“Tuning” Academic Disciplines:Process and Progress in

Indiana

Ken Sauer, Ph.D.

SHEEO Higher Education Policy ConferenceAugust 13, 2009

Sheraton Denver Downtown HotelDenver, Colorado

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Motivations for Participating in the Tuning Pilot

State Perspective:• Opportunity to give more attention to student

competencies, student learning outcomes

• Opportunity to further align community college and university competencies

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Campuses Participating in the Pilot

Four-Year Campuses:

• IU Bloomington• IUPUI• Purdue West Lafayette

• Purdue North Central• Butler University• Marian University• University of Indianapolis

Two-Year Campuses:

• Ivy Tech Bloomington• Ivy Tech Indianapolis• Ivy Tech Lafayette• Vincennes University

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Disciplines Participating in the Pilot

• Chemistry• History• Teacher Education

• Each team is co-chaired by a university faculty member and a community college faculty member

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Insights Thus Far – 1:General Competencies

• List of European general competencies is generally robust

• All three discipline teams reached consensus quickly

• Faculty made modest additions, subtractions, and re-wording

• Grouped competencies for purposes of the survey

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Insights Thus Far – 2:Subject Competencies/Starting Points• Having a concrete starting point is critical• Each team had a concrete starting point, but

each was very different• Chemistry: Purdue undergraduate review• History: Chair’s compilation from various

sources• Teacher Education: Association for Childhood

Education International: 2007 Elem. Ed. Stnds.

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Insights Thus Far – 3:Subject Competencies/Faculty Buy In• Surprised how quickly faculty seem to be

taking ownership• All three groups see value in refining subject

competencies• History team has already made specific plans

to engage colleagues at a statewide meeting in spring 2010

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Contact Information:

Ken Sauer, Ph.D.Senior Associate Commissioner for

Research and Academic AffairsIndiana Commission for Higher Education101 West Ohio Street, Suite 550Indianapolis, Indiana 46204-1984(317) 464-4400 ext. 21kens@che.in.govhttp://www.che.in.gov