Improvement Process

The institutions who agreed in 2011 to pilot the "Open Pathways" option for reaffirmation of accreditation will undertake a special improvement project: To examine and
evaluate the usefulness of the Degree Qualifications Profile (DP) developed by the Lumina Foundation.

The DP is a proposed framework for defining the knowledge and skills that students need to acquire in order to earn associate, bachelor's and master's degrees. In other words, it
responds to the question, "What are the goals of a college education?"

Five interrelated areas of learning have been specified in the DP as critical:

1. Specialized knowledge (understanding of terminology, theory, methods, tools literature, complex programs or applications, and cognizance of the limits of the field);
2. Broad integrative knowledge (practice in core fields ranging from science and the social sciences through the humanities and arts and development of global, cultural and democratic perspectives);
3. Intellectual skills (fluency in oral and written communications, analytic inquiry, quantitative fluency, use of information resources, engaging diverse perspectives);
4. Applied learning (demonstration of interaction of academic and non-academic settings and the corresponding integration of theory and practice);
5. Civic engagement (capacity to use analysis and reflection in out-of-class experiences).

Miami University, along with the other institutional members of the "Open Pathways" pioneer cohort, will test the usefulness of the Degree Qualifications Profile. We will pursue the
following questions: Does the DP capture what faculty expect of their students at different degree levels? Does it match current practice? Does it offer useful expectations for students in the 21st century?

Miami will report regularly to the Higher Learning Commission and our cohort members about our experiences with the DP and the new Open Pathway process as we prepare for an accreditation
visit in 2015.