administrative Staff Handbookand the Support Staff Handbook were last revised in 1994 when the College was a single-sex institution. Current sections about benefits were added in 2003. The Administration is aware of the outdated nature of some of the information, and is delaying the task until it can be done properly by the appropriate persons.

Communication

Institutional:

• Prior to 2003, an accurate portrayal of the College’s economic condition was not shared with the College community and the budgeting process was not well communicated. The College community had a general knowledge that resources were scarce as budgets were held steady or reduced every year. Financial information is now shared at General Meetings with faculty and staff and the Finance Office is open to budget discussions. As the Institutional Policy and Planning Committee (IPPC) addresses strategic thinking, further discussion regarding the budgeting process will be included.

• Incorporate small group discussions within the General Meetings. They allow people to share ideas and get to know one another. The spirit of the August, 2006 meeting was happy and productive.

• Faculty and staff would benefit from a common gathering place for casual conversations that do so much to build rapport and exchange good ideas.

• There is a need for regularly scheduled retreats for faculty and staff in order to foster creative solutions to institutional growth and change. At present there is not enough time for this type of strategic thinking.

• Eliminate the functional divides throughout the College to encourage synergy and cross-training .

• Hire support staff who can keep an eye on communication and make it happen efficiently.

Alumni:

• The College needs to connect with each of the four alumnae/alumni groups and its unique educational experience with the College before expecting unrestricted giving to increase. This is a difficult and time consuming challenge.

Board of Directors

• Board members seek further conversation with faculty. One of their quarterly meetings might be a retreat day with faculty instead of a fourth business meeting .

• Board committees need to establish and follow a routine meeting schedule.

Faculty

• Adjuncts should be encouraged to read College global e-mails sent to faculty.

• Academic freedom is referenced in the Faculty Handbook. It is recommended that the Academic and Student Affairs Committee of the Board of Directors spend time with faculty with respect to academic freedom and its relationship to expected faculty rights and privileges.

Staff

• Have regular meetings for staff members. Also schedule crossdepartment meetings where responsibilities intersect.

• Trust all staff members with the information they need to do their job.

Students

• Ways must be found to increase the scope of student involvement in campus activities. Scheduling more activities during the day may encourage more to participate.

Employee Support

Institutional

• Provide orientation for faculty and staff hired in mid-year. Be sure to include adjunct faculty.

• The College should seek more diversity in faculty and staff positions. In addition, the College’s statement regarding diversity is not inclusive and needs to be updated.

• Persons who prepare the ads for new faculty postings should always talk to the chairperson of the department to assure the information is accurate and compete.

• Whenever a major policy affecting the entire Notre Dame community is being drafted or revised, a committee of representatives from all constituencies should be formed to do the task.

Faculty

• Increased enrollment and growth in the number of adjunct faculty have added burdens to an already over-worked full-time faculty. Find ways to lighten their loads.

Staff

• Directors of offices could be more effective by having secretarial or administrative support. Currently, the director must plan, execute, publicize, evaluate and manage the budget for every project. With support, the director would have time to communicate what is going on.

Students

• Because students at the front information desk are work-study students with high turn-over, the College should provide orientation and training to assure they know answers to basic questions.

• Consider a program for graduating seniors interested in a career with the College.

• Expand graduate programs to attract Graduate Assistant candidates. Key areas are coaching and residence life roles.

Technology

• The College needs to adopt new administrative software to replace CARS. Catalog requirements need to link with student audits and faculty need to easily access their advisees‚ transcript data. Effective use of the new system will require new skills and integration. Provide training and development to develop and support these skills

• Insure that technology staff wear pagers and provide tech support 24/7 as we offer many courses that rely heavily on electronic communication.

Facilities

• Provide more classroom space.

• Plan for enhanced space for the fine arts courses, performances, and galleries.

4. To determine evaluation processes that are fair, effective, and helpful to a growing body of faculty and staff.

Assessment would include:

• Improved performance measures for the College, its departments, and personnel. The faculty and staff of the College are dedicated to and energized by its growth and well-being. As the Self-Study Report, the team visit, and its review of the College are reflected upon, the College community will learn what is expected from its members. This information may inform improved performance discussions and measures.

The use of performance evaluation techniques that are linked to strategic goals is quite limited. Individual assessment has been informal and based on directed observation and linkage to results. The College intends to develop a formal evaluation system.

Specialized training will be developed for staff and faculty to build needed skills to support the College’s growth and development. It is important that the investment is strongly linked to strategic goals and communication is a critical factor to ensure the proper alignment. Key topics already identified are institutional assessment, classroom technology, and administrative technology.

Salary increases are applied uniformly to all employees once per year based on a percent of salary and not linked to individual performance. The College will set out to link compensation and salary increases to a reward structure that rewards achievement of goals and strong performance.

Other considerations for review by IPPC are:

Institutional

• More consideration for time -off and sabbaticals should be given to faculty. There is a need to value the benefits of education to be reaped by faculty and staff who continually keep up-to-date. For staff, consider a revised policy regarding time-off or schedule adjustment to allow for attending classes.

• Continue to increase funding for professional development opportunities for faculty and staff.

• Establish a site where professional development opportunities are listed.

• Utilize the talents and skills of Board members, faculty, and staff to provide in-house professional development.

Faculty

• Provide many more ways to recognize high quality teaching. Staff

• Establish a Staff Affairs and Development Committee, parallel to Faculty Affairs and Development Committee, whose role would be to surface, discuss and move forward staff issues and opportunities for growth.

• While professional development opportunities are improving, it is suggested that more incentives be provided such as raises and bonuses for development.

• Technology training is sorely missing for staff members (especially CARS training).

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