| In its original compliance audit narrative for Comprehensive Standard 3.4.10 (responsibility for curriculum) Bossier Parish Community College stated its compliance with the standard because the College places primary responsibility for the content, quality, and effectiveness of its curriculum with its faculty. The off-site review committee directed the on-site review committee to see that the documents/process are available, current, and in practice.
CONTENT OF CURRICULUM:
The College compliance audit stated that the college involves faculty with input for curricular design via the standing Curriculum Committee, whose responsibilities include consideration of course and program (associate degrees and certificates) additions, deletions, and modifications. The committee is composed of faculty representing all academic departments of the college. The committee minutes are the official documentation of administrative and faculty input into the approval process. Sample minutes of the Curriculum Committee show faculty consideration of curriculum changes.
The committee also considers and approves core curriculum content and general education competencies. Sample minutes of the curriculum committee show faculty consideration and approval of the college's recent revision of General Education Competencies.
QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF CURRICULUM:
External reviews by Accrediting Agencies:
A high level of monitoring curriculum effectiveness occurs during regular external reviews by accrediting agencies in which faculty program directors are a driving force. One-hundred percent of all Bossier Parish Community College's academic programs deemed mandatory for accreditation by the Louisiana Board of Regents is accredited at the national level.
Internal Program Review:
At Bossier Parish Community College, monitoring the quality of the curriculum is an essential element of institutional effectiveness. Specifically, every academic division must conduct a review of academic associate degrees and certificates on a five-year rotating bases with allied health programs reviewed and evaluated annually. All academic programs at Bossier Parish Community College have advisory committees composed of faculty, administration, and community professionals. The committees advise the college on standards of quality necessary to provide good programs to serve the public. Integral to the committees are the faculty who serve as members and bring academic expertise to the committee's deliberations, which include curricular revisions. In these processes, faculty are the significant means by which curriculum evaluations occur as well as examinations to determine appropriateness of the curriculum to the discipline, program, and College mission. Advisory Committee Minutes document faculty as an integral part of program review and reveal faculty participation in review and advisement of program curricular content.
Faculty Evaluations:
Continuing quality of the curriculum is ensured with annual faculty evaluation. The evaluation of faculty takes place between the faculty member and the academic division chair. The evaluation includes
1) in-class observations of teaching conducted by academic division chairs; evaluation of quality maintenance criteria, including faculty mastery of subject content, appropriate instructional design, and properly presented and well organized material; Samples from Form A of the faculty evaluation instrument demonstrate faculty participation by responses to the narrative indicating desire for improvement in curriculum and instruction.
2) student evaluations of instructors noting strengths and weaknesses; faculty member responses to any student concerns by appropriate modifications in teaching efficacy; Samples from Form C of the faculty evaluation instrument show faculty participation;
3) evaluation of professional growth, in which faculty have opportunities to indicate professional growth activities to improve instruction; Samples from Form F of the faculty evaluation instrument show faculty participation.
Revision of Learning Outcomes:
During the 2006-07 academic year all faculty revised course syllabi to reflect student learning outcomes for individual courses. In addition, faculty established assessment criteria and how the results of the assessments were to be used to improve individual courses. This was accomplished by faculty who were directly involved in upgrading curricular offerings, specifying student knowledge bases necessary for mastery, and documenting outcomes on a course-by-course basis. Attached are samples of Validation of Learning Outcomes matrices showing faculty signatures indicating involvement in establishing, reviewing, and validating curricular revision. Faculty also are involved in curricular revision by reviewing course syllabi. Attached are Sample Course Syllabi with faculty names attached electronically showing faculty involvement in on-going syllabi updates.
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