Workshop on Preparing the NEASC Self Study
Presented by:  Dr. Peggy Maki
May 10, 2007

MEETING MINUTES

Dr. Peggy Maki gave a PowerPoint presentation to address some of the common questions and concerns related to preparing a self study for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.  Her Power Point presentation is attached. 

A number of slides provided strategies for approaching the NEASC Self-Study and engaging the community (for example):

• Wide representation of the community across all committees is very important.

• Determine leadership responsibility.

• Hold a town meeting once the final draft is complete to gain a community understanding.
   

Dr. Maki stressed the importance of well-rounded communication among the committees as well as the campus community.  She made the following suggestions:

• Members of standard committees should attend other committee meetings so that there will be cross-representation in all discussion groups.  This will help the committees to determine whether or not they agree on the issues they should be focusing on for the self-study.

• Develop an internal means to distribute drafts of the self-study, as well as ways for committee members to respond to these drafts.  All members of the university should be able to view these drafts. 
     

Information Gathering Strategies for Appraisal Section:

• Support each claim in the self-study with evidence. Evidence must be labeled accordingly and easy to find electronically or in the University’s document room.

• Clearly identify patterns of weakness and share this information with the community.

• Utilize the university-wide survey to gather the community’s suggested solutions to the major issues, as well as to show a wide participation of the community in this self-study process.

• Use Town Hall meetings to rank and prioritize concerns.

• P. Maki suggested that each standard committee focus on the burning issues of the University or on specific patterns in order to avoid writing on everything.
   

Projection Section

• Write about how the university intends to fix the uncovered patterns of problems in the projection section. 

• Use the Projection section as a consensus statement of what the University is going to do and collaborative means of looking at the future.
   

Suggestions on how to prepare for the Site Visit:

• Appoint a liaison who will be in charge of responding to the needs of the team during the visit.

• Be sure that a wide range of community members (students, faculty, staff, and administrators, etc.) are well-aware of the self-study and its purpose.

• On the day of the site visit, it is best to have as many people on campus as possible to answer the team’s questions.

• Be prepared for surprise questions.  Team members will randomly choose a few individuals and ask them questions about the self-study.  (Sample questions are included in the PowerPoint.)
   

Dr. Maki then took questions from the audience participants:

Question:         How should we approach the problems that can’t be fixed?  Should they be in the report?  (Example: getting more students to stay on campus.)

Answer:           First, don’t leave anything out if you feel it is important.  If the problem is substantial, the team is going to want to see that you are making an effort to find a solution.

Question:         Should we assess what was written in the last report?

Answer:           Yes, it is important to show that you are aware of both the problems and the proposed solutions written in the last report.  Address what was going do be done and if it actually was done.  This will prove to the NEASC visiting team that the institution will actually do what it says it will do.

Question:         Can you provide some guidance regarding the length of the chapters in the report?

Answer:           Sections on the Student and Academic Affairs standards are normally about twenty pages long.  All other sections range from three to five pages.

Question:         What kind of information is NEASC looking to see regarding Technology?

Answer:           They are looking for how technology enhances teaching and learning throughout the University.  They want to know if the students are learning from the technology advancement the way that the University expects them to.

Question:         For the final draft, should we address the criteria in a checklist structure or a narrative form?

Answer:           A narrative structure is always easier to read, but you should also indicate within your narrative structure which substandard you are addressing.

Question:         Should we assign a reader to look at the final draft?

Answer:           Definitely.  You can ask someone from the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (CIHE), who will not be part of the visiting team, to review this and also give this job to someone who is uninvolved with any of the NEASC committees.
 

Other Helpful Suggestions

• Educate the students, faculty, and staff, and give meaning to the self-study process.  The community should understand exactly what the school is getting out of this report.

• Be completely honest when writing the report.  “You should be the first to know what your patterns of weakness are.”  Be self-reflective.

• When items apply to more than one section of the report, cross reference this information to avoid overlap.  Remember to keep appendices to a minimum.

• The report’s readability is very important; it should have a uniformed voice.  Make your point, support it, and move on.

• Don’t dwell on every little problem.  Look for the patterns of weakness and determine the University’s priorities.
   

NEASC Areas of Focus

P. Maki pointed out a few areas on which the team will be focusing on when reading the self study and during the site visit:

• Resources provided for students and faculty; how these resources are being utilized; whether or not they are benefiting the school community.

• The use of information literacy and how it is contributing to the outcomes of the students.

• Focus on assessment.

• Learning is the focal point, rather than teaching.
   

P. Maki mentioned that she would be available throughout the summer via telephone or e-mail if there are any other questions or concerns.
 

C. Lovitt concluded the meeting and noted that, according to P. Maki’s presentation, it looked like the committees have anticipated most of the team’s expectations.  He mentioned that CCSU’s web site and the Vista site will be open to the public in the near future; he confirmed that all committees will be able to view each other’s Vista pages.  
 

Action Items—C. Lovitt

Ø       Each standard committee should propose 3-5 questions for the University-wide survey.

Ø       Each standard committee should think about the information that will be needed to complete their tasks.  What questions need answering?  There is a great deal of information that has already been generated.

Ø       Think about which documents will need to be utilized as well as displayed in the document room.  The room is already set up and ready for use.

/kk