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12/7/2011 12:00 AM

Evaluating the Curriculum

From The Department Chair Insider, December 2011 - Vol. 1

Tips for Evaluating the Curriculum

Most chairs recognize the need to frequently examine the course offerings in their departments. Faculty members who participate regularly in faculty development generally will push their chair to add new courses or to update existing ones.
  • Conduct a course audit. One of the best techniques for examining the curriculum is to use course audits. They enable you and your faculty to examine each course and to justify its existence. 
  • Sponsor a retreat. A successful retreat requires careful planning. First, you must decide how much time you need. Is it possible to take care of the issues in a half day, a full day, or a weekend? For curriculum matters, a full day is likely sufficient.
  • Meet in small groups. Sometimes, meeting in small groups to discuss curriculum matters makes more sense than a retreat for the entire faculty. There are times when small groups can be more productive than large ones.
  • Develop minicourses. Minicourses offer a way to try out a course idea and see if it has the potential to be offered regularly. Minicourses are courses that do not run the entire length of the term. For example, in a fifteen-week semester you might offer three minicourses of five weeks each. One of the values of this concept is that minicourses allow you to offer courses for one hour of credit—and certain courses should not receive any more credit than that, especially until they are fully developed.
  • Invite reviews. A review of the curriculum by someone who is not in the department can provide a fresh, objective perspective. Reviews can be conducted by outsiders or by your planning committee. 
—Deryl R. Leaming is former professor of journalism and dean of the College of Mass Communication at Middle Tennessee State University.