Faculty Senate Presentation September 17, 2014

Impetus – Dean Miller and Dr. Gray collected information on how the core was assessed within divisions. Mostly Informal Process – Academy Effectiveness Board worked on defining the core and mapping attributes to departments. Core course assessment active at the department level – Academy Effectiveness Board charged with assessing the core compared to the needs of the Navy – August Academic Assembly Off-Site devoted to assessment of core learning – October MSCHE Self-Study Institute (for institutions preparing for an accreditation visit) Effective educational offerings thus begin with expected learning outcomes statements, expressed in observable terms, of the knowledge, skills, and competencies that students are expected to exhibit upon successful completion of a course, academic program, co-curricular program, general education requirement, or other specific set of experiences. MSCHE Characteristics of Excellence Standard 11: Educational Offerings

Charge November 2013 Create a process for defining the core curriculum’s overarching outcomes representing the broad learning that takes place in the core courses. Scope: Limited to core requirement (credit bearing academic courses). Senior Professors, Deputy Division Directors and Chairs of the Faculty Senate Assessment Committee and Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee Core Learning Outcomes Task Force Two Pronged Approach Determined

CLOTF January 2014 – CLOTF Introductory Meeting PURPOSE OF THE TASK FORCE. The purpose of the “Core Learning Outcome Task Force" is to generate a draft list of broad student learning outcomes that ALL graduates of the Naval Academy ought to achieve, along with suggestions as to how USNA can assess them. This draft will be forwarded to the Academic Dean's office for further consideration. COMPOSITION OF THE TASK FORCE. As chairs of the Faculty Senate's Curriculum and Assessment Committees, Prof Peter Guth and CAPT Jeff Macris will co-chair the Task Force. Other members will include 2 reps from the Curriculum Committee and 2 reps from the Assessment Committee (Assoc Prof Shirley Lin from Chemistry and CDR Joe McInerney from LEAD Division), plus CAPT Hank Adams (Pro-Dev Div Dir), CAPT Matt Carr (Eng & Weapons Deputy Div Dir), and CDR Jay Dantone (a rep from Commandant's office who's working on the USNA's revision of the Professional Core Competencies). The three academic division senior professors will be invited to all of the meetings of the Task Force and should be cc'd on all important correspondence. All divisions are represented on the task force, and there should be a reasonable mix of civilians and officers. Sub-groups should consist of a reasonable balance of civilians and officers. It is expected that the results of these two parallel investigations can be integrated into a unified list of draft student learning outcomes.

CLOTF Activities Study of Existing Core Course Outcomes Fleet Perspective: Focus Groups with Officers at USNA Directed by Prof. Guth Study of the courses that are currently part of the “Core” in order to make explicit those broad learning outcomes that are currently being addressed in the existing core. Produced Core Outcome Matrix Working DRAFT Overarching Outcomes Directed by CAPT Macris Via Focus Groups: Reach out to USNA rotational Navy and Marine officers and Permanent Military Professors to collect a fleet perspective concerning which student learning outcomes the Naval Academy should adopt. Produced Summary of Fleet Officer Focus Group Recommendations

AAC&U General Education & Assessment Institute --Week long workshops, consultations and team work time with nationally recognized experts as faculty and consultants. --Limited Space/Competitive Admissions --Applied and Accepted in February 2014 for June Institute. Attended by: Dean Cermak, Dr. D’Archangelo, CDR McInerney, Dr. McWilliams, and Dean Waters (limit of 5)

AAC&U General Education & Assessment Institute Product: Integrated learning outcomes from both CLOTF teams into a single set of DRAFT Core Learning Outcomes. Determined alignment between DRAFT outcomes and the USNA 7 Attributes of a Graduate (Internal Consistency) MSCHE Required General Education Outcomes AAC&U Essential Learning Outcomes (Rubrics) Preliminary identification of rubrics and assessment approaches.

DRAFT The Naval Academy's interdisciplinary core curriculum exists to develop technically competent midshipmen who can: 1) Communicate effectively develop, organize, and communicate information and ideas through written, oral, and visual media. 2) Critically reasonsufficiently obtain, critically analyze, appropriately interpret, and use quantitative data and qualitative information to construct creative solutions to complex problems. 3) Solve technical problems apply fundamental principles from science, engineering, and mathematics to solve technical problems in both standard operating and unfamiliar contexts. 4) Understand American heritage articulate core American values and diverse experiences with an awareness of multiple cultural contexts. 5) Interpret past and current world events interpret past and current world events through an awareness of different human cultures. 6) Apply Naval science and technology within the context of the history of the profession of arms: apply the principles of military warfare, naval science and naval technology to evaluate situations; generate plans at strategic, tactical and operational levels; and execute decisions. 7) Apply leadership skills use contemporary leadership theories to support and motivate diverse team members in the accomplishment of objectives. 8) Reason morally/ethically recognize simple and complex moral dilemmas and use ethical principles to generate solutions that embody the highest moral standards. 9) Demonstrate intellectual curiosity apply self-directed learning strategies to improve their knowledge, skills, and abilities beyond requirements. While the knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with these learning outcomes are stressed within and across the courses that make up the USNA core curriculum, these outcomes are also developed in majors courses, training evolutions, and in both formal and informal activities that take place in a variety of settings.

Continuing Process Present in multiple venues Faculty Senate Division Leadership Supe’s Senior Leadership Team Other venues Collect feedback from faculty via Google Form : (anonymous, but requires a USNA account) Task Force regroups to evaluate and further refine Goal is to complete process by end of calendar year.