Kaua‘i community college

Descriptive Summary

Kaua‘i Community College (KCC) uses internal processes, structures, and systematic procedures to achieve the objectives stated in Standard II.A.6. Several projects are intended

to help provide assurance that information about programs is clear and accurate: the Multi-Year Plan of Offerings, the fit of the Student Advising Sheet with the Multi-Year Plan of Offerings, and the extensively revised Course Action Form.
The college has developed the Multi-Year Plan of Offerings that includes both a Rolling Plan of Offerings and a chart of anticipated curricular and other actions and anticipated staffing and resource needs, which are completed in the fall semester of each year. The Rolling Plan ensures that the college knows what courses will be offered over a two-year period. This process provides improved opportunity to assess the effectiveness of course timing and to spot inconsistencies that will confuse students or keep them from progressing toward their educational goals. The information will be provided on the KCC website so that students can plan which courses they will take in particular semesters. In the chart, the program analyzes data relating to what courses are offered when and how. Growing from the curriculum, the needs chart reviews curriculum changes and needs, staffing needs, and supplies and equipment needs in preparation for the development of the APRU, which is finalized in the spring semester for review by the College Council as it makes funding recommendations to the chancellor. The college has reallocated a position from the Chancellor’s Office to the Dean’s Office to manage, coordinate and facilitate the development of the schedule, catalog, and student advising sheets to ensure consistency and accuracy with respect to the MYPO and official curricular actions.
Since an increasing number of students self-advise, the Student Advising Sheets will also be provided on the KCC website. The Advising Sheets must accurately reflect planned offerings.
The movement of all active courses to the new Course Action Form (CAF) over a five-year period provides opportunity for the accuracy, currency, and fit of courses in the program to be reviewed.
The Dean of Instruction’s Office and the academic programs annually review the academic information published in the KCC Catalog and ensure that information placed on the college website is consistent with the catalog. The catalog lists the degree and certificate programs available at KCC and provides a description of them in the Instructional Programs section. The catalog also provides information on the purposes of programs, course content, and course requirements. Course descriptions, course hours, and required prerequisites and co-requisites are noted in the Course Descriptions section of the catalog. Yearly, the faculty is asked to review their sections of the catalog and submit changes. Those changes are checked against curriculum committee actions. Changes in curriculum are added to the new KCC Catalog. As noted above, a position has been reallocated internally to manage this increasingly complex and important process.
Program information in the catalog is used in developing some program information brochures (Nursing, Hawaiian Studies, and OCET). Effective Spring 2006, the printed schedule of classes includes course prerequisites and descriptions. The program review process provides the opportunity for programs to self-assess the clarity and accuracy of their program information.
Course syllabi are expected to include the course description in the catalog. The instructor may choose to add additional information that helps the student understand the particular approach that will be used in the section in which the student is enrolled.
The new Course Action Form (CAF) requires inclusion of Student Learning Outcomes and means of assessing those outcomes. The college has mapped a plan for ongoing review of curriculum in which 20 percent of the courses will be moved from the old course proposal form to the new CAF each year. The 2005-2006 year is the first year for movement to the new form. Courses proposed this year use the new form and thus include Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) in the CAF and in the sample syllabus. Some faculty are also providing information on the assessment of these outcomes in their sample syllabi. A process for tracking course movement to the new CAF, with presentation and assessment of course specific SLOs in the syllabus, is established and will provide an update to faculty each semester (Fall 2005 and Spring 2006 Course Tracking spreadsheet).
The college expects that all instructors will provide course syllabi to their students either through hard copy or electronic means. It is expected that the SLOs are consistent with those in the course outline approved by the Curriculum Committee. The program review process requires programs to monitor their progress on development of SLOs, inclusion of SLOs in the course syllabi, identification of means of assessing SLOs, and reporting of whether students met the SLOs.
Instructors are asked to submit their course syllabi electronically every semester to the Office of the Dean of Instruction. A tracking system has been established (Fall 2005 and Spring 2006 Course Tracking spreadsheet). This tracking form will be completed at the end of each semester; thus Division Chairs will have information on courses moved to the new CAF, syllabi submitted, and the documentation of SLOs and assessment of SLOs.
The new CAF requires course SLOs to be aligned with campus-level SLOs and program level SLOs. Course proposals submitted for approval to the Curriculum Committee must include a syllabus which defines Student Learning Outcomes, sometimes still called course objectives in the syllabus. The Curriculum Committee has provided a statement of expectations regarding the way SLOs are written for the CAF (CAF Handbook).
Evaluation of probationary and non-probationary faculty by the Division Chair, the Division Personnel Committee, and administration includes an opportunity to review and suggest improvements in faculty’s syllabi. In their self-assessments, probationary and non-probationary faculty have opportunities to assess SLOs to improve program delivery. The program review process provides for review of program curriculum.

Self Evaluation
A process for coordinating the course/program approval process with the use of Student Advising Sheets is being developed. It is important that the Student Advising Sheets, which includes all degree and certificate course requirements, be carefully compared with the Multi-Year Plan of Offerings to ensure that what the student sees is accurate and updated in a timely manner. Because the Multi-Year Plan of Offerings reflects faculty decision making, the Student Advising Sheets must also reflect that decision making. The process involves divisions in making curriculum changes that are approved by the Curriculum Committee.
The college has recognized that there have been issues around accuracy of information. The curriculum review process with the new CAF is more thorough, detailed and demanding, so the college decided to reallocate a clerk-steno position in the Chancellor’s Office to create an APT (Administrative/Professional/Technical) position in the Dean’s Office. This position will be responsible for organizing, tracking, and aligning the curriculum documentation to ensure that accurate information is made available in a timely way.
Several sections of the CAF under construction or modification will be reviewed after use of the CAF this year. A number of faculty have requested workshops in which faculty can be assisted in filling out the new form. The Division Chairs are looking at workshop materials on SLO development and sample syllabi from each division to better understand the need for consistency at the division level, in how course SLOs will be stated. The college has discussed including course SLOs in the course description information in the college catalog. The Curriculum Committee has issued tip sheets to assist faculty in completing the CAF forms (Tips for Minimizing CAF Changes).
As of March 17, 2006, 61 course syllabi have been submitted to the Dean of Instruction (Fall 2005 and Spring 2006 Course Tracking spreadsheet). The use of the new tracking process will provide feedback that should encourage a greater submission rate and increased awareness of the need to provide SLOs and information on assessment of SLOs. There has been discussion of putting all course syllabi online so they are available to students. The expectation that faculty provide their course syllabi electronically each semester provides a procedure which will note whether syllabi have been provided, whether course SLOs are included, and whether assessment of those SLOs is described in the syllabus (Fall 2005 and Spring 2006 Course Tracking spreadsheet).