Hillsborough Community College works diligently towards meeting the learning and development needs of the communities of Hillsborough County, the greater Tampa metropolitan area, and the State of Florida. This purpose is reflected in HCC’s vision statement:
HCC will deliver education of the highest standards enabling a diverse community of life-long learners to achieve their maximum potential in a global society.
To this end, HCC maintains a curriculum that is directly related and appropriate to its mission, goals, and programs, ensured through numerous mechanisms including Unit Plans, the Academic Affairs process, Program Review process, and Advisory Committee process.
New programs at HCC are proposed from a variety of sources, such as requests from the Chamber of Commerce, professional and industry associations, and the regional workforce board. If warranted, a needs assessment is conducted by the Institutional Research Department (sample needs assessment) to ensure that an appropriate and sufficient community need exists. If community need is confirmed, the appropriate academic cluster consults the State of Florida's program frameworks and/or national accreditation requirements (e.g. Health Sciences) and incorporates the identified local community need to develop a program proposal according to the Academic Affairs Process, through which proposed programs are reviewed and approved or denied by HCC faculty, administration, and the District Board of Trustees. If approved, all required documentation is completed and submitted to the State for final approval or denial.
After a new program has been approved and implemented the program is regularly evaluated through a number of mechanisms. Programs are evaluated through three levels of State mandated program review [Florida Statutes Chapter 1001.02(6) and Florida Department of Education, State Board of Education Administrative Rules, Rule 6A-14.060 {5}], through internal data measures (Trendline 2005), and through state-wide accountability outcome measures to maintain curriculum appropriateness and relevancy as well as program integrity.
Unit Plans
Hillsborough Community College requires that every academic program develop and publish, a Tactical Unit Plan. The Unit Plans are maintained on a database and available to the College community (System is on separate file, see Navigation Instructions). Each Unit Plan must, among other things, identify which of the College’s six goals the program addresses. The Unit Plans are reviewed, revised, and updated annually.
Academic Affairs Process
Hillsborough Community College develops and revises educational programs through the academic affairs process. A flowchart of the Academic Affairs Process appears below (page 11 of the Academic Affairs Handbook):
Initiator → Faculty Curriculum Cluster Review → Technical Review →
Academic Affairs Committee → Vice President of Education and
Student Development/ President's Cabinet →President → Board of Trustees
Internal Program Review
On a five-year, staggered schedule, all academic programs undergo internal review. In this review, faculty have the opportunity to evaluate the adequacy of the program's curriculum, support services, and resources. Data are provided on student performance in courses specific to the disciplines undergoing review;the data are summarized in performance reports, and action is taken as needed. For example, as a result of one recent review of the College Preparatory program curriculum, the courses were modified to increase student access to and from and success in the curriculum. Results of internal program reviews are used for the purposes of Level I State mandated program review.
External Program Review (Level I, II and III)
In addition to the local program review, the state mandates that HCC conduct Level I, II and III program reviews.
- Level I— This component includes the annual production of a display of data for each certificate and degree program. These data displays are used by the community colleges and the Florida Department of Education Division of Community Colleges (DCC) to review the academic programs to determine those programs and elements within that need additional review. The data display for the Associate in Arts (AA) degree program shows the performance of students in State University System (SUS) upper division programs, and compares SUS native students with transfer students from Florida community colleges and with other transfer students. The performance measures are grade point averages (GPA), suspensions, graduations, average course loads, and credits earned for degrees. Performance parameters are established for the measures, and performance outside the parameters is flagged (Level I report sample).
- Level II— This component is the review of certificate and degree programs by the individual community colleges either independently or in cooperation with independent and outside groups. For the AA degree program, the community colleges review the discipline groupings within the degree program. A major element of this review is meetings between the discipline faculties at the community college and at the universities to which most of the College’s students transfer (Level II report sample).
- Level III— This component is the system-wide review of selected programs by the Division of Community Colleges to address issues of concern regarding those programs. The programs and issues for such reviews are determined by the State Board of Community Colleges (SBCC) based on Level I and Level II information, SBCC priorities, legislative and State Board of Education interests, and other stimuli. The product of each such issue-oriented review is a report of the review with recommendations for action. The purpose is to identify, study, and respond to issues or problems of system wide or statewide policy, funding, or articulation. Division staff design and conduct the reviews (Level III report sample).
Advisory Committees
Community/Business Advisory Committees exist for each of HCC's Occupational/Technical programs (HCC Catalog, p. 9). These committees work with program faculty to review the curriculum and program objectives to ensure that they are properly aligned with business and industry standards (Advisory Committee Member Handbook).
|
