The Self-Study

The most important thing a programcan do to prepare for the program review process is to have discussions amongfaculty to determineareas of inquiry specific to the program that theywish to address in the self-study. A program should askitselfwhat theywould like to know about the experience of students in theirprogram. For some help brainstorming, you can visit this list of guidingquestionsList of Common Questions for Program Review.

The self-study is a reflective document that takes stock of a program in terms of where it is at the present moment and how it got there. The external reviewers who come to campus may know very little about CI, and even less about theparticular program they are reviewing, so the self-study mustincludeall the information they need to understand the program as it fits in to the broader context of CI.

Self-study report: A report that articulates the nature of assessment conducted, the analysis of that data collected for the assessment, and the strategies for improvement (closing-the-loop). Self-study reports typically follow the campus Program Self-Study Template (PDF, 133KB). Specific exceptions for programs that undergo program specific accreditation have access to an exemption, as those accreditation reports can be submitted for program review in lieu of utilizing the template. The goal of a self-study is for faculty in the program to engage in self-reflective analysis of a number of national metrics of student success, faculty and student demographics, changes in the discipline, and student learning outcomes achievement.

The first step here is to review prior program review documentsand assess your progress towardthe identified goals from the last review. You can access documents from past program reviews onthe CI Public Drive, by going to theCurriculum Folder and clicking on the Program Review Folder. Documents are organized by Program and Year of Review.

From there, we suggest that you have rich and detailed discussions with a broad and inclusive group of your faculty to identify how you would like to focus your self-study and assessment efforts. As theProgram Review Policynotes, the self-study should have broad participation from the faculty and all faculty should be made aware of its findings.

Here are some sample questions that you might hold in mind at the outset of your self study.

Who are you as a Program?
How are you serving students?
Are there pieces of your curriculum that have been assessed, or need assessment, to speak to your programmatic goals and learning outcomes?

There is a template available to guide your preparation of the Self-Study Template (PDF, 133KB).

While it is common to have a compliance based approach to assessment and program review,focusing on preparingthe self-study for the external reviewers and administrators, we want to emphasize that the process of creating the self-study, receiving feedback from external reviewers, and creating measurable goals for continuous improvement have considerable value to the program engaging in the process.We hope programswilluse the self-study as anopportunity to reflect on what is going well and consider future improvements to better serve students.

Because assessment and program review are ongoing processes, keypersonnel like chairs and contact peoplemight change due to sabbaticals and other leaves. Broader participation in the process will allow for continuity through these inevitable changes. We recommend using some kind of shared workspace, whether that be a Program Canvas site, a Dropbox folder, Microsoft Teams, or other alternative to encourage broad participation and share information with the entire program. Beginning with a shared workspace will help build continuity and make sure that all documents and workcontinue to be available, even if personnelchange.

The self-study is due to the Dean, Provost,AVPAPCI, andFDAPRin the Fall Semester to allow time for feedback before it is sent to the external reviewer(s).