8:03 a.m., Nov. 9, 2009----The importance of measuring student learning achievements as part of the institutional accreditation process and progress in the migration from WebCT to Sakai were among the items discussed during a meeting of the University of Delaware Faculty Senate held Monday afternoon, Nov. 2, in Gore Hall.

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Provost Tom Apple told senate members that achieving outstanding scholarship and measuring academic rigor are necessary to reach the goals laid out in the University's strategic plan.

“We must strive for excellence in everything we do. It's a motto we've adopted,” Apple said. “Our idea is to measure things like outstanding scholarship and levels of academic rigor, so that we can see where we are walking along the Path to Prominence^TM.”

Components of achieving outstanding scholarship for individual faculty members include success in peer-reviewed competitive federal grant proposals, publication in top peer-reviewed journals and being asked to present at prestigious universities and national conferences.

“These are some of the things we are trying to measure here at UD to move ourselves up in terms of national prominence,” Apple said. “We have, or will soon have, access to data that is produced by Academic Analytics. Through this data, each of you will be able to see where your faculty and your unit rank relative to our peers and our aspirant universities on our Path to Prominence^TM.”

In terms of academic rigor, Apple said the real goal is to transform the lives of students by engaging them in research and service, and by challenging and sometimes confronting them.

Measuring the results of these efforts also will be critical when the Middle States Commission on Higher Education accreditation team visits the University in 2011, Apple noted.

“The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is very intent on causing a cultural shift at universities toward assessment of student learning,” Apple said. “It is becoming a very important part of reaccreditation.”

Apple said that Middle States is requiring institutions to establish an assessment cycle that clearly defines academic goals and provides the means for achievement of these stated ideals.

“This assessment cycle should demonstrate what we want to achieve, what we want our students to learn, that we have the means of having them learn, that we measure student learning and that we take the results of that measurement and use it to improve our programs,” Apple said. “This is something we really have to take seriously. We don't have an option. We can't decide that we are not going to do this.”

Sakai progress report

Mathieu Plourde, project leader, Learning Management Systems in Information Technologies-Client Support and Services, reported on the progress of the move from WebCT to Sakai.

Sakai is an open-source collaborative and learning environment currently in use at nearly 200 schools worldwide, including the University of Cambridge, the University of Michigan, Indiana University, Stanford University and Rutgers University.

The number of Sakai course sites at UD rose from 597 at the start of the fall 2008 semester to 723 for the spring 2009 semester, comprising 67 percent of learning managing sites at UD. Support for WebCT will be discontinued in June 2010, Plourde said.

Paul Hyde, manager for Academic Technology Services, reported on “New Tools to Extend Sakai.”

New tools mentioned by Hyde include UD Capture, a classroom recording system for online use, DimDim, an open source Web conference system, Flip Camera and Itunes U, a system that will allow faculty to place presentations and lectures available for download from Itunes.

Both reports are available online.

Resolutions approved

The senate approved provisionally, for five years, the establishment of a dual master of business administration and master's degree in finance in the Lerner College of Business and Economics.

The next meeting of the UD Faculty Senate will be at 4 p.m., Monday, Dec. 7, in Room 104 Gore Hall.

Article by Jerry Rhodes