Academic Program Review Evidence
Academic Programs and Planning (APP) is responsible for the APR process at Loyola.
The overall purpose of the Academic Program Review (APR) process at Loyola is to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of each academic unit and its various programs and to stimulate collaborative strategic program planning and improvement. The periodic review process is also intended to facilitate the integration of the unit’s goals with the university’s priorities and strategic plans. Academic Program Review is an important part of an ongoing campus-wide conversation about teaching and learning and how all our current and future students can be transformed through their Loyola experiences.
The Academic Program Review (APR) process guides evidence-informed reflection, decision-making, and planning. The academic units' faculty study various data views and survey reports and engage in reflection, evaluation, and critical analysis of where they are and where they seek to be in the next five years. Faculty colleagues are encouraged to engage in evidence-informed dialogue with staff, students, and external stakeholders and benchmark reports as they make decisions. In all of this, they are also encouraged to reflect and plan in alignment with the Mission of the University, the goals of the University’s Strategic Plan, their area student learning outcomes and goals for graduate and undergraduate education, and to also be mindful of the level of institutional support that is possible to support recommended improvements.
Process Revision
Loyola University Chicago’s academic units and programs undergo regular Academic Program Review (APR). In 2018, Loyola’s APR process was revised with the plan for all academic units and programs to begin the renewed process with cohorts starting up with an intensive self-study each fall through 2025. The process was designed to engage units continuously after their self-study as they move into action plans and monitoring improvements. All units would then participate in a new formal APR self-study to refresh their planning every five to seven years.
Loyola’s Provost’s Office provides the management and resources for the APR process. From 2018- June 2023, the Provost’s Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) developed and implemented the revised process. During that time, 75% of Loyola’s academic units began the process.
In 2022-23, OIE revised the APR process in collaboration with the APR committee and APP using evidence from good-practice research, recommendations from the university-wide APR Committee, participating academic unit feedback, and APR impact findings from year 4 of the renewed process.
After July 2023, the management of the APR process moved to the Academic Programs and Planning (APP) within the Provost’s Office. Moving management of the APR process to the APP facilitates enhanced faculty-led aspects of APR, better alignment with annual academic program assessments, and the ability to refine the objective evaluation of APR impact going forward.
Please see the current information about APR management here.
Data to Inform APR
The Office of Institutional Effectiveness continues to play a key role in the APR process by:
- Providing accurate, accessible, and useful data for APR self-studies, planning and monitoring
- Training faculty involved in APR on how to best access and use their data for APR, and
- Evaluating the APR process and its impacts both formative and summative every 3 years to inform continuous improvements in the APR process.
Academic Programs and Planning (APP) is responsible for the APR process at Loyola.
The overall purpose of the Academic Program Review (APR) process at Loyola is to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of each academic unit and its various programs and to stimulate collaborative strategic program planning and improvement. The periodic review process is also intended to facilitate the integration of the unit’s goals with the university’s priorities and strategic plans. Academic Program Review is an important part of an ongoing campus-wide conversation about teaching and learning and how all our current and future students can be transformed through their Loyola experiences.
The Academic Program Review (APR) process guides evidence-informed reflection, decision-making, and planning. The academic units' faculty study various data views and survey reports and engage in reflection, evaluation, and critical analysis of where they are and where they seek to be in the next five years. Faculty colleagues are encouraged to engage in evidence-informed dialogue with staff, students, and external stakeholders and benchmark reports as they make decisions. In all of this, they are also encouraged to reflect and plan in alignment with the Mission of the University, the goals of the University’s Strategic Plan, their area student learning outcomes and goals for graduate and undergraduate education, and to also be mindful of the level of institutional support that is possible to support recommended improvements.
Process Revision
Loyola University Chicago’s academic units and programs undergo regular Academic Program Review (APR). In 2018, Loyola’s APR process was revised with the plan for all academic units and programs to begin the renewed process with cohorts starting up with an intensive self-study each fall through 2025. The process was designed to engage units continuously after their self-study as they move into action plans and monitoring improvements. All units would then participate in a new formal APR self-study to refresh their planning every five to seven years.
Loyola’s Provost’s Office provides the management and resources for the APR process. From 2018- June 2023, the Provost’s Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) developed and implemented the revised process. During that time, 75% of Loyola’s academic units began the process.
In 2022-23, OIE revised the APR process in collaboration with the APR committee and APP using evidence from good-practice research, recommendations from the university-wide APR Committee, participating academic unit feedback, and APR impact findings from year 4 of the renewed process.
After July 2023, the management of the APR process moved to the Academic Programs and Planning (APP) within the Provost’s Office. Moving management of the APR process to the APP facilitates enhanced faculty-led aspects of APR, better alignment with annual academic program assessments, and the ability to refine the objective evaluation of APR impact going forward.
Please see the current information about APR management here.
Data to Inform APR
The Office of Institutional Effectiveness continues to play a key role in the APR process by:
- Providing accurate, accessible, and useful data for APR self-studies, planning and monitoring
- Training faculty involved in APR on how to best access and use their data for APR, and
- Evaluating the APR process and its impacts both formative and summative every 3 years to inform continuous improvements in the APR process.