Brenda Masters Associate Professor, Statistics Formerly Director, University Accreditation

1. Brenda Masters Associate Professor, Statistics Formerly Director, University Accreditation Robust Self-Studies, Virtual Resource Rooms, and Electronic Reports: The Essential Organization to Achieve Them

2. Oklahoma State University OSU-Stillwater & OSU-Tulsa Institutional Accreditation Self-Study and Site Visit Site Visit Dates: September 26-28, 2005

3. Process occurs each decade Institutional analysis with report Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association Institutional Accreditation Self-Study and Site Visit

4. General Institutional Requirements • Mission • Authorization • Governance • Faculty • Education Program • Finances • Public Information

5. Criteria for Accreditation Mission and Integrity • The organization operates with integrity • to ensure the fulfillment of its mission • through structures and processes • that involve the board, administration, • faculty, staff and students.

6. Criteria for Accreditation Preparing for the Future • The organization’s allocations of resources and • its processes for evaluation and planning • demonstrate its capacity • to fulfill its mission, • improve the quality of its education, and • respond to future challenges and opportunities.

7. Criteria for Accreditation Student Learning and Effective Teaching • The organization provides evidence of • student learning and teaching effectiveness • that demonstrates • it is fulfilling its educational mission.

8. Criteria for Accreditation Acquiring, Creating and Applying Knowledge • The organization promotes a life of learning for • its faculty, administration, staff, and students by • fostering and supporting • inquiry, creativity, practice, and social responsibility • in ways consistent with its mission.

9. Criteria for Accreditation Engagement and Service • As called for by its mission, • the organization identifies its constituencies • and serves them • in ways both value.

10. The Process • Develop a Self-Study Plan • Identify Steering Committee Members • Develop Committee Team Structures • Focus on Wide Involvement & Frequent Communication • Prepare Self Study Report & Resource Room • Facilitate Evaluation Visit • Respond to Draft and Final Response

11. Goals of the Process • Promote faculty leadership and involvement in the development of the support materials • Provide opportunities for engagement of faculty, staff, students, and administrators • Increase self-study credibility through transparency and broad participation • Generate a virtual resource room based on the network of institutional websites • Produce a book-quality self-study report with robust electronic linkages

12. The Steering Committee Objectives that Directed Committee Formation • Engage many people with specific tasks • Criterion teams composed/directed by faculty • Disperse work across groups different years • Utilize individual expertise on specific tasks

13. Steering Committee Structure Interactive Teams that Composed the Steering Committee CORE TEAM Director Criterion Chairs: Support Group: Academic Affairs Assessment Enrollment Mgmt Institutional Research Student Affairs OSU-Tulsa Staff Support WRITING TEAM Criterion One Criterion Two READERS’ GROUP Criterion Three Criterion Four HOSPITALITY TEAM Criterion Four STUDENT TEAM Criterion Five

14. The Director Role: An information conduit to guide and coordinate the flow of ideas, responses, and documents • Tools to facilitate effectiveness: • Embrace the available technology • Assign strict file names • Use advanced email functions

15. Strict File Names Why assign strict file names to all files, documents, and resource room elements? • Functions as the primary organization tool • Mechanism for labeling of various drafts • Provides the foundation for the website and virtual resource room • Assigning strict file names is a director responsibility, don’t expect others to adhere

16. Best Practices for File Names What is implied by strict file names? • File names that adhere to programming codes, such as not having spaces • Contains a time stamp, yyyymmdd, followed by specific file description and submitter’s name • Identifies each document or item uniquely • Matches incoming information to resource room • Example: 20050815_SiteVisitSchedule_Provost

17. Best Practices for Email How can email be used to facilitate and document the process? • Make all information requests through email so they can be tracked • Different message flags for needs action versus contains information both in inbox and sent items • Email group for teams, subcommittees, VP’s, deans • Add a contact/group the first time you use the name • Archive messages yourself in a clear manner

18. Events to Promote Interaction • Use FAQ’s or other website pages to promote conversation and engagement • Display documents on projector for discussion/editing • Plan numerous and varied events • Intersperse information with participant conversation • Plan events around a team, include special guests • Use nametags and table nameplates for identification • Provide souvenir handout, such as a bookmark, placemat, or wallet card

19. Accreditation Website • Purpose: Deliver the self-study process, report, and resource room to a broad audience • Contains: • Report and response from 1995 visit • New HLC Criteria with Core Components • Steering Committee and team structure • Source Writings from faculty teams • Various drafts of the self-study report • Summary of self-study process • Resource Room with supporting documents • Self-study report and summary in html and pdf files

20. Bookmarks Executive Summary Self-study report Accreditation Materials Printed materials included:

21. Extra two months in timeline File sharing system, such as Adobe Bridge Advanced design software, Adobe InDesign Paper design/layout expertise is essential Web design expertise is essential Production of Report Design and layout of a book-quality self-study report requires advanced software and additional time.

22. Questions? Comments? brenda.masters@okstate.edu 405-744-HLC2 (4522)