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Basis for the Decision/program comments for all worldwide campusesOpportunity for Improvement, Standard 1Although there are several anecdotal examples of community involvement and service, there was no evidence of an effective and systematic approach in which all campuses were involved in community outreach programs.ResponseIn the geographically dispersed environment of the College of Business, some of the most effective marketing is done by the local campus staff. Although community outreach in not mandatory, i.e. directed from Worldwide Headquarters, campuses with the most successful growth patterns are those with aggressive community outreach programs. The approach we have used is effective, albeit not systematic. Successful campuses share their processes through newsletters, blogs, and at annual Worldwide meetings of all staff. Because those operations are under the direction and control of personnel not under the direct control of the College of Business, documentation of their efforts has not been methodical. ERAU Worldwide’s marketing department is directly responsible for web based marketing.Opportunity for Improvement, Standard 1There is an opportunity for the senior leadership team to solicit input and feedback on their performance from subordinate faculty and staff members of the University, then to assess and utilize that feedback to improve their performance.ResponseThe COB recognizes this, particularly in view of the recent ERAU Worldwide organization. Initiatives have already started to reach out to additional full time and adjunct faculty now attached to the COB organization by virtue of the reorganization. Recognizing the importance of this OFI, the procedures to accomplish will also be included in the 2014-2015 year, beginning with the Worldwide meeting.Opportunity for Improvement, Standard 2Although numerous plans, strategic goals, and objectives exist at the Program and Course level, there is currently no comprehensive strategic plan for the ERAU (W) College of Business. ResponseThe COB Strategic Plan is as follows:COB StrategyThe strategy process within COB is an ongoing and organic process. Its elements were defined in the previously submitted self-study; however, the ACBSP evaluation team has noted a need for a more comprehensively written plan leading to an action plan for deploying and aligning key action plan performance requirements. The team also suggests the COB’s approach is excessively top down in nature and does not sufficiently incorporate faculty and students.Subsequent to its designation as a college and the 1 July reorganization of the Worldwide Campus, the College of Business is presently organized into four departments overseeing a number of Academic Programs. The Departments and relevant programs (bolded) for ACBSP certification are listed below: Department of Business Administration (DBA) Masters of Business Administration in Aviation (MBAA)Department of Leadership (DL)Department of Management Sciences (DMS)Department of Management and Technology (DMT) Masters of Scientific Management (MSM) Bachelors of Science Business Administration (BSABA) Bachelors of Science Technical Management (BSTM)The following response addresses the ACBSP Feedback report dated 13 October 2013 within the context of the above academic programs.A traditional strategic planning process includes four elements:1. Mission & Objectives2. Environmental Scanning3. Strategy Formulation4. Strategy Implementation and Evaluation and Control1. Mission and Objectives:The mission statements of the University, Worldwide Campus and College of Business are intimately related and outlined below:The ERAU Academic Mission Statement which is:Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University recognizes the primary importance of its academic mission. We are a university dedicated to education, service, knowledge discovery, and providing a forum for the debate of great scientific, technological and social issues.Understanding the ERAU campus consists of three distinct campuses, the Worldwide Campus mission states:The Worldwide Campus will serve the adult student, providing distinct and unique programs designed for students in their work environment, and promote continuing professional education and lifelong learning. As an element of the Worldwide Campus, the College of Business’s mission is as follows:The College of Business’s mission is to support Embry-Riddle Worldwide by providing undergraduate and graduate programs in leadership, technology, and business management. Our core values support this mission:– We add value to students’ lives and careers– We foster excellence in learning– We nourish entrepreneurship and discovery in learning– We remain connected to the aviation and aerospace industry– We encourage diversity in all that we doIn sum, the missions of all three entities are mutually supportive and integrated.In support of its mission, the COB further defines its Strategic Objectives as:1. Provide an excellent learning experience2. Provide and promote productive and sustainable links between academic, industry and government3. Support and facilitate ERAU Worldwide and University Objectives2. Environmental ScanningEnvironmental scanning is a function that must be continually accomplished looking both externally and internally. Both University and COB assets are continually involved in this function.From an external perspective, ERAU Institutional Research is tasked with surveying and scanning ERAU alumni and employers of alumni on a biannual basis. Those results are then passed to the academic colleges for their use in academic curriculum review. Additionally, individual programs conduct their own environmental scans of other university and college programs in establishing program benchmarks. Such scans were conducted within the past two years for the BSTM, MBAA and MSM programs. The results of these scans have contributed to program curriculum changes conducted over this period of time. For example, within the past nine months the MBAA program engaged in a review of external academic institutions in support of its curriculum change proposal relating to expanding the number of specialization offered