TABLE OF CONTENTS
INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS SUMMARY
COMPONENT SUMMARIES
Achievement of Students Transferring from Two to Four Year Institutions
Procedures for Student Development
INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS SUMMARY
Introduction
Recognizing that Assessment is inextricably linked to Planning, the College's Assessment program is now housed administratively in the Division of Planning and Assessment. The success of the College's Assessment program, however, will always be dependent upon the hard work and diligence of the entire campus community - its faculty, staff, and students.
One example of the College's assessment efforts is the use of the Annual Alumni survey. The College surveyed its 1995-96 graduates to determine their satisfaction with their major and general education program and instruction, as well as their ability to find gainful employment after graduation. From the survey results, it appears that the College of Charleston graduates are extremely satisfied with the education they have received and that this education has made them readily employable. The survey revealed that more than 88% of the College's alumni respondents were either "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the program in their major and only slightly less satisfied with the general education program (84%) and the instruction in this program (84%). Most importantly, 94% of the alumni surveyed indicated their satisfaction with their overall academic experience at the College of Charleston, and only 2% expressed any dissatisfaction with their overall academic program.
Additionally, as part of the alumni survey, the College assessed the employability of its alumni and has determined that the alumni of the College are indeed readily employable. Of the 1995-96 alumni seeking gainful employment upon graduation, 47% found full-time employment within the first month of graduation; 70% had found employment within the first three months; 83% within the first six months; and within one year of graduation 89% of the graduating class had found full-time employment.
This year's report will focus on Majors/Concentrations, Academic Advising, Procedures for Student Development, Library Resources and Service, and General Education. Academic Advising was reported on in 1998 and will be reported on again in 2001.
COMPONENT SUMMARIES
During 1998-1999, the Faculty Committee on Institutional Effectiveness began reviewing general education assessment in conjunction with the institution-wide comprehensive review of general education. The committee began to develop a comprehensive plan for general education assessment with these new objectives in mind. Testing instruments in three different domain areas were collected. These included: subject content knowledge (English, math, science, social science), critical thinking, and student attitude toward their educational experience. The committee will determine which instruments best serve the general education assessment needs of the College during 1999-2000. Procedures for sampling student population participants, ensuring adequate student participation, test administration protocols, and scoring and reporting data will be developed as well.
In 1996-97, the College of Charleston implemented the majors assessment process to a three-year cycled reporting format. The three-year cycle is a three-part process and the major programs are segmented into groups of one third. The three cycles are planning, collecting data, and reporting assessment efforts. Each program develops an assessment plan, collects data, and reports their assessment results and the use of findings in the three-year process. The Office of Institutional Research and Planning sends out the planning, budgeting, and assessment calendar and forms and the Faculty Committee on Institutional Effectiveness review and comment on the Assessment Plans and the Assessment Reports at the end of each year. Changing the assessment planning, collecting data, and reporting assessment results from an annual process to a cycled reporting format allows the College of Charleston to formally integrate our academic assessment efforts into the institutional planning and budgeting process. Since the goal of assessment is to use the data to "close the loop" in institutional planning, the integration of assessment into planning and budgeting is the next step in meeting that objective.
Many major reports due in 1997-98 were reported in the previous Institutional Effectiveness Report. Some departments extended their assessment activities. These reports were submitted at the end of 1998-99 and will be reported in the 1999-2000 Institutional Effectiveness Report. The summary of the undergraduate majors assessment reports is as follows:
The department assessed several areas. These included: 1) conducting exit interviews with graduate to determine student satisfaction with the curriculum; 2) administering an AACSB/EBI Student Satisfaction Study to determine the level of student satisfaction with the various aspects of the student educational experience; 3) gathering data on student success on the CPA exam to analyze data longitudinally and compare data with other South Carolina colleges and universities, compare with the South Carolina average, and to compare with the national average. Based on the exit interviews, the AACSB/EBI Student Satisfaction Study, and the CPA exam data, the department has split the two introductory courses Financial and Managerial Accounting and shifted the focus to a user's perspective with an emphasis on external and internal users' decision-making, the Accounting Information Systems course has been moved from a senior to a sophomore level course, the optional advanced accounting and governmental accounting courses have been merged into a required advanced accounting course, Management Information Systems has been eliminated as a degree requirement, the department has introduced departmental group advising sessions to enhance student performance on the CPA exam, and has proposed, received approval, and has subsequently mounted a M.S. in Accountancy degree program.
