Getting Started

Overview of the Planning Process

There are two phases in our cyclical planning process.  In the first phase, units evaluate the progress made on each of the specified goals from the preceding year.  This activity includes describing the assessment outcomes and whether progress toward the goal was made, as well as providing an explanation of the implications for future action. 

The second phase involves units entering new strategic goals for the coming year.  This process involves describing the goal, establishing the relationship to a university goal, describing an action plan, and specifying a method of assessment. 

Strategic Goals

Think of goals as statements of where your department wants to be a year or two (or longer) from now.  A goal typically reflects something different from the current situation.  For example, your department may want to acquire national recognition for a new program or to implement a new type of instruction to improve student learning.

Departmental goals should relate to at least one university goal.  The complete list of goals can be found on the TTU Strategic Planning Website.

In academic units, there should be some relationship between statements of Program and Learning Outcomes and each years strategic goals.  For example, if your academic unit has a learning outcome related to student achievement on a major field achievement test, and students are scoring low on that test, that would indicate a problem that needs to be addressed in your current set of strategic goals.  Academic units and academic support units should always have some goals that are related to student learning outcomes. 

Whenever possible try to explain how previous assessment data was used to identify the problem or opportunity that the goal is targeting.

Relationship to University Goals

Beginning in 2006, you can select one or more university goals that relate to your unit's strategic goals.

Action Plan

The action plan describes the step by step method or strategy your department plans to use to reach each goal.

Method of Assessment

The method of assessment is a concrete way of showing how much progress you have made in achieving your goal.  This could involve measures of student retention, enrollment, survey results that reflect higher satisfaction, the number graduates produced in a program, or scores on a major field achievement test.

University Assessment Indicators

Beginning in 2006, you should check all of the university assessment indicators that might be affected by your unit's goals.

Student Learning Outcome Goal

This checkbox reflects whether the goal is related to an assessment of student learning. Academic units should always have some goals that are related to student learning outcomes. 

Status

This selection box is used to record progress on each goal.  The options include: In Progress, Completed, or Abandoned.  

Explanation of Progress & Implications

This field is used to describe the yearly progress made on each goal and to explain how your assessment of progress is going to affect future efforts.  For example, if you set a goal to increase majors, you would quantify the increase in this field.  If the increase is satisfactory, you might indicate that current strategies are effective and will be continued.  If the progress is not satisfactory, you might indicate that the current strategy is not effective and describe alternative strategies that will be used in the future.  This is sometimes referred to as "closing the loop" in the planning process.

Expected Completion Date

Beginning in 2006, unit goals that extend beyond 1 year will be automatically carried forward each remaining year.

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