Over the past few years, it has been a focus of the campus to develop a true data-driven eco-system to provide the infrastructure and support for faculty and students as they pursue the Strategic Goal of First in Class for the campus. We wanted to highlight a series of high points in this effort.
COMPASS Project: A true campus-wide partnership, the COMPASS project (Comprehensive Analytics for Student Success) has provided access to data for Academic Advisors, student service units in the Office of Student Affairs and Division of Undergraduate Education, and most recently to faculty. By providing relevant data in an easy to access, self-service interface, we will all be better able to serve our diverse student body. Details of the project can be found at compass.uci.edu.
Mellon Project: Bringing together faculty and staff across the campus, our recent Mellon grant focuses on developing the next generation of data sources for student success. We are looking at how to move beyond standard student information system data and provide a national set of standards for the assessment and improvement of the undergraduate experience.
General Education Assessment: In partnership with the Academic Senate, the Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning through the Center for Assessment and Applied Research (CAAR) is working to streamline the evaluation of general education on campus. Look for new processes that automate more of the process, reducing the burden on individual faculty while still effectively assessing the impact of general education on our students.
Active Learning Institute: Data is only as good as the actions taken to implement improvements. A major success for UCI has been leveraging the new Anteater Learning Pavilion to substantially increase the use of evidence-based instruction. A key element of that has been the Active Learning Institute run by the Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation. For more information on the Institute and other opportunities for faculty, post-doctoral researchers, and graduate students, please visit dtei.uci.edu.
Expedited IRB/FERPA review: A partnership between the Institutional Review Board (IRB) the Registrar’s Office, and the Teaching and Learning Research Center within the Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation has resulted in a blanket IRB approval for a wide-range of educational studies. Participation in this IRB is open to instructors interested in studying the impact of their teaching and provides straightforward access to a range of critical data. For some studies, a separate IRB may still be required, and the TLRC is prepared to help with this process. For more details, please visit the TLRC website: /tlrc.dtei.uci.edu.
Yours,
Michael Dennin
Vice Provost of Teaching and Learning
Dean, Division of Undergraduate Education
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