Year 1: Planning and Self-Study
Spring, Year 1: Meet with OIE
External Review Overview (January): OIE initiates the process. The entire department/program will meet with OIE to talk about the process, review the External Review template, and make plans for data collection and reviewer identification.
Select the Site Visit Dates (February): Because multiple departments/programs complete external reviews in the same academic year, it is important to coordinate the dates. Provide three preferred dates for the visit in the Spring Semester, Year 2. OIE will coordinate these dates with the other departments/programs and the Provost and Dean of the Faculty (Provost), and let you know the date of your visit.
Identify Departmental/Program Questions (February – ongoing): The department/program should develop questions the reviewers should consider as they read the self-study and interview campus stakeholders during the site visit. Departments/programs should draft these questions in the spring semester and continue to revise them after studying the alumni survey and student focus group data, and writing the self-study.
Reviewer Identification (April): Using the reviewer template, the department/program should identify faculty at other institutions who can serve as reviewers. By the end of April, email the template to OIE for review before it is sent to the Provost for final approval. Prioritize reviewers who are within driving distance of 集美麻豆.
Ideally, this process should be completed no later than April of Year 1 with reviewer invitations sent immediately after.
July, Year 1: Budget
OIE will receive the budget for the upcoming academic year and notify each department/program of the funds available to spend on the review. Departments/programs may contribute funding from their budgets. Alumni Survey and Focus Group Planning (April): Departments/programs survey alumni, and in some cases, host focus groups with current students.
Department/program faculty should finalize the alumni survey questions by April. Send these questions to OIE for survey design. OIE will create the survey and provide the department with a list of graduates from the last 10 years.
If desired, department/program faculty can organize focus groups. They should identify 7 to 8 students who will participate. OIE will lead the focus groups, but the department/program should plan the logistics, to include the students who will be involved, questions, interview space, food, etc.
Fall Semester, Year 1: Alumni Survey and Focus Group Implementation, Data from OIE, and Contacting Reviewers
Event Planning (September): The department/program should begin planning the visit. Schedule accommodations at the Weyanoke or another Farmville hotel. If a department/program uses on-campus accommodations, OIE will only cover up to a Farmville hotel rate. Reserve the campus motor pool for transporting reviewers, if applicable.
Library Resources (September): Contact the Library, requesting that they complete the Library Resources section in Part 4 for the self-study template. Share the OneDrive link with them.
Alumni Survey (October): By September of Year 1, the survey is finalized and uploaded into Qualtrics. OIE will send the final to the department/program for approval before it is sent to alumni. The department/program should send the survey to alumni. Ideally, the department/program should send the survey on the first Tuesday in October and close the survey on the last Tuesday in October.
Focus Groups (October): OIE will host the focus groups on behalf of the department. Ideally, the focus groups will occur in October.
Data (October): OIE will provide data on grade distributions, graduation counts, advising loads, enrollment numbers, etc., by the end of October.
Alumni Survey and Focus Group Data (November): OIE analyzes the data from the Alumni Survey and Focus Group and saves it in the OneDrive.
December, Year 1: Department/Program Completes Self-Study
The department/program completes the self-study using the External Review template and notifies OIE when it is ready for review. The questions for reviewers should be complete and included in the self-study sent to reviewers.
OIE completes a brief review and forwards the report to the Provost.
Year 2: On-Site Review and Response
Spring, Year 2, On-Site Review and Reviewer Report
Self-Study Sent to Reviewers (January 15): The Department/Program Chair should send the self-study to the reviewers by January 15 to allow at least a month for review. (Regardless of when the self-study is sent, reviewers should have at least one month to review it.)
Site-Visit (February 15 to March 30): The reviewers should come to campus in the Spring of Year 2, ideally in February or March. After the visit, reviewers have one month to submit their report.
External Reviewers Submit Report (April): Department/program chair shares the external reviewers’ report with OIE for archival.
Departmental Response to External Reviewers’ Report (September):
Departments/programs complete their response report. OIE shares it with the Provost.
Department/Program Chair Meets with Provost (September): The department/program chair meets with the Provost.