Assignment: LASA: Analysis and Evaluation of Current Curricula to Improve Student Learning and Success

You are the new chief academic officer for either student services or academic affairs at Centervale University System. Your president has told you that many of the students have complained about the low levels of awareness and involvement of diverse populations throughout the system. They have been particularly vocal about the Diversity courses and curriculum. You are tasked with evaluating and improving this curriculum in one specific part of the institution. Remember that Centervale is a highly complex institution. It has an open admissions community college, a for-profit institute that does training and noncredit development, a highly competitive four year college, and a university on the same site and within the same institution.

Your task requires several steps to complete. First, you will conduct a curriculum assessment. Second, you will identify and evaluate the current research, theory, and best practices in the area of diversity as appropriate for the part of the institution that you are addressing. Third, use the current research, theory, and best practices identified to assess the current curriculum. Fourth, based on your work so far, develop a curriculum for this part of the university system that addresses the issues identified. Fifth, you present your work in a formal Curriculum Proposal to your president.

Your president insists that your recommendations be firmly based in the field's best practices, research findings, and have a firm theoretical basis. Your recommendations must be based on your readings in the course and not on your experiences unless they help support the readings. At the end of the course, you will compile your information into a formal paper that you will present to your president. As part of this paper:

Describe the part of the institution that you have chosen to address. Include the institution's specific mission and vision, student demographics, and faculty or instructor demographics and educational preparation.

Identify the critical stakeholders (internal and external) who are affected by the curriculum.

Evaluate any theories, models, and/or best practices used by the institution's curricula to assess needs; plan and implement curricula and evaluate its success in addressing areas of diversity.

Referring to the institutional characteristics and missions and its concern relative to areas of diversity, use theories, models, and best practices to describe and recommend more effective approaches in curriculum development, planning, and implementing curricula to meet those needs, and evaluating the success of the program.

Describe the benefits, supported by evidence from readings and experience, that the alternatives recommended will provide to better support students' success.

Create and explain a sample syllabus that reflects the recommendations you have made.