1. Curriculum Analysis Tool
~~~ CAT ~~~
copyright 2008

2. OVERVIEW
The Curriculum Analysis Tool (CAT) was designed to be a system for evaluation and management of an entry-level curriculum including collection/summary of all data required to assess compliance with curricular accreditation criteria as established by the Committee for Accreditation of Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE).
The CAT was designed and developed as a joint venture between Duquesne University and GO Consulting Inc.

3. CAT Key Features
Evaluate the relationships between individual course objectives and CAPTE Criteria (cc)
Describe educational objective domains and domain levels in a format consistent with Bloom’s Taxonomy
Evaluate the relationships between individual course objectives and department program outcomes and to describe these relationships in terms educational domains.
Completely describe and evaluate curricular compliance with CAPTE accreditation standards for curricular content.
Flexibly generate data reports that would be required for ongoing curricular evaluation and preparation of accreditation self-study report

4. Faculty Convenience & Participation
“The CAT system was a user friendly tool through which every member of the faculty was involved in the analysis of our curricular. Each faculty member was given access to this tool which allowed him/her to analyze and interpret the contributions of his/her course to accomplishing the program mission and expected student outcomes. Further, it allowed each faculty member the opportunity to analyze how his/her course met the CAPTE criteria. The CAT system enabled us to complete a more comprehensive and accurate curriculum analysis than other methods I have used for previous annual and CAPTE curricular assessments.” -- Dr. Rick Clemente, Chair, Department of Physical Therapy

5. Course Management
“The Database allowed us to more thoroughly analyze the plethora of course objectives that exist in our curriculum. It allowed us to link each and every course objective to a specific program outcome and CAPTE criterion. Further, it allowed us to accurately analyze the aggregate breadth and depth of our course objectives across the curriculum.”
-- Dr. Rick Clemente, Chair, Department of Physical Therapy

6. Course Management Course Information Objective Information
Map Program Objectives
Map Domain Level
Map CAPTE Criteria

7. Designed to Save Time…
“As compared to other methods that they were familiar with, faculty members commented that they saved a significant amount of time by using the CAT system to analyze his/her course objectives. The time that was saved minimized the amount of time faculty members were pulled away from teaching and scholarly pursuits. Considering the time that is needed to perform a complex curricular assessment the faculty time saved was also a cost saving to the department”

8. Analysis and Reporting
“Based on my previous experiences with accreditation self-study reports and annual curricular assessments the CAT system significantly decreased the time required by the department chair and by individual faculty members to analyze the curriculum. From the perspective of the department chair I estimate that the Database saved me nearly 40 hours of work just on the analysis of curricular content”

9. Basis for future growth…
“In addition to the Database’s utility for annual and accreditation related curricular assessments it also provides an excellent tool for continuous curricular assessment. It will allow continuous monitoring of the curriculum even in the context of changing program mission, expected student outcomes, and/or future changes in CAPTE criteria.”
“The Database is an expandable tool. It can be updated to link other curricular/faculty information to courses, program mission, expected student outcomes, and CAPTE criteria. The inclusion of other data makes the Database useful and efficient for the creation of administrative documents such as annual reports and annual performance reviews.”

10. Proven Success…
The Physical Therapy Department of Duquesne University obtained the Maximum Accreditation Term, 10 years
Duquesne also receive a Rare Commendation for the quality of the self-study document.

11. CONTACT US cat.goconsulting.biz GO Consulting, Inc
These slides are online:
cat.goconsulting.biz