BYU degree programs being overhauled

PROVO — A massive overhaul of Brigham Young University's 415 degree programs is under way, in response to both a national trend and specific requirements imposed by the agency that accredits BYU.

For the past 12 months, a university task force has scrambled to evaluate every degree, and results are available at a new Web site — learningoutcomes.byu.edu — President Cecil Samuelson announced Tuesday during the annual University Conference.

The Web site describes exactly what BYU expects students to learn in each degree program, and how BYU will measure whether graduates leave with the intended skills, knowledge and experiences.

The emphasis on "student learning outcomes" — evaluating what graduates know or are able to do — is a national trend embraced by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. The NWCCU reaffirmed BYU's accreditation last year but strongly recommended that the school react to the trend before a commission representative returned to campus this fall.

The administration considered the recommendation a mandate and created a university task force.

"BYU seeks to demonstrate students have achieved the stated outcomes of these degree programs," Samuelson told faculty and staff during a 40-minute speech Tuesday at the Marriott Center.

The university created a new Center for Teaching and Learning (ctl.byu.edu) to help faculty improve teaching and learning. The center offers professors confidential, individual consultations that can include classroom observations and course planning.

Additionally, the university has hired consultants to help departments close any gaps between their stated learning goals and actual student performance.

Many professors found the process difficult as departments identified the learning outcomes of every degree program and created methods to evaluate how well they educate their students. Some see the trend as an intrusion into the classroom.

"I think some humanities professors initially resisted these ideas," said Kerry Soper, a humanities professor honored Tuesday by Samuelson as one of 10 Alcuin Fellows, or outstanding teacher-scholars. "We're notoriously independent in structuring our courses and coming up with our own measurements for student performance."

Soper, director of BYU's American Studies program, described an intense process for administrators through a number of department and college meetings.

"We found we weren't tracking very well how our students were doing as they left our programs," he said.