Who are we? What do we do?
COE Purpose
COE Projects 2001-2002
COE Projects 2000-2001
COE Projects 1998-1999
COE Goals and Objectives of the Center
Faculty and Staff Participants

Who are we? What do we really do?

The current Center of Emphasis (COE) at Pellissippi State supports learning, innovation, and assessment. As part of the project, the Innovations in Learning and Assessment (ILA) Committee meets regularly throughout the academic year to discuss topics related to learning and effectiveness in the classroom. Membership of the ILA Committee comprises representatives from several academic departments and Student Affairs. Specific topics for discussion include classroom research, classroom assessment techniques, critical thinking, learning styles, and other learning issues.

The ILA Committee's charge: Initiate project plans for teaching and learning process improvements that flow from program reviews and other program evaluations. Members collaboratively develop and monitor assessment plans for improvement projects and serve as assessment resources to their respective departments. Committee membership provides the opportunity for faculty and professional staff members to learn about and practice integrating manageable assessment and action research into their practices. The committee serves in an advisory capacity in the development and implementation of general education outcomes assessment, program review processes, and other teaching and learning evaluation activities.

Each project supported by COE has an evaluation plan developed by participating faculty. Plans are discussed in the committee, where members offer suggestions and support from classroom experiences and group readings.

The ILA Committee also serves as a faculty/staff resource to Academic and Student Affairs (ASA) each fall term by reviewing 3-column models of departments and offices within ASA and offering suggestions regarding assessment methods for consideration by the appropriate department, program, or office.

The Purpose of the Center

The purpose in developing the Center is to establish a set of processes and resources that systematically provide the opportunity for faculty and staff to develop, implement, and evaluate innovations that will address identified program weaknesses. Resources provided to support faculty include released time, training and professional development opportunities, and funding for materials and equipment.

Program review, accreditation, and institutional effectiveness processes suggest the need for improvements. Those of limited scope can be addressed through a department process, e.g., modifying lab scheduling practices to increase student access to high demand computer courses.

Program and course improvements of a more complex nature typically require some degree of study and design, a pilot implementation, and the evaluation of effectiveness to support decision-making about the feasibility of institutionalization.

Project descriptions are provided through the following links:

Projects: 2001-2002

Projects: 2000-2001

Projects: 1998-1999

Goals and Objectives of the Center

GOAL 1: Improve program and general education outcomes, including course success rates and fall-to-fall retention, through the establishment of a Center that promotes and supports faculty to develop effective, innovative strategies to address weaknesses in program review and accreditation processes.

Objective 1.1: Identify weaknesses or improvement objectives from program evaluation processes appropriate for faculty to address through innovative curricular and instructional strategies.

Objective 1.2: Provide released time, professional development, equipment, and technical support for faculty to develop and test innovative strategies that address program weaknesses that significantly impede student learning.

GOAL 2: Establish a system that strengthens the links among faculty innovations in the classroom, program effectiveness studies, and departmental institutional effectiveness planning processes.

Objective 2.1: Establish a resource center that empowers instructors with the skills and tools to develop, pilot, and evaluate innovative activities designed to directly address deficiencies in the educational program.

Objective 2.2: By the end of Year Three, develop an in-house education and training program/system that will provide ongoing support for faculty-developed assessment and evaluation that is manageable and can be integrated into practice for the continuous improvement of curriculum, instruction and support services for students.

The Center will provide the additional resources and training faculty need to adequately develop, implement, and evaluate innovations to address identified program weaknesses. The distinctiveness of the Center rests on two primary factors, as follows:

1. Faculty-generated improvement objectives are the ongoing source of Center activity--this focus ensures ownership in Center initiatives and provides motivation
2. As faculty design and pilot strategies to address improvement objectives, they will also design and employ formative and summative assessments which will serve to integrate continuous improvement principles into the process and provide multiple measures of effectiveness to inform expansion and resource allocation decisions.