Envision your Department

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Starting with a thought experiment can illustrate the kind of questions that departments need to be able to answer in this process.

In order to answer those questions, departments and programs need to know a lot about their current and potential students, how they fit (or could fit) into the institution as a whole, how the geosciences are evolving as a discipline, and how to bring all departmental voices to the table.

Understand your Students

Numerous strategies can be used to determine the demographics, interests, and experiences of your students so that you can align your program-level learning outcomes with their level of preparation and expectations.

For example, you can administer pre-surveys in your introductory courses to capture the state of your incoming students. Who are they? What are their attitudes, expectations, abilities? Can barriers to learning be identified at an early stage so that interventions can be planned and developed? Collection of this type of baseline data can be an important part of your departmental assessment plan. Combined with other surveys or instruments in other parts of the program this information can help you structure the program to maximize student success.

If there are students that your program isn't attracting but should, think about ways to start actively recruiting them.

• Work with your Admissions Department to reach out to students who have expressed interest and/or demonstrated aptitudes for success in your program(s).
• Work with faculty at local two-year colleges to develop articulation agreements.
• Develop a working relationship with teachers from feeder high schools in your area to identify and recruit students.
• Develop holistic supports that will help students be successful at your institution.

Use your Institutional Context

Program-level learning outcomes should be well-aligned with your institution's vision and strategic plan documents, as well as the department's defined role and scope. Starting with an inventory of institutional and departmental values, and a clear understanding of the opportunities (and practical limits) of what can be implemented in your department will provide a strong foundation for next steps in defining your program-level learning outcomes. It is also the first part of being a valued departmental member of your institution.

Program-level learning outcomes can be designed to optimize learning opportunities in consideration of:

• the geologic and geographic setting of your institution;
• demographic profile of the community you serve;
• professional strengths and interests of the existing faculty (and plans for future growth of the faculty);
• departmental and institutional facilities and equipment;
• opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration across campus, with government agencies, and with the community;
• the need to optimize resources available (faculty teaching assignments, TA support, limited student credit hours that can be applied to a degree), reduce redundancies, and realize economies of scale;
• service for special groups of students (e.g. pre-service teachers).

Anticipate Changes in the Geosciences

Where are we going as a geoscience community? The fields of science are constantly changing, in response to societal needs and scientists' curiosity. Predicting where any particular field of science is headed is a tricky business, but there are guideposts to help departments choose their path forward.

Connect to the Future of Geoscience

There are trends emerging in geoscience including interdisciplinarity, collaboration, use of sophisticated technology and large data sets, a systems approach, and applications to societally relevant issues. This set of pages lays out perspectives on where geoscience is going as a discipline over the next few decades.

Embed Sustainability in your Program

Geoscientists are increasingly engaged with pressing environmental questions related to the interaction between humans and Earth's systems. Issues such as balancing energy alternatives with environmental toxification, climate change, and provisioning a growing human population while maintaining natural resources have fundamental geoscience components. These pages from InTeGrate illustrate ways of incorporating a focus on sustainability into degree programs.

Understand Workforce Needs

In order to prepare students for the future STEM workforce, it is important to understand what the current workforce looks like, and learn about the needs of and opportunities offered by the future workforce. InTeGrate presents a detailed look at what skills employers are looking for and the trends that are shaping the future of the workforce.

Increase the Diversity of your Graduates

The geoscience student population in the United States today is the least diverse of any STEM field. Not only does this challenge our ability to educate sufficient numbers of students in the geosciences, it also challenges our ability to address issues of environmental justice, to bring geoscience expertise to diverse communities, and to pursue a research agenda reflecting the needs and interests of our nation as a whole. Earth science needs to be perceived as a viable option for the best and brightest students no matter their background. InTeGrate has developed a suite of resources to help programs attract and support diverse students and prepare them for the future.

Engage the Whole Department in Visioning

Successfully envisioning the future of the department requires that all stakeholders - faculty, staff, students, and alumni - are engaged in the process. Listening to the various perspectives can point the way toward the set of touchstone ideas that will guide the departments strategic action planning going forward.