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Objectives, Guidelines, and Procedures
OBJECTIVES OF DEPARTMENT REVIEWS:
The department review provides the opportunity for thoughtful reflection on the effectiveness of the department in leading
our students toward the values of liberal learning, such as analytical and imaginative thinking and writing in the liberal arts,
free and open discussion of ideas that respects diversity, breadth of knowledge across disciplines, and depth of knowledge
in a major field. This reflection requires initial consideration of all aspects of the department's program, to determine if any
of these need more careful study and/or reform to produce an even more effective academic program and learning environment
for our students. The department, in a participatory process, should try to address the following questions:
1. Is its academic program up-to-date, sufficiently rigorous, and appropriately organized for our students?
2. Are its students, both majors and non-majors, meeting the learning expectations of its faculty and the aims of liberal learning?
The Executive Council has established the guidelines outlined in this document. While we understand that each department
will have a different agenda for its review, we expect that every department will follow the general outline of these guidelines,
working closely with the Dean of the College and the Office of Institutional Research in the process. Our department reviews
and these guidelines are part of our overall academic planning and assessment program.
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GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES FOR DEPARTMENT REVIEWS
ACADEMIC YEAR PRIOR TO THE REVIEW:
The Dean will contact chairs of departments which are due for a departmental review in the following academic year.
Upon receiving notification, the department should meet to discuss its preparation for a review. Among items to be
considered are the following:
1. Will the Department Chair be responsible for coordinating the review, or will another member of the department
assume the responsibility of coordinating the review?
2. Are most tenured or tenure-track members of the department going to be in residence during the year of the review?
If some members will be on leave, in which semester will the majority of the department faculty be in residence in Grinnell?
3. How will members of the department who are on leave and away from Grinnell during the semester during which the
review visit takes place participate in the review?
4. What issues does the department feel are most pertinent to be addressed by the review?
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SEMESTER PRIOR TO THE REVIEW:
The review will consist of a department self-study and a visit by a (usually) two-person external review team. Prior
to the visit by the external team, the department will develop a self-study dossier to be sent to the reviewers. The dossier
will include information about the department, a detailed description of the findings of the self-study, and appropriate
supporting materials.
External Reviewers:
Develop a list of suggested external reviewers. The list should include individuals from corresponding departments in
institutions similar to Grinnell College, as well as from institutions that may be somewhat different but are known to have
strong departments. Please note on the list any particular strengths of individuals named, and any affiliations or prior work
with any Grinnell College department members they may have. The list should include the suggested reviewers' name,
address, telephone number, and e-mail address.
Meet with the Dean to discuss the list of suggested reviewers, to rank them in order of suggested contact. The department
and the Dean will determine the outside review team and an appropriate timetable leading to the on-campus visit. If the Dean and
the department disagree on the membership of the team, the department will select one member and the Dean the other. The
Dean's Office will be responsible for contacting the selected reviewers, and will ultimately arrange for a team of two reviewers
to conduct the review, as well as the dates for the review visit. The Dean's office will work with the reviewers to arrange
travel reservations and lodging during the visit.
External Review Visit Planning:
Decide which semester is best for the review, and prepare a list of dates that are best for the members of the department for the
review visit to take place. Note that the preferred reviewers' availability may be somewhat different from that of the department,
so please include more than one set of dates on your list.
Department Self-Study Dossier:
Normally, in the year prior to the review team visit, the department will develop a set of specific department objectives
following the guidelines in the overview above concerning academic program, and assessment of student learning.
