IU Southeast demonstrates its commitment to a culture of continuous improvement and engages with its responsibility to ensure quality in educational programs using numerous methods, including program reviews, evaluation of general education courses, and assessment. Assessment practices continue to evolve at IU Southeast, and the university utilizes course-level, program-level, and institutional-level assessment. Faculty work closely with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) to develop and maintain assessment tools aligned with Student Learning Outcomes and include both direct and indirect measures. In 2022, IU Southeast approved Institutional Level Outcomes for undergraduate and graduate programs that are also utilized by co-curricular and student service units. Academic programs and General Education are expected to make use of the results of assessment processes to drive data-informed pedagogical change. Thus, faculty and staff participation in assessment is essential, and the evidence of student learning gathered during program assessment is used for annual reviews, promotions, tenure, and teaching awards.
IU Southeast also ensures the student experience is assessed and analyzed for quality. The credit IU Southeast transcripts allow transfer for students and are regularly evaluated. In recent years, the university has also begun exploring responsible ways to award credit for prior learning. In addition, most disciplines now have career courses developed in their area which will assist students in developing their academic and career path during their time at IU Southeast, and students are also surveyed after their graduation to ensure the courses and programs offered here are successful preparation for employment or advanced study.
Retention and persistence efforts have been targeted with systematic reforms, and despite the interruption of many of these efforts by the Pandemic, the standard of IU Southeast’s campus has nonetheless become one in which all faculty and staff are expected to contribute to student persistence and success. New initiatives dedicated to retention and persistence include the development of learning communities and the development of a nudge plan that academic advisors can use to quickly communicate with students about targeted topics. IU Southeast’s methods for collecting and analyzing data reflect good practice and contribute to a culture focused on student retention and success.