in conjunction with the MBAA degree program beyond the current specializations in Finance, Information Technology and Marketing.Finally, the COB also conducts environmental scanning as part of the ongoing functions of the Center for Aviation and Aerospace (CAAL) and the Industry Advisory Board (IAB). For example, in its most recent IAB conducted in September 2013, the board membership listed the following key areas as needing increased emphasis within academic programs: data analytics, risk analysis, finance, and business case assessment.Internal scanning of students, faculty, and even administrative staff are also conducted by the college as well as academic programs in support of the curriculum review process. Formal internal scanning is conducted through the University Program Review process. Other internal scans are conducted by the individual college academic programs. For example, the BSTM Program Chair conducted a series of intensive surveys of students, faculty, and campus staff in support of its University Program Review and program restructuring conducted in AY 2011-12, which deleted specific academic specializations and introduced academic majors in specific disciplines. Most recently, at its annual faculty meeting in November 2013, the COB full-time faculty was engaged in workshops designed to answer the following questions in an exercise designed to review its strategic objectives: How do we provide an excellent learning experience? How do we provide and promote productive and sustainable links between academic, industry and government? How do we provide and promote productive and sustainable links between academic, industry and government? How do (would) we involve faculty more in strategic planning?In sum, environmental scanning is conducted in various formats across the College of Business, both at the College level as well as within the context of individual academic programs.4. Strategy Implementation and Evaluation and ControlStrategy Implementation, evaluation and control are leadership functions carried out by the COB Dean and the Chairs. Monitoring of strategic and tactical objectives is conducted on a daily basis and becomes the subject of review and discussion. Annual reviews of COB strategy include a review of objective achievement and attainment. The preceding response should reflect the concept that strategic planning at COB is comprehensive and engages the full spectrum of full time faculty. As of July 2013, the COB was also assigned a compliment of roughly 380 adjunct faculty member scattered across the globe. Since that time, the COB has conducted two virtual town hall meetings (during the first three months of the AY) with adjunct faculty and is actively engaged in defining an action plan that relates to inclusion of the adjunct faculty in the COB to include their voice in strategic planning as well as communication of strategic plans and objectives.Opportunity for Improvement, Standard 3There is an opportunity for ERAU (W) to solicit, analyze, and implement improvement initiatives with feedback from stakeholders other than just students. More specifically, sampling methods could be employed to collect helpful feedback from faculty, alumni, and other identified stakeholder groups. Although the school (and self-study) indicated that alumni and employee surveys were conducted, the Office of Institutional Research (IR) indicated that no data on these surveys were available. ResponseInstitution Research (IR) has conducted the Alumni Survey every other year. The College of Business is working with IR to insure that the survey contains question applicable to ERAU (W) students and that ERAU (W) graduates are included in the sample. In the survey from 2011, there were only 5 responses from ERAU (W) graduates. Program chairs will assist in getting the graduates of those programs included in the list of alumni who receive the survey.IR no longer conducts Employer Surveys as it did in the past. Thus, the College of Business and individual departments will develop processes designed to increase contact with employers. The IAB will be a key component in this effort.Opportunity for Improvement, Standard 3.5The COB may benefit from a comprehensive analysis of enrollment and retention data provided by the Institutional Research Office within the Institutional Effectiveness Division.ResponseThe recently released College of Business dashboard is providing comprehensive information on enrollments and retention. The dashboard is an information system designed to help program and department chairs evaluate data to improve their understanding of activity, status, growth, and information related to the College of Business degree programs, ultimately using the data to support decision making and goal setting. The dashboard features a number of key metrics outlined as follows: • Program Enrollments• Course Enrollments• Program Completions• Time to Completion• Course Enrollments by Instruction Mode• Summary of Satisfaction with Course and Academic Plan Performance• Number of Terminally Degree Professors in an Academic Plan• Number of Adjunct Professors in an Academic Plan versus the Number of Courses Taught• Grade Data per Course and Academic Plan• Performance Target Assessment Metrics• Financial Data per Course and Academic Plan• Average Course Size by Instruction ModePresenting data in a dashboard view translates into a visual analysis that yields actionable insight. The dashboard provides customizable interfaces allowing the individual accessing the report to select the criteria specific to their needs. Ultimately, the system provides an at-a-glance view of key performance indicators (program status and growth metrics). The College of Business is able to utilize these dashboards to access its data easily from one location versus multiple locations as presently required which will save time, increase visibility, ensure accuracy, and limit the potential for human error and ultimately support improved decision making. This dashboard initiative was recently adopted by the other colleges in ERAU (W).Opportunity for Improvement, Standard 3.7Although a goal of 70% satisfaction has been established, there was no rationale or explanation provided for how or why this goal was established for the four identified groups of stakeholders (students, alumni, Industry Advisory Board, and faculty).ResponseThe undergraduate programs have established an average direct assessment of 70% to achieve success for each course learning outcome. 