final version of the self-study document - Keuka College's Middle ...

Educational Offerings
The Mission of Keuka College articulates the centrality of the liberal arts foundation. The
College provides a general education curriculum that includes significant offerings in the
humanities (English, drama, languages, music, art, philosophy, religion), mathematics, the
natural sciences, and social sciences (sociology, history, psychology, political science, and
economics). Building on this liberal arts foundation, the College offers a diverse range of
undergraduate and graduate programs that are delivered in both traditional and non-traditional
formats. The school has nine academic divisions, including the Library, and offers 33
undergraduate majors and seven masters’ programs. Included in the general education
requirements for all undergraduate students are learning goals “which will help students to
develop their intellectual, social, cultural, and creative potential as preparation for a life of
continued growth, responsibility, and fulfillment” (Keuka College Record). These specific goals
help to ensure Keuka College students learn from a broad spectrum of disciplines and develop an
understanding of the various ways of knowing. In addition, all Keuka College students
participate in substantive field experiences that focus on the real-world application of
knowledge.
An examination of the academic programs at Keuka College with regard to “sufficient content,
rigor, and depth to be characterized as collegiate or graduate level learning” (MSCHE
Characteristics of Excellence) was conducted in 2011 by the Keuka College Middle States selfstudy
working group on Faculty, Programs and General Education. The models used for the
examination were the Rigor Rubric of Matusevich, Katherine, and Hargett’s (Appendix 6.12
Rigor Rubric), the Rigor/Relevance Framework, which linked the rigor dimension of the
framework to the cognitive domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy (Appendix 6.13 Rigor Relevance
Framework), and Cognitive Rigor Matrix (Appendix 6.14 Hess, Carlock, Jones & Walkup
Cognitive Rigor Matrix). The Rigor Rubric identified three areas in which educators should be
held accountable: curriculum, instruction, and assessment. At the highest levels of rigor, the
curriculum should “consistently engage [students] in multiple, complex, thought-provoking, and
ambiguous texts/materials that challenge their thinking and feelings”; the instruction should
provide opportunities for discussion, dialogue, and student reflection on complex levels of
generalization and deeper meaning; and “multiple types of assessment” must be used to “monitor
students’ growing understanding” (p. 48). To determine the degree to which the College’s
educational offering provide sufficient rigor, a working group conducted an analysis of 120
undergraduate syllabi, including samples from the traditional and ASAP programs, in the
following manner:
1. Key words and phrases were extracted from the models referenced above.
2. Key word relationships were established based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. A level of
rigor was established relative to each of the key words and the types of learning. The
types of learning related to analysis, synthesis and evaluation/creating can be identified
with higher levels of complex thinking, as one would find in higher education.
3. A word search was conducted on the objectives and student assessment sections of
each syllabus using the key words list, and levels of rigor were determined for each
course.
Page 16 of 39 Chapter 6: Faculty, Ed Offerings & GenEd