By Kristen Grace Senior Staff Writer Miami University professors test students all the time, but rarely does the university itself undergo an examination. The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools will again evaluate Miami in 2014-15, so the university is evaluating its curricular and co-curricular programs to assess how well the university is providing an appropriate collegiate experience for students. This assessment, occurring every 10 years, will look at the whole student experience across the entire institution and will affect the school's accreditation status in the future. According to Cecilia Shore, director of the center for the enhancement of learning and teaching (CELT) and university assessment, Miami has received good feedback in the report in the past. Shore said Miami is preparing for the assessment by encouraging academic programs and schools to specify learning goals for the majors and courses they offer as well as set up plans for future improvement. Some schools, such as the Farmer School of Business (FSB) and the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), already have professional accreditation bodies that review the quality of the student experiences. However, others such as the College of Arts and Science (CAS) do not have such governing bodies. According to Shore, the university has begun a new effort to encourage these departments to evaluate themselves. These evaluations will consist of student feedback and faculty perceptions as well as direct observation to see whether courses are achieving the goals set by the faculty. This is similar to the process used to evaluate Miami Plan courses. "To keep the designation as being a Miami plan course, every six years programs are required to submit information to the liberal education office that show student and faculty perceptions," Shore said. According to Shore, evaluations will not be limited to the Miami Plan. Instead, they will cover classes from every program offered at Miami. Some students welcome these evaluations in hope of improvement. "A lot of programs are really good, but it depends on the school," said junior Marilyn Wickenheiser, a chemical engineering major. "I just think the engineering school is very disorganized." To encourage these evaluations, CELT and university assessment have provided a number of workshops, videos, podcasts and consulting opportunities to assist departments and faculty who will be taking a lead role in these evaluations. In addition, they are also writing an assessment handbook to provide a guide for departments who are new to the process. "We want to encourage departments to engage in full-cycle assessment, closing the feedback loop," Shore said. By assessing student progress through student and faculty feedback, departments will be able to re-evaluate and improve programs. This will be a continuous procress until the assessment begins in 2014. "The first step is self-study," Shore said. Junior Megan Earls said she visited a number of schools in Ohio before choosing Miami. "I think overall Miami is a really good school," Earls said. "I think people take it for granted." Others, however, were skeptical of the changes Miami could make. "I definitely think there are things that can be changed," said junior Mary Spooner, "but when it comes to these goals and changes, Miami tends to be more theoretical than practical."
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