Curriculum and Assessment
Our Mission
Prairie State College is a richly diverse community college dedicated to providing student centered instruction that fosters success in adult, transfer, and workforce education.
Assessment
Discipline and Program Coordinators review their programs annually, using program review guides developed by the College. These faculty report their findings to the Deans group in late March of each year. Program reviews are gathered and read in full by the Deans and the Vice President of Academic Affairs. Deans provide feedback to faculty based on the collaborative review of faculty reports, and data gathered is used by faculty and administrators for planning and curriculum development.
Each discipline and program also engages in formal assessment of student learning outcomes annually. Department Chairs serve as an Outcomes Assessment Committee, meeting three times each semester. Chairs submit plans for assessing learning to their deans in mid-October. These plans may include a feedback loop to previous assessments. Plans specify the issue being examined, the data to be collected, the method of collection, and the involvement of adjunct faculty in the process. Data is collected throughout the academic year, and a full report on findings, with narrative and analysis, is submitted the following October. This calendar provides time for reflection and discussion with colleagues as part of the assessment process. Plans for the next year’s assessment are submitted with this report, and the process continues. Summary reports of model assessment projects from all academic areas are shared across the College.
Program Review
- Program Review at PSC (PDF*)
- Benchmarks for Program Review: Disciplines (PDF)
- Benchmarks for Program Review: Career Programs (PDF)
- Template for Program Review Report (MS Word)
- Benchmarks for Program Review: Library (PDF)
- Template for Library Program Review Report (MS Word)
Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes
- Elements of Assessing Student Learning (PDF)
- Expressing Student Learning Outcomes (suggested language) (PDF)
- Templates for Assessment Plans/Reports (MS Word)
- Selected Model Assessment Reports 2007-2008 (PDF)
Curriculum
Academic programs and courses are developed and regularly reviewed by faculty to that our students benefit from instruction that is sound, rigorous, and current. At the heart of this process is the curriculum Committee, an elected body of twelve faculty members who provide peer review in a formal curriculum process that provides approval for development, modification, and withdrawal of courses and programs.
- Curriculum Committee
- Curriculum Process at PSC
- CurricUNET
- Curriculum Forms
- New Course Form (fillable pdf)
- New Program Form (fillable pdf)
- Course Modification / Drop Form (fillable pdf)
- Program Modification / Drop Form (fillable pdf)
- Official Course Outline Draft Form (MS Word)
*Download the latest version of Adobe Reader