Departmental External Reviews
Procedures for External Review of Academic Departments/Programs
The goal of our external review program at Colorado College is to continue to improve the quality of the academic program and to strengthen conditions for teaching and learning.
There are three phases to an external review: 1) Preparing for the review, 2) The visit of the external reviewers, 3) The follow-up after the visit.
Phase One: Preparing for the Review
Requests for external reviews may be initiated either by the Dean or by the department. Under current practice all departments and programs undergo a review every eight to ten years.
- It is wise to schedule reviews when all or nearly all department members are on campus.
- Faculty on sabbatical are expected to contribute to the materials sent to reviewers and to make themselves available to meet with the reviewers (this can be done by zoom).
- Faculty on sabbatical are not expected to attend all external review events or contribute to the hosting of the review team.
The department chair should contact the Dean's Office the year before the department wants the external review to occur to let the Dean know what the department is planning. The Dean and the department chair begin conversation about the goals for the review.
Budget for review expenses: The reviewers are offered $1,000 plus expenses (economy ticket, accommodation, and meals). The Dean's Office pays for this. The total cost for a review is capped at $7,500. Departments should submit a budget to the Dean's Office before the visit for approval.
Preparation for an external review should begin well in advance, preferably a full year before the review visit. The department arranges for a special meeting, or series of meetings, and/or a retreat to discuss what they hope to get out of a review. At this point, the department should begin collecting the information and creating the materials it intends to provide for the reviewers. This process usually includes working with the Director of Assessment and Program Review, who can help departments think through their goals for the review and can assist with the collection of certain kinds of information.
Preparation for an external review entails a careful internal review of the department's program(s). It should contain:
- Goal Setting questions:
- What are the program's goals and its approach to teaching and learning? What are shorter-term 1-3 year goals? What are longer-term 5-8 year goals?
- What are your ideals of student experience in your department? This includes all who are enrolled in your courses, and also your majors and minors.
- What are your roles in the full timeline of students' education? How are you welcoming/onboarding new students who just arrived to CC? How are you preparing students for thriving after graduation? Do you have goals related to supporting your alumni's continued involvement?
- What are the ideals of departmental governance and collaboration norms?
- Implementation:
- How does the program seek to achieve those goals (curriculum, high-impact practices, sequencing of courses, teaching practices, inclusive pedagogies, recruitment and retention of students, support of your majors and minors for life after graduation, department members working collaboratively and respectfully together)?
- How does it evaluate whether it meets the goals?
- Data Collection:
- The department should begin assembling evidence and collecting data. How are the goals and initiatives evaluated? How is the curriculum evaluated?
- How is student learning and student experience assessed? How has enrollment in the courses been for the past 5 years? What high-impact practices do they experience and are these learning experiences available in different courses? Are there courses with a disproportionately high risk of student failure (D, NC, withdrawing)?
- Are faculty members generally carrying equitable and similar workload (e.g., number of total students, number of advisees, service on departmental committees)?
- Self-Study Conclusions:
- What is the department's own self-study conclusions? What are strengths? What are friction points or weaknesses? This will likely include comments related curriculum, sequencing of courses, teaching practices, distribution of courses/workload, governance and department norms, and scholarship
- Questions for the External Reviews:
- What general and specific questions does the department wish the external reviewers to examine? On what topics do you seek reviewer feedback? What are additive solutions (to improve by doing more, something new), transformation (to improve by doing things differently), and substantive solutions (to improve by doing less) that you are considering?
- What are current directions in the field? What can the department learn from other colleges and universities?
These items are to be shared with the Dean and the external reviewers.
The Director of Assessment and Program Review has developed a document (contact audiskessler@coloradocollege.edu) that provides a wide range of suggestions for information to collect, including detailed suggestions for surveys (of current students, alums, faculty, and staff as desired), Banner data, and web benchmarking information on departments at peer or aspirant institutions, all of which the Director of Assessment and Program Review can support.
Information about the block plan and its impact on how teaching and learning occur also needs to be supplied to reviewers.
Choosing External Reviewers
- The department creates a roster of potential reviewers.
- Usually, there will be a team of three. Occasionally a team of two is sufficient, occasionally four might be asked, depending on the size, complexity and particular needs of the department.
- The department chair issues invitations to reviewers after their approval by the Dean.
After the completion of the self-study, the materials are sent to external reviewers for their study prior to the formal visit. The materials should also be sent to the Dean of the Faculty. An effective way to share the information is to use a Teams page rather than sending a paper packet or large attachments by email.
Scheduling
- Campus visits last 2 days, any day of the working week.
- Dates mutually agreeable to the Dean and department are set. Departments should try to schedule an in person exit interview between the review team and the Dean prior to their departure, but this could also be accomplished with zoom soon after their departure. Some departments may also suggest that the dean meet (remotely by video) with the review team prior to the visit.
Phase Two: The Visit
The department creates a detailed schedule which includes
- meetings all regular members of the department faculty and staff,
- meeting with students,
- exit meeting with the dean,
- class visit (it should be substantive, for an hour or more).
- Departments may also include meetings with faculty from cognate departments or programs, divisional executive committee, or other staff members.
While it is ideal for department members to meet in person with the team during the visit, on occasion (e.g., sabbatical, abroad courses), meetings could be conducted by zoom prior to or during the campus visit.
The Dean has an exit interview with the entire review team to find out their first reactions. This is often done in person on the final day of visit, but zoom will also work. Sometimes reviewers have specific questions arising from the visit.
The reviewers are expected to provide a comprehensive written report in a timely fashion-no more than a month after the visit. Typically, the reviewers will consult with one another after their campus visit and will submit a joint report; occasionally, reviewers will submit separate reports. The report comes to the Dean and is then distributed to all members of the department.
Phase Three: The Follow-up
A complete and candid written evaluation is required of each review team. Once the written report is received, the Dean discusses the report with the department.
The department may wish to hold a second retreat to debrief and plan for the future after the external review has been completed. The department should produce a written response to the report; this response may form the basis for the development of a departmental plan for the future.
The Chair and the Dean discuss the recommendations in the report and the department's initial response, and begin forming a department strategic plan with both short-term and long-term goals and implementation plans. The outcome of a successful external review is a plan that will guide the department for the next 8-10 years.