ALO Report
March 14, 2016
Based on numerous inquiries b faculty and administration on several issues, the ALO would like to report the following information specific to: (1) Strategic Planning, (2) DL and WASC concerns expressed in their last visit, and (3) ALEX and WASC concerns expressed in their last visit.
1. Strategic Planning
Per the 2013 WASC Handbook of Accreditation, Standard 1.1 states: 1 “The institution’s formally approved statements of purpose are appropriate for an institution of higher education and clearly define its essential values and character and ways in which it contributes to the public good. GUIDELINE: The institution has a published mission statement that clearly describes its purposes. The institution’s purposes fall within recognized academic areas and/or disciplines” (p. 10).
Mission statement that is posted on our website comes from the Strategic Plan: http://hilo.hawaii.edu/catalog/mission.
It would be best for the University to provide an update to the 2011-2015 Strategic Plan: http://hilo.hawaii.edu/strategicplan/2011-2015plan.php.
2. DL and WASC concerns expressed in their last visit
The Report by the WASC Visiting Team includes the following recommendation: “The development and oversight of the distance-‐learning program, specifically the online courses and degrees, requires a clearly articulated strategy and adequate resource to support faculty and learning. The team recommends that immediate attention be given to all aspects of the online, distance education program” (p. 34).
From this statement, UH Hilo is tasked with (a) developing a strategy along with mechanisms to maintain oversight of DL and (b) show evidence of adequate resourcing to support DL. The March 2016 Action Letter also laid out the additional requirement that (c) learning-outcomes based assessment and (d) faculty development to support online teaching also be documented in the Spring 2017 Interim Report.
3. ALEX and WASC concerns expressed in their last visit
The Report by the WASC Visiting Team notes that “While there seems to be general agreement among departments regarding requirements and criteria for internships, the institution would benefit from developing a clear definition of “applied learning” and adopting university-‐wide policies regarding internships and service learning courses. It would also benefit from assessing the effectiveness of these activities and experiences” (p. 10). The recommendation from the team was to: (e) formally adopt definition and guidelines for the myriad of applied learning activities, (f) specific minimal requirements for courses to qualify for the applied learning designation, and (g) clearly outlines criteria for the placement and supervision of interns and the number of credit hours. Per the concerns stated, it would appear imperative to develop an assessment plan to be undertaken as soon as (e) through (g) are implemented.
Items (a) through (g) will be required for the Interim Report.