Using these objectives, the department, in consultation with the Dean of the College, the Director of the Office of Institutional Research,
and possibly the Executive Council, should develop an outline that identifies the specific issues for inclusion in the self study and the
supporting materials and reports necessary to consider these issues. In the year prior to the review team visit, the
department will develop the self-study dossier. It will normally include the following components:
* A statement of department learning goals for majors and non-majors
* A list of key questions or issues on which the department would like advice
* Sufficient historical information about the college to frame the review
* A historical background about the department and its curriculum
* Vitae of department faculty members
* Catalog listing of department
* Syllabi of recently offered courses
* Course enrollment records
* A list of issues that the department wishes to address in the review
* Reports of surveys of current students and of alumni majors
* Reports of transcript analysis of student curricular behavior
* A statement of the findings of department learning outcomes assessment work
* In addition, departments should consider using other sources of information such as
- Interviews with faculty concerning their professional and departmental goals
- Surveys of faculty in departments that require or recommend courses in the department under review
- Interviews with Writing, Math and/or Science Lab staff members
Support from the Office of Institutional Research
The Office of Institutional Research may assist the department with the development of student and
alumni surveys, transcript analyses, documentation of learning goals, interview protocols, or learning outcomes
assessment activities. Contact the IR office early in the self-study process to develop a plan of work. Surveys
often require six or more weeks to complete the development, data collection, and reporting cycle.
Alumni surveys usually include questions regarding what jobs and/or further education the person has pursued
since graduation, how the major has contributed to their activities, and what other comments they have on the
department's program. It is usual to survey the most recent ten years of graduates. Transcript analysis questions
are also tailored to inform departmental issues.
Here are some questions asked in the recent past:
* Do English majors usually take American or British literature first?
* How many history majors take how many semesters of which foreign languages?
* How many of the students who take Calculus I go on to take Calculus II?
* How many of a department's majors completed a second major or a concentration?
* How many economics majors take how much math/statistics, and do those with higher-level math
courses do better in upper-level economics seminars?
Assessment
Student learning assessment has the goal of finding out whether our students are successfully
achieving the objectives of the department's curriculum. Doing worthwhile assessment requires
that the faculty consider their learning goals for students (what knowledge and skills they want
students to have when they finish the major, or complete a course taken by numerous nonmajors).
Then the abilities of these students - the "learning outcomes" - must be measured directly in some way.
Grades are not a satisfactory way of measuring student outcomes, because many variables are often
considered in assigning grades that do not directly relate to actual learning goals. For example, participation
and improvement may both be valid components of a course grade, but a student could do well at both of these
without mastering a particular skill or body of knowledge that the department deems important. Likewise, asking
the student how much they have learned is not a satisfactory measure. In particular, students who have not
mastered material or skills may overestimate their own abilities.
Direct assessment measures may include activities or test questions embedded in the regular components of a
course, or separate activities designed for the purpose of assessment. These should not simply duplicate the
process of grading course materials. The purpose of assessment is, primarily, to discover whether the curriculum
is working; it is not about evaluating individual students or individual faculty members. The results of assessments
should be used to reconsider what the department teaches and how it is taught.
Departments are encouraged to consult with the office of Institutional Research in the design and implementation of
assessment activities. IR can help identify resources, methods, and data to further the department's assessment
interests. Assessment should be an ongoing activity over the years, but the self-study is a good time to report on
current findings and the actions being taken in regard to them. This information will give the external reviewers
and the Executive Council a more complete perspective as they consider the department's program.
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APPROXIMATELY TWO MONTHS PRIOR TO THE EXTERNAL REVIEW VISIT
Department Self-Study Dossier:
Gather documents to be included in the self-study dossier.
Finish writing the department's summary of its self-study.
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APPROXIMATELY ONE MONTH PRIOR TO THE EXTERNAL REVIEW VISIT:
Department Self-Study Dossier:
Provide the Dean's Office with three copies of the department's self-study. A copy of the self-study, together with a copy
of the Grinnell College Catalog, Grinnell College Fact Book, and any other materials requested by the reviewers, will be sent
by the Dean's Office to each of the reviewers.
External Review Visit Planning:
Develop a detailed schedule for the external reviewers' visit on campus. The visit should span a full two-day period. The
reviewers will arrive the evening prior to the first day, and may depart the evening of the second day or early in the morning
after the second day. It is sometimes beneficial for the reviewers to meet with a number of members of the department at one
time, either supplemental to or in lieu of meetings with department members individually. If such a meeting is to be conducted
over a meal, please limit the number of department faculty members in attendance to no more than four, and do not include partners
or spouses of department members. Please remember that this is a meeting for business purposes, and discussion should be
focused upon departmental issues.
