brenda masters associate professor, statistics formerly director, university accreditation

Oklahoma State University

Robust Self-Studies, Virtual Resource Rooms, and Electronic Reports:

The Essential Organization to Achieve Them

Brenda Masters

Associate Professor, Statistics Formerly Director, University Accreditation


Oklahoma State UniversityOklahoma State UniversityOSU-Stillwater & OSU-TulsaOSU-Stillwater & OSU-Tulsa

Institutional Accreditation Institutional Accreditation Self-Study and Site VisitSelf-Study and Site Visit

Site Visit Dates: September 26-28, 2005


Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association

Institutional Accreditation Self-Study and Site Visit

• Process occurs each decade

• Institutional analysis with report


GeneralGeneral Institutional Requirements Institutional Requirements

•MissionMission•AuthorizationAuthorization•GovernanceGovernance•FacultyFaculty•Education ProgramEducation Program•FinancesFinances•Public InformationPublic Information


Mission and Integrity

Criteria for AccreditationCriteria for Accreditation

I. The organization operates with integrity

to ensure the fulfillment of its mission

through structures and processes

that involve the board, administration,

faculty, staff and students.


Preparing for the Future


II. The organization’s allocations of resources and

its processes for evaluation and planning

demonstrate its capacity

to fulfill its mission,

improve the quality of its education, and

respond to future challenges and opportunities.


Student Learning and Effective Teaching


III. The organization provides evidence of

student learning and teaching effectiveness

that demonstrates

it is fulfilling its educational mission.


Acquiring, Creating and Applying Knowledge


IV. The organization promotes a life of learning for

its faculty, administration, staff, and students by

fostering and supporting

inquiry, creativity, practice, and social responsibility

in ways consistent with its mission.


Engagement and Service


V. As called for by its mission,

the organization identifies its constituencies

and serves them

in ways both value.


The ProcessThe Process• Develop a Self-Study Plan

• Identify Steering Committee Members

• Develop Committee Team Structures

• Focus on Wide Involvement & Frequent Communication

• Prepare Self Study Report & Resource Room

• Facilitate Evaluation Visit

• Respond to Draft and Final Response


Goals of the Goals of the ProcessProcess• Promote faculty leadership and involvement in

the development of the support materials

• Provide opportunities for engagement of faculty, staff, students, and administrators

• Increase self-study credibility through transparency and broad participation

• Generate a virtual resource room based on the network of institutional websites

• Produce a book-quality self-study report with robust electronic linkages


The The Steering Committee Steering Committee

• Engage many people with specific tasks

• Criterion teams composed/directed by faculty

• Disperse work across groups different years

• Utilize individual expertise on specific tasks

Objectives that Directed Committee Formation


Steering Committee StructureSteering Committee Structure

CORE TEAMDirector

Criterion Chairs:Support Group: Academic Affairs

AssessmentEnrollment Mgmt

Institutional Research

Student AffairsOSU-Tulsa

Staff Support

Criterion One Criterion TwoCriterion ThreeCriterion FourCriterion FourCriterion Five

STUDENT TEAM

WRITING TEAM

READERS’ GROUP

HOSPITALITY TEAM

Interactive Teams that Composed the Steering Committee


The The DirectorDirector

Tools to facilitate effectiveness:

• Embrace the available technology

• Assign strict file names

• Use advanced email functions

Role: An information conduit to guide and coordinate the flow of ideas, responses, and documents


Strict File NamesStrict File Names

• Functions as the primary organization tool

• Mechanism for labeling of various drafts

• Provides the foundation for the website and virtual resource room

• Assigning strict file names is a director responsibility, don’t expect others to adhere

Why assign strict file names to all files, documents, and resource room elements?


Best Practices for File NamesBest Practices for File Names

• File names that adhere to programming codes, such as not having spaces

• Contains a time stamp, yyyymmdd, followed by specific file description and submitter’s name

• Identifies each document or item uniquely

• Matches incoming information to resource room

• Example: 20050815_SiteVisitSchedule_Provost

What is implied by strict file names?


Best Practices for EmailBest Practices for Email

• Make all information requests through email so they can be tracked

• Different message flags for needs action versus contains information both in inbox and sent items

• Email group for teams, subcommittees, VP’s, deans

• Add a contact/group the first time you use the name

• Archive messages yourself in a clear manner

How can email be used to facilitate and document the process?


Events to Promote InteractionEvents to Promote Interaction• Use FAQ’s or other website pages to promote

conversation and engagement

• Display documents on projector for discussion/editing

• Plan numerous and varied events

• Intersperse information with participant conversation

• Plan events around a team, include special guests

• Use nametags and table nameplates for identification

• Provide souvenir handout, such as a bookmark, placemat, or wallet card


Accreditation WebsitePurpose: Deliver the self-study process, report, and resource room to a broad audienceContains:•Report and response from 1995 visit •New HLC Criteria with Core Components •Steering Committee and team structure •Source Writings from faculty teams •Various drafts of the self-study report•Summary of self-study process •Resource Room with supporting documents •Self-study report and summary in html and pdf files


Accreditation Materials

• Bookmarks• Executive Summary • Self-study report

Printed materials included:


Production of Report

• Extra two months in timeline• File sharing system, such as Adobe Bridge• Advanced design software, Adobe InDesign • Paper design/layout expertise is essential • Web design expertise is essential

Design and layout of a book-quality self-study report requires advanced software and additional time.


Questions? Comments?

[email protected]

405-744-HLC2 (4522)

brenda masters associate professor, statistics formerly director, university accreditation

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