HLC Bulletin: March 2023
MARCH 2023
In This Issue:
- Degree-Level Assessment, Degree Maps
- Next Major Events: HLC Conference, Multi-Campus Visit
Degree-Level Assessment Moves Toward Full Participation; Degree Maps Take Center Stage
Thank you to everyone – faculty, staff, chairs, deans and vice provosts – for all of your effort that have led KU to achieve near-total participation on degree-level assessment this year. This work is foundational to the university’s comprehensive assessment process and is expected to receive close attention in KU’s HLC reaffirmation of accreditation self-study in 2025. Faculty have developed detailed plans outlining specific initiatives for their programs, including degree maps for undergraduate programs and updated learning outcomes for graduate programs and their alignment with KU’s Institutional Learning Goals.
To assist faculty in this work, the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) brought colleagues together over the past year to engage and collaborate in discussions around assessment of student learning. The effort helped define learning outcomes, map levels of learning, and identify courses in the degree map. CTE captured video conversations with faculty from four departments, each of whom point to the benefit of having conversations that cause them to reexamine departmental structures and clarify expectations for student learning. In some cases, departments are revising curriculum to better align student engagement and degree persistence with faculty expectations and resources.
Degree Mapping
For more than a year, KU has been developing a process for degree mapping to provide well-defined course sequences that will improve students’ timely progression through their academic programs. The Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) recently initiated a requirement for Kansas universities to submit degree maps for all academic programs. KU will submit requisite updated degree maps during fall 2023 for implementation in fall 2024.
The Boyer 2030 Commission, a Carnegie-funded organization focused on undergraduate education at research universities, identifies the concept of degree pathways as an inclusive practice. In its recent publication Equity/Excellence Imperative: A 2030 Blueprint for Undergraduate Education at U.S. Research Universities, the board urges “universities to continue to analyze themselves from the students’ perspective, to better identify effective pathways as well as still-entrenched barriers to student success. Mapping the degree structure for each program … is the place to start to clarify the purpose and interrelationship of requirements for students, faculty, and staff.”
The development and implementation of degree maps for all undergraduate programs is an important strategy for the “Assure Quality of Academic Programs” objective under the Jayhawks Rising Student Success priority. Completion of this strategy demonstrates progress in our strategic plan while also integrating a key HLC core component and adherence to a KBOR priority.
Next Major Events:
HLC Conference, March 26-28
KU will be well-represented at this year’s HLC Conference March 26-28 in Chicago. A 25-member cadre of individuals serving on KU’s reaffirmation of accreditation committees, along with several program-level accreditation officers and administrative leaders, will attend a variety of conference breakout sessions. The program includes a number of sessions surrounding HLC accreditation policies and procedures. KU’s attendees will also have opportunities to engage in team building around the reaffirmation process, which will culminate in early March 2025 with an on-site visit by a peer review team.
HLC Multi-location Visit to KU, April 10 & 14
A peer reviewer will conduct an HLC visit at KU’s Leavenworth location on April 10. The reviewer will meet with administrative leaders and program directors to gain evidence of effective planning, oversight, accreditation, and assessment of the graduate programs and certificates offered at Leavenworth, as well as support services for students, faculty and staff. On April 14, the reviewer will conduct a similar process at KU Medical Center’s School of Medicine and School of Nursing programs at its Salina facility. In both locations, the reviewer will also look for evidence of continuous quality improvement and accurate marketing and recruiting information.