When the University of Holy Cross began planning the data collection process for their Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), they were facing the possibility of going through piles of paper copies of rubrics, tallying scores, and creating endless Excel spreadsheets. “It would be so much paper because it’s such a huge project,” said Will Luton, Academic Projects Coordinator. Institutional Effectiveness Plans (IEPs) were also non-digital, submitted in yet more stacks of paper and PDF documents.
Faculty compliance was also a challenge. “One of the primary issues was motivating people to turn the documents in,” said Victoria Dahmes, former Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. “There’s a general perception that it’s busywork, but we need to have this on file for accreditation purposes. For people to get behind the initiative, they have to see a greater purpose. Integrating IEPs and the strategic plan would make both of those processes more meaningful to the participants.”
“Stories about writing the previous accreditation report revealed that tracking down the missing pieces was more difficult than it needed to be,” Luton said. “If everyone were to log into Planning and Self-Study a little bit along the way,” Luton said, “there would be an accountability record. If anyone is asking who wrote something five years ago, we’ll know because everyone will have co-signed it piece by piece.”
“Now that our strategic plan is built into Planning & Self-Study, it’s the first thing they see when they check their learning outcomes. It’s created a new way to focus.”
William Luton, Academic Projects Coordinator, University of Holy Cross
University of Holy Cross implemented Watermark Planning & Self-Study and Watermark Outcomes Assessment Projects (formerly Aqua) to support institutional effectiveness initiatives, digitize their IEP process, and support Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) accreditation. Luton also plans to use Watermark Planning & Self-Study for the university’s five-year rotating internal review process and strategic planning.
Ninety percent of academic and administrative units are using Watermark Outcomes Assessment Projects.
Planning & Self Study requires instructors to include a timeline, making it easier for the administration to see a bulleted, accurate list of things they said they would do. The same bulleted lists come up the following year, allowing the administration to pinpoint the gaps between instructors’ plans and what actually happened.
Coordinated strategic planning and IEP processes integrate the data faculty enter into Watermark Planning and Self-Study, reducing time spent on manual data entry.
Faculty use the system to share results with the Provost and Vice President for approval. The instructors can then use the approved documents as their final IEP and to plan for the next academic year.
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