Standard(s):

Standard 11: Educational Offerings
The institution's educational offerings display academic content, rigor and coherence that are appropriate to its higher education mission. The institution identifies student learning goals and objectives, including knowledge and skills, for its educational offerings.

Standard 12: General Education
The institution's curricula are designed so that students acquire and demonstrate college level proficiency in general education and essential skills, including oral and written communication, scientific and quantitative reasoning, critical analysis and reasoning, technological competency, and information literacy.

Standard 13: Related Educational
Activities. Institutional programs or activities that are characterized by particular content, focus, location, mode of delivery, or sponsorship meet appropriate standards.

Educational Offerings, General Education, and Related Educational Activities

Educational Offerings

1. What are the key elements of UMUC’s mission that relate to curricula? Are there institution-wide standards for development and evaluation of educational offerings? Where appropriate, do programs meet the standards of external organizations?

2. Are the formal programs structured in such a way that students progress from one level to the next? At each stage, are students enabled to build on knowledge and skills already gained? Are there appropriate capstone experiences in each program?

3. Where are program goals stated? How are they developed? How are program goals kept current with developments in academic disciplines and with changing professional standards?

4. How are program goals congruent with the institutional mission? How are program goals made available to students? How are program goals used for outcomes assessment?

5. How are co-curricular and extra-curricular goals selected and described? Do students participate? How is the complementary effect of curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular programs planned, used, and assessed?

6. How are the expectations regarding obtaining, evaluating, analyzing and utilizing various learning resources made clear to students throughout their education? How are students trained to access information, regardless of the level, location, or instructional mode of their academic work? What kinds of learning resources are particularly important to UMUC? How does UMUC ensure that students are properly supported in their efforts to utilize various learning resources?

7. Are opportunities to collaborate with professional library and information technology staff made available to all faculty? At what levels (course, program, etc) do collaborations occur? How does UMUC seek to improve and broaden such opportunities?

8. Where on campus, and in what contexts, are information and learning resources available to students? Do our students make appropriate, discriminating, responsible, and honest use of them? In what way does UMUC help students to do so? How does UMUC monitor student use of information and learning resources?

9. What mechanisms are in place to evaluate quality of teaching/instruction, academic rigor, and educational effectiveness of its courses and programs at our locations other than the Adelphi campus? Are they equivalent to the mechanisms for our Adelphi campus?

10. Which of UMUC’s programs are delivered in different modes? How is quality evaluated in them?

11. What additional processes are needed to ensure comparable quality of teaching/instruction, academic rigor, and educational effectiveness of its courses and programs regardless of the location or delivery mode?

12. What is the UMUC policy for transfer credit, and where is it published? Is it implemented consistently? Are future students given guidance regarding transferability before transferring into the institution?

13. Are current students given guidance regarding transferability before taking coursework elsewhere (e.g., summer courses, coursework during the junior year abroad, etc)? What is the procedure for updating the policy? Is the policy applied accurately, consistently, and fairly?

14. What accelerated programs are available to students at UMUC? What student populations are served by these accelerated programs? How are these accelerated programs evaluated? Who is charged with quality oversight?

15. How does UMUC admit adult learners? How does UMUC ascertain the needs of adult learners? To what extent do the needs of adult learners require services that are different from or additional to those provided to traditional-age students? How do we measure our effectiveness in serving adult learners?

16. What values are expressed in our institution-wide expectations for syllabi? Do individual programs have standards consistent with these institution-wide expectations? Does the faculty have ownership of these standards?

17. How effective are UMUC’s existing standards in promoting clear communication of expectations and in helping students learn?

18. As programs develop their own assessment plans, how does UMUC ensure institution-wide consistency with our mission? In what ways do faculty participate in the formulation of policies regarding learning outcomes assessment? Do faculty members believe that assessment is central to their teaching? How can UMUC better promote faculty and student engagement with the assessment process?

19. What aspects of graduate programming (in general, or curriculum specific) focus on research? How do these graduate activities develop both knowledge of and experience with research methods, hypothesis development, information collection, and analysis?

20. What aspects of graduate programming allow students to demonstrate their capacity for independent thinking? How are student research capabilities and independent thinking assessed? Is UMUC’s evaluation of these skills made known to students applying for graduate education?

21. How are graduate faculty selected at UMUC? How do the standards for faculty qualifications compare from one graduate program to another? Does UMUC have the resources needed to recruit, support and retain qualified faculty for the graduate programs?

22. Does each graduate program have clearly articulated goals and objectives? How are these goals and objectives kept current with the requirements of certifying boards, professional bodies, etc?

23. Does each graduate program have an appropriate assessment plan in place? Can we demonstrate that outcomes assessment has been used to improve the usefulness of our programs to our students? What role does the placement office play in the assessment of graduate programs?

General Education

1. What is the structure of UMUC’s general education program? Are general education components undertaken early or throughout the student’s program of study? Is this sequence appropriate? Is the general education program of sufficient scope? Are there any imbalances in the foci of the program?

2. How are skills and abilities expected to be developed in the general education program utilized in all components of the student’s education? What specific efforts, if any, are made to relate elements of general education to the academic major?

3. What efforts in place at UMUC are designed to assure the application of general education skills to the major? Do individual or programmatic course goals build on core knowledge and skills? What types of documents indicate the relationship of core knowledge and skills to course or program learning outcomes?

