Educational Excellence & Effectiveness

Educ. Excellence & Effectiveness goals are all in direct support of USNH's mission and vision to 1) being student oriented; 2) being committed to excellence in programs and services; and 3) being efficient and effective in the use of our resources through partnerships, both internal and external.  

Strategic Goal 1: Expand and support the practice of evidence-informed decision-making to enhance learning and the student experience.  

1. Support program assessment efforts to improve curricula, policies and procedures, and student learning outcomes. Of particular importance is helping to create authentic, meaningful assessment methods that showcase student learning and promote academic freedom while meeting accreditor and other external expectations.  

2. Provide expertise and oversight of UNH’s commitment to federal compliance and external accreditation standards.   

3. Promote evidence-based teaching and learning principles and contribute expertise in effective teaching strategies, effective design of educational experiences, and assessment of student learning outcomes in all learning experiences.  

Strategic Goal 2: Ignite curiosity and facilitate a culture of continuous improvement by creating conditions where data, information, and research are readily available for strategic decision making, continuous improvement, and preparedness for the ever-changing higher education landscape.  

1. Support collaboration of localized data to bring a more holistic understanding of successful pathways, processes, and impactful supports.  

2. Intentionally create inclusive, equitable, and diverse context for all students, faculty, and staff; where both quantitative and qualitative data are part of assessments. 

3. Offer a single place to archive evidence-informed decisions, continuous improvements, modified or new policies and procedures, and compliance expectations. Promote sharing both the decision and the evidence used to inform the decision. 

Strategic Goal 3: Promote an integrated approach to educational excellence and institutional effectiveness that is strengthened by a collaborative community that shares resources and approaches to achieve common goals. 

1. Amplify common goals and challenges to bring people together to create a response using relevant data/information.  

2. Improve consistency and alignment in documentation, policies, and procedures to support institutional effectiveness and educational excellence by incorporating relevant groups into the decision-making process. 

Educational Excellence and Effectiveness Mission Questions: 

1. How do we ensure that mission critical functions, such as compliance and accreditation, are sufficiently managed? 

2. How do we keep UNH cutting edge/nimble to best prepare learners for an everchanging world?  

3. How can UNH become less reactive and more proactive in responding to challenges and opportunities?  

4. How can UNH collectively draw on localized resources to solve common problems? E.g., perspective student interests; HIP (Purdue expert on assessing them) 

5. How can we model open collaboration for problem solving? 

6. How do we continue to include all campuses, all learners, and all modalities?  E.g., meet people physically where they are (all campuses)