70% is equal to a “C” grade for ERAU undergraduate programs. The MBAA Program uses an average direct assessment of 80% or higher as the minimum acceptable level. This would be equal to an average course grade of “B.” For exit and alumni surveys 70% represents the Likert Scale level which represents satisfaction with the various programs. The goals for each program will remain constant from year to year. However, reviews occur frequently and if it is determined that a program requires change, then corrective action is taken. When program achievement levels are not met then targets or corrective actions are taken to rectify the problem or deficiency. When program standards are met, usually, this means we want to foster or continue the current processes.Opportunity for Improvement, Standard 4ERAU (W) has an opportunity to collect and analyze external summative assessment of student learning outcomes. Although some qualitative data exist, there is no currently no evidence of external quantitative CPC assessment or external benchmarking. There is, therefore, no evidence of assessment based continuous improvement.ResponseERAU (W) recognizes we have no external quantitative CPC assessment in place. ERAU (W) is currently investigating the use of external assessment for the undergraduate and graduate programs. The external assessments being considered are the Peregrine CPC exam and the ETS Major Field Test.ERAU (W) is planning on starting the external assessment process during the 2014-2015 academic year. The first year of the external assessment will likely be a pilot program using the MBAA. We will evaluate the process, assess the strengths, weaknesses and other issues in the implementation, adjust as necessary and have a full roll-out for both undergraduate and graduate programs completed during the 2015-2016 academic year. Items being considered in the decision process are the proper incentives for students to encourage best efforts incorporation of the exam in courses and which courses to consider for such incorporation. For example, in the MBAA program, we anticipate the exam would be taken as part of the MBAA 635, Business Capstone Course. Questions relating to incorporating the exam as part of the course grade or not are being considered. Other considerations for the MBAA are tailoring the selected exam to better link with our MBAA program emphasis, and as specializations are added to the MBAA program potentially using an exam that is tailored to the specializations.Exam results compared to national averages (these data are provided by vendors) will be reviewed on an annual basis to assess where ERAU(W) students perform relative to national averages. Trends will be noted and corrective actions taken to improve student performance.The MBAA program uses the Business Simulation Game (BSG) in its Capstone Course. The simulation provides data ranking ERAU (W) student’s team performance relative to students from other universities using the simulation. The MBAA program is currently working on a process to harvest that data and use the data in the program’s assessment process. This would be used in addition to a summative external assessment.At the undergraduate level, the exam would assess the 12 CPCs (if Peregrine is used) or the 9 major field criteria (if the ETS is used). The exam will be incorporated into a senior level course taken by most students near the end of their undergraduate program. Similar issues as addressed above for the MBAA program will be considered.Opportunity for Improvement, Standard 4.1 Except for the MBAA, the COB does not assess all learning objectives each year. In the MSM Program each objective is assessed every three years. Similarly, in the BSABA and the BSTM Programs each outcome is assessed every three years. The development of a systematic process to more frequently assess each learning outcome may provide timely information to establish corrective actions. Response from MSMThe MSM program adopted in the 2012-2013 year an assessment process similar to the MBAA which allows all Program outcomes to be assessed every year. The results of the first year assessment using that process were that all seven Program Outcomes were assessed with direct data. The success level of those Program Outcomes ranged from 85.9% to 90%. The spreadsheet provided much additional data and will continue to be used. Thus, all seven Program Outcomes can be assessed each year. Response from BSABA and BSTMThe statements on page 91 and 92 of the Self-Study were made as a minimum statement of the frequency of assessment of each Program Outcome. However, the practice of both the BSABA and BSTM programs has been to assess all outcomes each year. Figure 4.2 and Figure 4.3 verify that all outcomes were assessed in all the reported years.Opportunity for Improvement, Standard 4.1The COB has completed, through the Blackboard platform, an alignment of course activities with the expected students’ learning outcomes and the program objectives for the online courses. This data gathering tool will provide valuable information which may be used for the continuous improvement of the quality of the education. This tool will also be extended for use with on ground courses.ResponseWe agree and this feature has been extended to Multi-Modality templates and is in the final stages of testing and will be implemented in the 2014-2015 year.Opportunity for Improvement, Standard 4.1The COB gathers outcome assessment data by using a variety of internal assessment tools, however it was not clear whether the data are analyzed and the results are used on a regular basis.ResponseThe following rationale from a Non-Substantive Curriculum Change submitted in December 2012 and is based on the assessment results from the 2011-1012 academic year. This is provided as evidence of the connection between the assessment and curriculum changes. The example is only one of many such changes.
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