Fall 2015

Texas Tech's Response Report Sent to SACSCOC

The Office of Planning and Assessment, in collaboration with the Office of Accreditation and Compliance and the Office of the Provost, submitted the University's Response Report on August 20, 2015, well before the September 1, 2015 deadline. A Response Report "addresses the findings of a visiting committee." It also "provides updated or additional documentation regarding the institution's compliance with the Principles of Accreditation".

Texas Tech's Response Report provided additional information about the University's policies and procedures regarding:

CS 3.3.1.1 (Institutional Effectiveness – Educational Programs)

CS 3.3.1.2 (Institutional Effectiveness – Administrative Support Services)

CS 3.3.1.3 (Institutional Effectiveness – Academic and Student Support Services)

CS 3.2.12 (Fundraising Activities) CS 3.5.1 (General Education Competencies)

CS 3.3.2 (Quality Enhancement Plan)

Texas Tech's Response Report will be reviewed by the Commission on Colleges' Board of Trustees and is subject to the review procedures of the Commission's standing committees. Texas Tech will learn about its reaffirmation status at the December 2015 SACSCOC Annual Meeting in Houston, TX.

New DigitalMeasures Interface

On Tuesday, August 25th, DigitalMeasures changed to a new interface. This interface does not change any functionality and is simply a better use of screen space, which should make it much easier to navigate.

TracDat 5.0 Available Fall 2015

TracDat is an assessment platform used to document academic assessment across the TTU campus. The platform was recently used to showcase assessment for the university's Compliance Certification, Focused and Response Reports to The Southern Association of College and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), and will continue to be a critical component in the university's reaffirmation.

With the newest version, TracDat 5, the TracDat system as we know it will soon change. The upgrade has a brand new interface, in addition to new functions. In TracDat 5 the horizontal tab structure disappears, with a clean vertical tab structure as a replacement. Users will be able to add, edit and delete Student Learning Outcomes, Means of Assessment, Criteria, Results and Actions for Improvement all on the same page. In addition, there will also be a smart search tool, a drag and drop feature, as well as a curricular mapping option. Nuventive has made great strides with TracDat 5 , making the system more user friendly. TracDat 5 will be available to TTU users later this fall, with training beginning spring 2016.

What is an Administrative Support Service Unit?

Administrative, academic, and student support service units (ASSU) are defined as director-led entities across campus that provide administrative and educational support services. These are units whose primary responsibility is to serve the Texas Tech community as a whole. While this definition could effectively include every administrative unit across campus, the focus is placed on units possessing a student-oriented purpose.

The objective for Comprehensive Standards 3.3.1.2 and 3.3.1.3 is to ensure that components of the institution that have a direct or indirect impact on student learning are aligned with the student-learning focus of the institution. ASSUs are identified by the institution and must provide operational outcome-based assessment information to show outcomes are being effectively measured and achieved. Areas of improvement are also identified through this process along with means to implement changes for improvement. This assessment process is one of continuous improvement and the "closing the loop" approach provides evidence that assessment processes are in place.

DigitalMeasures Assists with Reaffirmation Roster

In February 2015, Texas Tech University was notified by the SACSCOC onsite team that TTU had fulfilled all faculty credentialing requirements for reaffirmation. This meant that all 2,790 instructors of record during the 2013-2014 school year had been found to have the required credentials to teach their courses. This announcement came after 5 years of hard work by faculty, instructors, and staff at Texas Tech.

The DigitalMeasures software platform was purchased by Texas Tech University in 2009 with the goal of assembling SACSCOC Faculty Roster during the Reaffirmation process that occurs every 10 years. The previous Faculty Roster had been assembled from numerous spreadsheets generated by departments and colleges. During the installation of DigitalMeasures, Texas HB 2504 was signed by Governor Perry and it was decided to use DigitalMeasures as the entry for faculty mandated information including Education and Significant Publications.

The Office of Planning and Assessment would like to thank all DigitalMeasures users for such a successful outcome.