Prepare an itinerary for the reviewers' visit. This should include:
* Information about who will pick up the reviewers at airport and transport them to campus
* Lodging information.
Schedule of meetings should include:
* At the beginning of the visit, an initial one-hour meeting with the Dean (this may also include the President for a portion of
the meeting) and Associate Dean selected by the Dean;
* Meetings with the department's divisional representative to the Executive Council;
* Meetings with all department members, including both tenured and tenure-track faculty AND faculty members in term positions;
* Meetings with members of departments with which there is regular interaction by the department being reviewed;
* Meetings with SEPC and (if appropriate) other student groups. These meetings often work well over lunch or an informal dinner
(such as a pizza dinner);
* If appropriate, visits of individual classes or rehearsals;
* At the end of the visit, a concluding one-hour meeting with the Dean.
* Review teams often appreciate having time to meet by themselves at the conclusion of the visit to begin work on the review report.
Please arrange for such time, if possible, at the end of the visit. If the reviewers are remaining on campus through dinnertime on the
second day of their visit, it is often best for them to have dinner just with each other, to allow them time to discuss the visit and work
on the report.
NOTE: Expenses associated with departmental reviews are paid from a separate account administered by the Dean's Office.
Please have all invoices, bills for transportation, meals, lodging (if other than Grinnell College housing), etc. sent to the Dean's Office
for payment. The Dean's Office will issue payment of the honorarium to the external reviewers upon receipt of their final report, a
W-9 and Iowa CER form.
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FOLLOWING THE REVIEW VISIT:
Be prepared to answer any questions that may arise from the reviewers.
Once the reviewers' report is received, meet with the Dean to discuss the report.
By mid-year of the year following the external review visit, prepare a departmental response to the external reviewers' report
including, if appropriate, plans for implementation of suggestions made by the reviewers. The Dean will take all the review materials
(the Department's self-study dossier, the external reviewers' report, and the department's response) to the Executive Council for
discussion. The Executive Council will make recommendations as appropriate for consideration by the department, other college
committees, and the administration.
The statement of department learning goals will be posted online alongside other departments' statements of principal goals
(objectives for majors and non-majors only, not the entire review). The intent is to foster broader understandings of both
shared and unique learning perspectives within the Grinnell College community and to document department missions and objectives.
Attachment: SELF-STUDY QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS
The Executive Council considers the following questions especially important for our department reviews.
I. What are the expectations of the department related to:
A. Student academic achievement
B. Faculty professional development
C. Curriculum development
II. A. What knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics does the department expect of students who graduate
with a departmental major?
B. How does or how will the department determine the extent to which its students meet these expectations? How
does or how will the department determine if its majors meet the College's expectations that our students learn to make effective written
and oral arguments, including the use of quantitative reasoning in these arguments?
III. What major changes have occurred in the department or discipline during the past ten years in each of the following areas:
A. Faculty and Personnel
B. Curriculum
C. Budget
D. Physical facilities
E. Equipment and use of technology
IV. What significant changes does the department anticipate during the next three to five years?
V. What does the department regard as its greatest strength?
VI. What does it regard as its greatest weakness or need?
VII. What is needed to improve the department program? What are the impediments to making these improvements?
VIII. Many of the above questions might lead to consideration of specific department issues such as the success of its introductory
courses in presenting the discipline to students who plan to become majors and to those who do not, the quality of the senior-year
experience of its majors, the extent to which its alumni pursue successful careers and develop life-long learning skills, and the level of
the departmental response to the needs of one or more interdisciplinary concentrations or to specific institutional initiatives, such as our
writing-across-the-curriculum efforts or our increased emphasis on multicultural education.
Document Last Modified 09/05
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