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Curriculum & Program Review Basics

Curriculum & Program Review Basics


Who is responsible for Curriculum & Program Review? 

All full-time faculty participate; oversight for the process comes from the faculty-led Instructional Assessment Committee with administrative support from the Office of Instruction and Effectiveness & College Relations. The process applies to all degree/certificate programs and academic disciplines.

What is Curriculum & Program Review? 

A template developed by faculty is used by all that includes sections on mission and outcomes, curriculum, environment, planning, etc. Taken as a whole, the questions that make up the template provide a framework for faculty to regularly review and make improvements to their program and/or discipline.

The most important aspects of the process are:

  1. Ensuring that faculty have defined meaningful and measurable student learning outcomes for their program and/or discipline.
  2. Ensuring that faculty have a meaningful and sustainable method in place to collect data on student outcomes attainment that is distinct and separate from student grading.
  3. Ensuring that faculty are engaged in meaningful and productive analysis of their data in order to make ongoing improvements to the curriculum.

When is the work supposed to take place? 

Faculty are expected to work on curriculum and program review during designated instructional assessment days (indicated on the Instructional Calendar. It takes two years to work through a complete cycle. The Master Instructional Assessment Timeline indicates which section of the report needs to be completed in each academic term.

Where are the reports stored? 

The templates for each program and/or discipline are stored in a shared Google folder called "Curriculum & Program Review." All full-time faculty have access to the folder. Contact the Office of Instruction or Effectiveness & College Relations if you don't have access or need assistance (all faculty and instructional administrators should have access to the folder). Many faculty have opted to store their information elsewhere, such as in a Google drive. You are responsible for posting a link in the shared folder to your report and/or data, if it's not stored in the folder. Also keep in mind that if you keep your materials outside the folder, you accept responsibility for updating the template in the event that any modifications are made.

How does the work happen? 

All faculty work on the same set of questions, but the similarities end there. Faculty are responsible for determining their own learning outcomes and methods for assessing them. It is very important that faculty address the outcomes listed on the Degree Requirements pages in the LCC Academic Catalog as part of the Curriculum and Program Review process. If the outcomes listed in the Degree Requirements aren't being addressed or aren't reflective of what's going on with the program or discipline, then the outcomes probably need to be updated.


Useful links: 

  • Master Instructional Assessment Timeline-- find out what's happening each quarter in regard to instructional assessment by referencing this timeline (services4.lowercolumbia.edu/info/webresources/Institutional-Research/InstructionalAssessmentTimeline.pdf)
  • Instructional Calendar -- find out when designated assessment days are scheduled (internal.lowercolumbia.edu/calendars)
  • LCC Degree Requirements -- defined student learning outcomes for each program are listed on the degree requirements pages in the LCC Academic Catalog (lowercolumbia.edu/programs) 
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