The department administered two questionnaires to determine whether student post graduate occupational goals reflect departmental targets and to determine student activities while attending the College of Charleston. The department found that 91% of the 1998 spring and Fall graduating class chose a career path related to the biological sciences. Few students appear to be interested in pre-college teaching. The department in conjunction with the School of Education has initiated a special program of study leading to certification for secondary school teachers and this may help increase the number of students who choose this particular career path. Students are active in their major field of interest while attending the College of Charleston. Over half of majors took advantage of supplemental instruction sessions while slightly more than half of the graduating Biology majors attended biology seminars. 25% of students attended a scientific meeting with 5% presenting their work while 21% of graduating students were involved in a summer program or research experience. Based on the data, the department will seek to increase support for the Supplemental Instruction Program, increase the percentage of graduating students who pursue careers in pre-college education, increase the number of students who work or volunteer their time in Departmental and non-departmental science laboratories, increase the number of student who attend and present at professional meetings, determine who student choose to earn a B.A. in Biology instead of a B.S. degree, and gather more information on the minor degrees earned by graduating majors.
ACADEMIC ADVISING
This component was last submitted to the Commission on Higher Education in July 1998. Based on the institution's schedule of reporting, a report for this component will next be submitted to the Commission in July 2001.
ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTS TRANSFERRING FROM TWO TO FOUR YEAR INSTITUTIONS This component is not applicable to the College of Charleston.
PROCEDURES FOR STUDENT DEVELOPMENT The Division of Student Affairs, in concert with the academic component of the college experience and the overall mission of the institution have intensified its effort to provide opportunities to identify and strengthen core values amongst our student body. Departmental/organizational programming, community outreach, intervention and discipline are focused on respect, dignity, building a sense of community, responsibility and service.
Greek Life:
Residential Students:
Student Judicial Affairs:
Twenty-three out of 27 student members of the Honor Board saw an increase in their GPAs over their two-year term. Twenty-two members maintained a GPA over 3.00. All members must maintain a 2.5 GPA to remain on the Board.
The 1997-98 and 1998-99 Honor Board Chairs received early acceptance into USC law school. The 1997-98 Chairperson received the Bishop Robert Smith Award for her service on the Honor Board and the 1998-99 Chairperson received a full scholarship to law school.
Membership on the Honor Board increased awareness of the various forms of plagiarism, unauthorized colloboration and violence against women.
Student Honor Board members demonstrated an increase in knowledge about due process rights afforded accused individuals and the distinctions between an internal adminstrative judicial process and external criminal/civil processes.
Crisis Assistance Response and Education (CARE):
Findings from the previous two years indicate that intense follow up and the ability to utilize an extensive network of resources are key ingredients to retention of students affected by crime. One hundred percent of primary individuals served utilized campus/community resources as part of the intervention program (academic intervention, psychological counseling, legal assistance, campus escorts, accompaniment to court, etc.) Thirteen seniors graduated, two students permanently withdrew, and one student withdrew, and one student withdrew and re-enrolled. Based on satisfaction surveys of CARE clients, 35% indicated the highest possible rating of satisfaction. Six sets of parents have written testimonials about how the CARE program helped their students during their victimization. Over 90% of students assisted by CARE filed official reports with law enforcement agencies.
The College of Charleston is committed to maintaining a library that provides the materials that are necessary for a strong, modern program of instruction in all academic departments. In order to accomplish this goal, the library regularly assesses its effectiveness through a variety of means and measures.
The library evaluates its effectiveness by gathering patron use statistics (number of circulations, interlibrary loans, reserve use, etc.), by collecting publishing and price information, and by evaluating specific subject collections using what is known as the Conspectus Methodology to determine the quality of the collection. From time to time, the library staff prepare various evaluations of the collection for accreditation and program review. The library also measures book availability on the shelf by taking monthly random samples to determine the reasons why books are not on the shelf and to
identify changes in procedures to improve shelving availability. Finally, the library staff routinely surveys patrons to determine the library's effectiveness in meeting its goals and objectives.
The results of these evaluative tools and processes in many instances validated the decisions and directions already in place. In several cases, the findings resulted in modifications of the operating procedures of the library. As the administration of the College of Charleston plan the construction of a new library building they have incorporated many assessment findings into the new building design.
Finding #1:
The Collection Development Committee now evaluates and analyzes the need for electronic databases. Based on costs and curriculum and with recommendations from faculty and librarians, the librarians make these selection decisions annually. In addition, the collection development librarian has led a statewide assessment of library databases. The College is one of five statewide members of the SC Group Database Licensing Project. This group queries its constituencies (k-12 schools, public and private institutions of post-secondary education) as to which electronic databases they would like to license and arranges for competitive pricing for these databases. In 1997, the College of Charleston library instituted a listserv for the state to assist in the evaluation and discussion of cooperative database purchasing decisions.