4. In what ways does UMUC’s mission necessitate the incorporation of values, ethics, and diverse perspectives? How does UMUC work to ensure that these qualities are instilled in students? Does this responsibility lie only with the general education program, or is it shared with the major programs? How does UMUC ensure that education regarding values, ethics, and diversity is accomplished with a sensitivity and respect for the needs of a diverse community? Do all members of the community recognize and share the responsibility for this aspect of general education?

5. Describe the courses, activities, and experiences that are designed to foster learning in each of the mentioned educational areas. How are general education requirements developed and reviewed to ensure “coverage” of these areas?

6. Describe how the responsibility for ensuring learning of general education components is shared by the general education programs and the majors. How does UMUC ensure that students have adequate exposure to general education sufficiently early in their programs to serve as a foundation (i.e. that students don’t “save all of them for last,” etc.)?

7. How and where does UMUC publish its general education requirements? What efforts are made to ensure that students understand general education requirements both before and after matriculation?

8. How does UMUC make students aware of course transfer policies regarding general education? Is the process for determining transferability of general education courses from other institutions timely, consistent, fair, and equitably applied?

9. What is the plan for the assessment of general education? How is this plan linked to the strategic plan and to program level plans for student learning?

10. Where (at what level) does the institution assess general education outcomes? Is this level appropriate for gaining an understanding of general education outcomes as foundational for other learning? What persons or groups are responsible for carrying out general education assessment?

Related Educational Offerings

1. Does UMUC have an effective process for identifying students who might benefit from basic skills or developmental courses? Does UMUC periodically evaluate the procedures and/or assessments used to gauge student preparedness? What does this information disclose and how does UMUC use this information?

2. Are the available courses and support services sufficient to address the developmental needs of students? What changes does UMUC anticipate given the students currently served? Are appropriate resources available to offer relevant courses and support services?

3. Does UMUC state in appropriate institutional publications that remedial or pre-collegiate level courses do not carry academic credit? What UMUC publications contain this information?

4. What has the evaluation of certificate programs disclosed? How do graduates use UMUC’s certificate programs?

5. Does UMUC periodically analyze the amount and type of evaluated learning credit awarded in light of institutional policies and procedures? How is this information used?

6. What documents contain information about credit for learning derived outside the classroom? How is the process for demonstrating such learning made clear and explicit? How is the requirement that learning be at the college level made clear and explicit? How are the specific institutional policies regarding the amount, type, and applicability of such learning made clear and explicit?

7. Does UMUC periodically evaluate the processes used to make these determinations about credit for learning derived outside the classroom? How often are these evaluations conducted? How are the results and findings used?

8. Are the evaluators of experiential learning knowledgeable about the subject matter and about the institution’s criteria for the granting of college credit? How are evaluators of experiential learning chosen? Are professional development and ongoing training opportunities available to the evaluators of experiential learning?

9. What is the nature and scope of the UMUC’s non-credit offerings? How many students are served? Do the non-credit offerings comply with UMUC’s quality standards and policies?

10. What processes and procedures does UMUC have in place to assure that its off-campus offerings meet its own standards for quality, rigor and educational effectiveness?

11. Do the resources and services offered at off-campus sites sufficiently support the programs offered and the students served? What is the level of overall coordination between the off-campus sites and the main campuses?

12. Are UMUC’s assessment activities for distance learning integrated into a broader program of institution-wide assessment and educational effectiveness?

13. To what extent are the distance learning offerings aligned with UMUC’s priorities and educational objectives?

14. Does UMUC offer distance learning? Are there particular reasons why distance learning is appropriate to UMUC’s mission?

15. Is UMUC in compliance with applicable, legal and regulatory requirements? Have any changes been made as a result of applicable legal and regulatory requirements? How have these changes affected UMUC’s activities?

16. How were learning outcomes appropriate to the rigor and breadth of the degree or certificate awarded established? Does the program design involve the demonstration of such skills as analysis, comprehension, communication, and effective research?

17. How has UMUC committed to continuation of offerings for a period sufficient to enable admitted students to complete the degree or certificate in a publicized timeframe? How are students notified of program requirements?

18. Is the total program realistically available to students for whom it is intended?

19. What assurance is in place that the consortia partners or contractors do not compromise the integrity of the institution or of the educational offerings? Has UMUC outlined performance expectations in a written contract or agreement? Are there adequate quality controls and curriculum oversight provisions in the contract or agreement?

20. How effective is the process currently utilized by UMUC to ensure that faculty can effectively evaluate course materials or technology-based resources developed outside of the institution?

21. Are there available, accessible, and adequate learning resources (such as libraries or other information resources) appropriate to the offerings at a distance? How does UMUC inform prospective and current students of the library and other learning resources available to support learning and the skills necessary to access them?

22. Are these resources sufficient given the programs offered and the students served? Does UMUC evaluate the adequacy, availability and accessibility of its learning resources?

23. What is the nature and scope of the orientation, training, and support available for faculty participating in electronically delivered offerings? Is the training and support available to faculty adequate and appropriate?

24. How were the technologies chosen for the UMUC’s distance learning offering? Are the technologies and physical plant facilities appropriate given the courses/programs offered? Is help available for all hardware, software and delivery systems specified by UMUC as required for the program?

Back to Charge Questions
Back to Self-Study Home Page