Strengths
- Strong first-year experience programs, including University College, learning communities, and instructional teams for first-year students, and the various support services and resources offered under one roof by UC.
- The Gateway Program, bringing together faculty development and student learning, with a focus on academic achievement of beginning students.
- Substantial improvement in retention over the past two years.
- New and expanding student support resources and student life programs.
- The emphasis on assessment at UC and collaboration among UC, the Office of Information Management and Institutional Research, and the Office for Professional Development to use assessment to identify and implement those interventions most effective in enhancing first-year student learning and retention.
- The campus-wide Principles of Undergraduate Learning, which define the knowledge and skills all undergraduates should attain and which are integrated in statements of expected competence for each major.
- An agreed-upon "core" curriculum (formerly the CLAS Curriculum) for Liberal Arts and Science majors that also serves as the basis for general education in most other schools.
- Well-defined and improving structures and processes for strengthening and assessing student learning of core skills (the PULs) and of the major.
- Senior capstone courses in most major fields.
- Capstone faculty learning community to develop models for different types of capstones.
- A growing honors program, which has brought more highly qualified students to campus, and increasing undergraduate involvement in research.
- Collaboration with Ivy Tech State College and then the Community College of Indiana to support student academic achievement and articulation between CCI and IUPUI; this collaboration has resulted in a dramatic increase in transfers since 1995.
- Well-developed program of survey research to gather indirect evidence of student learning and data on student, faculty, and staff satisfaction with the working environment on campus.
- University Library, the availability of state-of-the-art technology resources to access library materials, and the quality of the library as a learning space.
- A technology-rich learning environment and resources to support faculty in developing pedagogically effective applications of technology to teaching.
- Efforts to improve the physical environment for learning and engagement on campus.
- High-quality, comprehensive professional development programs for faculty.
- Rewards and incentives for effective teaching.
- Widespread use of active learning and inquiry-based pedagogies to promote student learning and engagement.
- A strong and growing service learning program and student involvement in clinical experiences and community internships in many major fields.
- Widespread use of technology to provide access to educational resources at IUPUI and to enhance the learning environment, along with initiatives to assess the impact of technology applications in specific teaching and learning contexts.
- Collaborations among IUPUI faculty within and between departments and schools to achieve important goals like improved retention and effective student learning of the PULs and major.
- Participation in national and consortial initiatives to improve teaching and learning that provide IUPUI with opportunities to learn from successful practices at other institutions and adapt them to our context.
- Open information environment and efforts to keep stakeholders informed of the institution"s effectiveness in teaching and learning through the annual Performance Report, the IUPUI portfolio, the campus Web site, and other media.
Challenges
- Implementing additional developmental programs that will promote success for IUPUI"s many under-prepared students.
- Continuing to raise our undergraduate retention and persistence-to-graduation rates for all students.
- Increasing collaboration with P-12 education to increase access to and preparation for higher education, especially for graduates of the Indianapolis Public Schools.
- Strengthening planning and implementation of diversity efforts in some units.
- Continuing to improve student learning of the PULs and major.
- Continuing to improve student life, when most of our students commute to campus.
- Ensuring continuing support for the technology infrastructure and other infrastructure items to support academic programs.
- Maintaining and increasing funding for library collections and programs.
- Maintaining and expanding scholarship support for students.
- Expanding Web-based and distance education courses; bringing IUPUI Online to its full potential.
- Ensuring that every faculty member works to develop at least some of the Principles of Undergraduate Learning in every undergraduate course, that students understand the purpose of the PULs, and that students develop the expected knowledge and skills.
- Ensuring that all faculty members and administrators understand the purposes of assessment and participate in (or support) meaningful assessment and improvement efforts.
Questions for Review Team
1. How can we continue to improve the first-year experience and to help new transfer students adjust to the campus?
2. What strategies might we use to engage more faculty members in integrating the PULs into their work with students and assessing for achievement of the PULs and learning outcomes for the major?
3. How can we measure and document our progress on teaching and learning, especially on the PULs, more effectively?
4. What strategies might help us sustain the teaching and learning innovations and initiatives we currently have underway? What more can we do to ensure that the initiatives are coordinated with one another?
5. Given that IUPUI is the principal site for graduate professional education in Indiana, how can we take advantage of the concentration of professional schools on campus to benefit undergraduates?
6. The President of IU has suggested that all eight IU campuses adopt a common set of general education course requirements. How feasible and desirable is it to try to integrate all eight IU campuses in terms of common curriculum expectations and other academic issues?
7. What priorities would you suggest IUPUI focus on in the area of teaching and learning over the next five to ten years?
