Educational Master Plan
In fall 2012, the College convened forums to solicit ideas and input for the Educational Master Plan (EMP), our strategic academic plan for the future. Once key themes were developed, they were vetted and refined through College committees including the College Academic Master Planning Committee (CAMP), College Planning Council (CPC) and the College Academic Senate. In addition, the College Brain Trust (CBT) consulting firm conducted interviews with faculty and staff to solicit additional input. Review of environmental scanning data, reports and findings from the Achieving the Dream initiative and best practices, previous OCC committee reports related to academics, and analysis of pertinent data are integral components in the EMP development process.
As a result of this work, the College developed 12 EMP Objectives:
- Provide a developmental education program to cultivate knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in college
- Review and revise academic offerings to ensure appropriate student learning and academic quality as directed by federal, state and accrediting agencies
- Set the direction for all curriculum to meet community needs and student interest
- Develop an honors program to enhance transferability and employability for eligible students
- Provide quality service learning and volunteerism opportunities to enhance student success and serve the community
- Improve assessment practices to enhance student learning and success
- Develop common course outcomes to provide consistency in learning outcomes regardless of location or delivery
- Create benchmarks for general education outcomes and assess student learning outcomes regardless of location or delivery
- Evaluate the impact of pedagogical and curricular changes resulting from program assessment to determine efficacy of these changes
- Develop an enrollment management plan through the effective integration of administrative processes, student services, curriculum planning and market analysis to ensure student success, as well as develop student retention plans to improve the quality of student engagement and learning through comprehensive, accessible and affordable higher education initiatives
- Enhance early college and dual enrollment programs to ensure the ability of high school students to acquire college credit at OCC
- Develop strategic program of distance learning to increase access for our students and obtain Higher Learning Commission approval to offer online programming to ensure quality accredited distance learning opportunities