Institutional Effectiveness Cycle
The "Institutional Effectiveness Cycle" (IE Cycle) at Appalachian State University is the comprehensive process that integrates strategic planning, assessment (continuous improvement reports), and periodic comprehensive reviews. It is the institutional tool that allows the University to marshal its resources most effectively in support of its mission and to document success in fulfilling its mission.
Why Does Appalachian Need an Institutional Effectiveness Cycle?
Improvement
The primary purpose of an institutional effectiveness cycle is for improvement. Appalachian wants to provide the best quality programs and services to our students. In order to ensure quality, all academic programs assess student learning outcomes annually, all educational support and administrative units assess their operations annually, and every unit on campus will periodically undergo a thorough evaluation of all aspects of their unit to determine if the unit is where they want to be and where the unit would like to go in the future.
Evidence-based Decision Making
An institutional effectiveness cycle helps ensure that strategic planning and assessment efforts have a significant impact at all levels of decision-making (unit-level, college-level, division-level, and university-level).
Connecting Strategic Planning, Assessment, and Resource Allocations
Appalachian's institutional effectiveness cycle was designed to maintain documentation of the connection between strategic planning, assessment and decisions regarding resource allocations. The IE cycle helps Appalachian to be ready to respond to calls for accountability when they come from accreditors, legislators, and others.
Documents
Click here for the full document describing the Institutional Effectiveness Cycle (PDF, 70 KB), which was approved by the Academic Policies and Procedures Committee on April 30, 2014.
Important Dates
August - IRAP will contact units slated for periodic comprehensive review for the upcoming year
Oct. 1 – Deadline for academic programs to update student learning outcomes in the Xitracs Planning module for publication
Oct. 1 – All continuous improvement reports from the previous year are due in Xitracs Programs module
Oct. 1 – Assessment plans (complete outcome through numeric criterion fields) for the current year are due in Xitracs Programs module