Accreditation Resources for Faculty
This page suggests 3 things you can do to assist in Cornell's accreditation process that will also help you in your teaching and your students' learning:
1) Middle States requires Cornell to clearly define articulated program and course-level goals. These are variously referred to as learning objectives, or learning outcomes. If your course syllabus does not include a list of such goals, here are some links to assist you in developing them:
- Download a Course Syllabus Template that will walk you through the process of creating a comprehensive course syllabus
- Download Dr. Barbara Millis' presentation on Student Learning Outcomes
- This link presents a tutorial on Guidelines for Writing Learning Objectives
- This link provides a definition of learning outcomes and provides some examples: Guidelines for Writing Course Learning Outcomes
- This link provides a comprehensive breakdown of the components of critical thinking: Guidelines for Rating Integrative and Critical Thinking
- This link presents a tutorial to assist in identifying teaching goals: Teaching Goals Inventory
2) Middle States also requires evidence of how program and course learning goals are appropriately and effectively assessed. Rubrics are a commonly used way to do this. These links provide examples of rubrics from a variety of disciplines:
- Rubrics in the Classroom to Measure Student Achievement
- Art Rubric for Assessment of the Discussion & Writing on Art History, Aesthetics and Art Criticism - an Assessment Form
- E-Portfolio Rubric used for self-assessment and peer feedback.
- Rubric Templates for Assessing Research Paper, Portfolio, Reflective Essay, Lab Report, Oral Presentation and Backboard
- Rubric for Online Instruction
- Guide to Rating Critical & Integrative Thinking
3) The University Faculty Senate passed a resolution requiring all faculty members to submit a reflective essay about the development of their teaching for promotional and tenure reviews. The primary vehicle for getting input from students on teaching quality is the end-of-semester course survey. These surveys include questions that focus on teaching, but rarely include questions that focus on what contributes to student learning.
The accreditation process includes a standard that seeks to assess student learning and asks for documentation showing how these assessments are being used to improve course design, assignments and instructional methods.
The link below will download a student survey that can be modified to suit the instructor and course that is intended to be used early in the semester to determine how course components contribute to the students’ learning of content. In your promotion or tenure reflective essay describe how you have assessed and modified the aspects of your teaching and the components of the courses you have taught based on input from your students' through the use of a learning-focused formative student survey.