Academic Affairs News

Good morning Colleagues,
 
While only three weeks into the semester, you are making an impact on WKU students and their WKU experience through the work in which you are engaged and the interactions you have made with them. The quality of their courses, especially for new freshmen, determine student enthusiasm for the discipline, enhance comprehension, and drive student learning.
 
This year, we are required to submit our fifth year report to our regional accreditor, SACSCOC. While there are many standards associated with the report, we are currently focusing on compliance certification and student achievement, in particular, Assurance of Student Learning.
 
Academic Affairs supports a culture of continuous improvement through intentional, systematic self-reflection of our academic learning goals, measurements, outcomes, and renewals. We recently developed a WKU Assurance of Learning Committee with representation from every college, Quality Enhancement Plan leadership, and the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning.  The committee’s primary objective is to design a robust curriculum management program that advances the culture of student success while integrating a process to monitor student achievement of learning outcomes. We plan to provide professional development for our program directors on appropriate and effective goal-setting, measurements, analysis, and feedback. Please stay tuned for emails and announcements about upcoming program level assurance of student learning trainings!
 
Finally, to ensure our students are off to a strong start, I encourage you to assess your student’s learning as early as possible and submit the Fifth Week Assessment.  Doing so allows us to more effectively address class attendance and/or academic performance challenges. I also encourage you to review your class roster to make sure those on the list have attended your course. If a student has not attended any of your class meetings, please complete a drop for non-attendance through TopNet. This process ensures we have accurate enrollment data.
 
Thank you for your efforts to help our students succeed.
 
Wishing for some Fall-like weather,

Cheryl Stevens