Curriculum Development

Overview

This page explains the curriculum development process for the Digital Art and Design Program which follows guidelines set forth by our accreditors: the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) as well as the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). Approvals for any substantial curriculum development are obtained by: The college senate, administration, NASAD, and HLC.

One of the signature trademarks of our curriculum is its flexibility. We understand that most of our incoming students have not had the opportunity to explore the various types of digital media creation processes. Our freshman and sophomore years are dedicated to that exploration. The Junior and Senior years are focused on building targeted portfolios for specific career paths.

Assessment

Accreditation Reviews

Every 4-5 years our program is reviewed by NASAD for compliance to their standards. Every 10 years the entire college is reviewed by HLC for compliance to their standards. Two of the primary goals of the standards are to ensure:

That there is clear communications between students and faculty regarding the expectations for earning a degree.
That the degree has value in the prescribed marketplace in which graduates are expected to participate.

Industry Advisors

We maintain an ongoing dialogue with alumni, visiting professionals, and our colleagues working in the industries we serve. This information is aggregated and discussed annually. Then adjustments to curriculum are made accordingly.

Alumni Success Analysis

We have tracked the employment of over 300 of our alumni and have aggregated that data into meaningful categories that help us to understand the cause and effect relationship between our curriculum and the various types of alumni success. You can see our alumni career data here.

Faculty Experience

The faculty in the DAD program each have many years of professional experience and maintain ongoing professional practices, research, and client work. This experience is applied to the curriculum as well as individual course assignments that stem from the individual strengths of the faculty.

Monitoring of professional publications

We constantly monitor professional journals and pay particular attention to data-driven summaries, such as this one from the National Association of Colleges and Employers which list the 8 career readiness attributes that employers are looking for:

Career & Self-Development
Communication
Critical Thinking
Equity & Inclusion
Leadership
Professionalism
Teamwork
Technology

Criteria

These are some of the primary questions we ask as we evaluate and develop curriculum

Does the targeted industry require or value the course or degree?
Will the alumni earn a higher salary with the degree than they would without it?
Will it be competitive with other colleges with similar degrees or focuses?
Are there more than one available faculty to teach the course(s)?
Are there adequate facilitates to support the required work?
Is there student interest?
Are there enough students enrolled, as a whole, to support all of the courses in the program?

Google Sites

Report abuse