Southern Polytechnic State University: Hitchhikers Guide to SPOL

SPOL is a system which will help us in compiling the data that is needed to ensure that our university is institutionally effective. It also will provide SACS reviewers with some of the materials they need during their review of the institution.

Log on to spol.spsu.edu
Enter User Name (email name) and Password (either your email password or 12345). .
Click on the Planning Unit of which you are a member.
You will see a list of planning units of which you are a member, and if you need to create another unit, please tell Zvi. Click on the Planning Unit into which you wish to begin entering data.

1.A. Click on the planning unit that you wish to enter info for. (You will see a new screen corresponding to the Planning Unit you selected.)

1.B. Find the box labeled “Unit Purpose”; it’s the one on the upper left.

1.C. Click on “Edit” which is in the upper right hand corner of the box.

A mission statement usually describes the primary and secondary constituents whom the unit serves, and it also briefly describes how the unit serves these constituents. Ideally, it should align at least partially (have an element in common) with the parent unit of which it is a part.

The parent units for all academic departments are their Schools and Academic Affairs. For Directors, it is Academic Affairs.

For example, the mission of the Planning and Assessment unit is “to coordinate the accreditation studies of accreditation agencies as well as the evaluation of all academic degree programs, the core curriculum, and all academic and support services. As part of the institutional effectiveness process, the division of planning and assessment assists in linking strategic and operational planning and assessment to the various aspects of resource allocation, including fiscal appropriations.”

To add the names of those in your unit, click on “Add Members.” You will see a list of SPSU employees, listed by first name. If the person whose name you want to add is not in the list, please call Zvi.

B. In order for Jo Galle, the Coordinator of Assessment, to be able to coordinate the planning and evaluation of planning of the institution, her name should also be added as a member.

You will now be adding the goals of your planning unit. Find the box labeled “Planning Unit Goals.” These are the goals that should align with both the 15 College Goals (available by clicking on “Resources” tab at the top of the page) and your parent unit’s goals.

2C. In the Goal Title box, enter a brief title, usually of a few words. (This helps you to identify the Goal each time.)

2D. In the Goal Description, briefly explain the goal. (This is usually a sentence or so.)

2F. If you ever need to change a goal, click on it, and then click “Edit”.

You will now see a page listing all planning units of which you are a part. If there is a triangle next to a planning unit, there are already objectives for it. Clicking on the triangle shows you the already-listed objectives.

3A. First, go to the bottom part of the box, and click on “View My Objectives”.

3B. In the far left column, click on the 4th choice, “Create a New Objective”.

Step 4: Under “Create a New Objective”, there will be about 10 or so boxes to fill in. Most have drop-down menus.

4D. Objective Purpose: Select from the following menu (more objectives may be added later) Assessment Objective; Budget Objective; Curricular Objective; Growth Objective

4F. Objective Status: Select from the following menu; In progress; Completed; No status

4G. Objective Description: Write a brief description (a few words or a sentence) that briefly illustrates how this objective helps to fulfill the goal.

4H. College Goal: Select from the menu of the 15 University Outcome Goals the objective helps to fulfill; click on “Add”. To add an additional Goal, select the Goal, and click “Add” again.

4I. Objective Type: The drop-down menu contains one choice: “Curricular Expansion” (Others will be added later).

4J. Planning Priorities: The menu contains the 3 primary Goals of the SPSU Strategic Plan; more than 1 may be selected. Others may be added later.

4K. When you are finished with this section, click on “Save” (which is the icon that looks like a computer disc, at the top of the page). You will now see a filled-in page for the objective you just entered.

4L. If you need to edit any part of the page, click on “Edit”. If everything looks fine, and if you are the planning unit’s manager, you can approve this section by clicking “Approve”. (Your supervisors then get to review and approve all as well.)

5B. In the box, begin writing brief descriptions of the tasks or steps which need to be taken in order to achieve the related objective and goal.

For example, in the Planning Unit, Assessment, Goal 1 is “Help in the process of assessing academics at SPSU.” Objective 1 is to “Facilitate the process of assessing the Core Curriculum at SPSU.” Several tasks need to be accomplished in order to fulfill this objective and goal.

NOTE: In order to make sure that each task is viewed as a separate and discrete task, it is best to enter and number the first task (For example, “1: Create SPSU Core Curriculum Student Learning Outcomes which are derived from the University System of Georgia’s Core Curriculum.”) and then click on “Save”. Then enter the second task, and then “Save”.

Step 6: Assessment Measures/Establishing Performance Criteria of Tasks (This step is very important because, in this step, you establish the “targets” you are trying to reach.)

Go to the “Assessment Measures” section and then click on “Add”. After entering the first measure, click on “Save”. To make sure that the budget information is aligned with each measure, follow this pattern for each measure. It is important to add each measure one by one to ensure alignment.

For example, the following measures/performance criteria can be used to measure the establishment of a Core Curriculum cycle of assessment at SPSU:

6.3 The chairs will complete the “Results by Section and Use of Results Report” by June 1, 2008.

In this section, you can write brief statements that describe where you are in the process of completing tasks and measurements (“Website build begun on January 7, 2008”).

Step 8: Results (This step is very important because it tells whether or not the people in the unit reached their goals and achieved their desired results/outcomes.)

To begin, click on “Add Result” and after entering the first result, click on “Save”. This pattern should be followed to enter each result.

For example, as a result of performing Core Curriculum Assessment, the following results could be derived:

The website was completed by January 14, 2008.
The course tables were completed by January 14, 2008.
The Results and the Planned Use of Results reports were finished by the chairs by June 1, 2008.

This step is very important because it indicates how the work benefitted the unit; it also indicates how institutionally effective the unit is.

To begin, click on “Add”, and after entering the first use of results, click on “Save”. This pattern should be followed to enter each Use of Results.

For example, the following uses of the assessment of the Core Curriculum could result:

The assessment of the Core Curriculum courses had the following results:
The content of 3 courses in Math, 2 courses in History, 1 course in Biology, and 2 courses in English was changed.
The class size limit in all Math classes will be enforced because those sections with large sizes performed more poorly on most of the Student Learning Outcomes. As a result, the Math Department has requested that 1 more instructor be hired.

This section allows you to add the names of the units whom you will work with in order to achieve your goal and those who will be affected by the work. Do not list your own unit here, or that of your parent unit.

This section allows you to describe which standards of professional organizations will be affected by and/or relate to the achievement of this goal.

If you are viewing the plan and would like to make a comment about one of the statements, then SPOL allows you to just click on “E-mail the Manager” and then you can send the manager an email directly (without clicking out of SPOL first).

Accreditation. Clicking on the “Accreditation” button will take you to a list of

The information that is needed to illustrate that the institution is effective and which SACS reviewers will study include the following:

College Goals (This refers to the set of 15 University Outcome Goals; if your goal does align with 1 or more of these, it illustrates alignment with the unit above yours.)

Planning Priorities (These indicate the unit’s alignment with the SPSU Strategic Plan)

Thus, it is important to make sure that these 10 pieces of information are filled in. Of the above list, the last 3 or 4 are the most important in the upcoming SACS review. One emphasis of SACS is that of making sure that results are measured, used, and tied to resource allocation, including funding.

SPOL also allows you to keep up with other information which can help in making sure that the goals are achieved. For instance, status reports (progress reports) may be entered at any time.

Also, there are some fields which SPOL requires that you enter. If you do not enter information into these fields, then SPOL will ask you to fill in this piece again.