The American literature and chemistry subject collections have been recently reviewed using the Conspectus Methodology. In American literature, for example, the library staff found deficiencies in holdings for minor authors and have subsequently made selections to remedy these gaps. The staff is currently analyzing the collection in business.
Finding #2:
Finding #3:
Similarly, results of the Reference Satisfaction Survey are consistently high over the past decade (using a 5-point scale, 4.13 in 1992 and 4.18 in 1999). Most comments center on the friendly helpful staff, with a few comments about the need for additional print and electronic resources.
As part of plans for the new library building,
the staff surveyed the faculty and students electronically
and in small groups. The electronic questionnaire can be found
at http://www.cofc.edu/library/newlib/newlibrary.html.
In response to student and faculty requirements, the new building will include 24 group studies; electronic access from every seat in the public area; electronic reference area on the first floor equipped with 40 PCs; 120 seat computing lab; three instructional areas: (one lecture room for 48 and two instructional classrooms, each with 22 workstations); extensive networking and data access connectivity for current and future needs; space for development of electronic teaching materials by library and teaching faculties; an education curriculum reading room; a music resource room;
open shelving for video tapes and video disks; exhibit spaces for library-related materials; and the Center for Effective Teaching and Learning.
The library administration and staff continue to monitor the qualitative results and comments from the annual surveys - modifying the physical arrangements in the current building whenever feasible and planning a new facility to meet their academic needs.
To assist our 1,200 Greek students as they create a new millennium of leadership, the "Challenge of Greek Life" was initiated. The core of the Challenge is the Five Pillar Project - an annual assessment and planning process designated to offer change strategies and a baseline of competence that must be met for a Greek organization to remain viable at the College. Five areas have been identified and evaluated: chapter administration, chapter development, membership development, judicial history, and academic achievement. In the past three semesters, 12 of our 15 NIC/NPC Greek organizations achieved above the all-gender average at least once. Five women's Greek organizations schieved a cumulative GPA above the all-women's and all-campus averages. Two female Greek organizations, Kappa Delta and Alpha Delta Pi, achieved averages above 3.00. Four male Greek organizations ranked above the all-male average. Sigma Phi Epsilon's new member's GPA ranked above the all-campus average. This fraternity also participated in over 900 hours of community service during 1998-99.
A Quality of Life Survey distributed to all students living in the Residence Halls produced the following data regarding produced the following data regarding our emphasis on realizing and strengthening core values:*
-61% agree or strongly agree that Residence Life programs assist in dealing with issues that they face as college students;
-69.5% believe that living on campus has increased their ability to resolve constructively interpersonal difficulties;
-82.0% agree or strongly agree that the campus alcohol policy is enforced in the Residence Halls;
-80.2% agree or strongly agree that Residence Hall regulations are enforced consistently;
-77.6% agree or strongly agree that living on campus has helped them to better understand and respect individual differences; and
-75.4% agree or strongly agree that living on campus has made them a more self-sufficient individual.
*49.3% response rate.
Students participating in an intense training program to build the necessary skills and the on-going education that comes from regular Honor Board hearings have demonstrated that this form of community service can enhance their academic performance.
Intervention and resourcing have a positive effect on students affected by violent crime as can be seen by the following information provided by our CARE program:
The majority of the book circulations occur in the areas of the humanities and social sciences, including English (31%) and history (22%). The number of student and faculty interlibrary loans, traditionally high in areas like history (11%) and languages (12%), have in recent years been especially high in biology (17%) and psychology (18%), primarily because of increased faculty research in these areas. The information about publishing rates for monographs and pricing for journals shows that, however steady the rate at which new books appear, the rising price of journals continues to have the greatest impact on budgeting. The average price of a journal last year in both physics and chemistry was $1062 and $420 for biology. The College of Charleston library is spending 6% of its book budget in English and 6% in history. At the same time, it is spending 11% its journal budget in biology, 6% in physics, and 6% in chemistry.
Charting the missing books reflects a consistent pattern of success (98% of the books are either on the shelf or charged out). Staff attribute the high rate to shelf reading at the beginning of each semester; monitoring internal procedures for circulation and interlibrary loan departments; and adding part time employees and students to assist during the busiest times of the semester.
Survey data from the annual User Satisfaction Survey on the perceived success of library users remains remarkably consistent over the past decade. Approximately 74% were "mostly" or "very satisfied" with their visit, 9 % were "not all" or "not satisfied" and 17% were "neither satisfied nor dissatisfied". Students continue to ask for a quiet building (plans call for completion of new library in 2002), with more and different types of seating as well as more material.