Environments Internal

Current Performance Success

AEI’s high quality faculty and staff and commitment to innovation in its programs have been the foundation for AEI’s current performance successes. The AEI faculty have high qualifications, as all have either MA or PhD degrees in a field closely related to ESOL instruction. The flexibility and versatility of the faculty allow them to teach across the AEI's different online and face-to-face programs. The AEI strongly encourages and supports professional development of its faculty and staff as well as mentors new faculty. AEI’s flexibility also allows faculty to participate in overseas conferences and teacher training workshops.

The IEP’s success is validated by its students’ academic success at the university and beyond, its rapid and consistent growth, and its ongoing trend of hiring very highly qualified faculty. In the IEP, its strong academic curriculum, advising, and tutoring services prepare the students for their academic career in the university with further support from AEIS. DE’s international English teacher training courses now reach participants in over 100 countries. The DE program has demonstrated adaptability to the needs of the international market through development of innovative new courses. Funding for both DE and SP have brought millions of dollars in grant money to AEI through their high quality programs.

AEI Performance Areas Requiring Improvement

The committee identified seven key areas requiring improvement in the AEI.

• AEI must better quantify student academic success. This includes improving assessment systems in all of AEI’s programs, which will demonstrate quantifiably that students completing each course or program have demonstrably moved toward clearly defined goals. This will result in better service to all our stakeholders, thereby earning their trust.

• AEI must further define its curricular focus. This will require its faculty and staff to innovate and adapt to new trends in the population of learners. This may include considering content-area instruction in students’ majors (ESP-EAP) or developing distance and hybrid elements for courses that are traditionally taught face to face.

• AEI must improve its commitment to providing learner support beyond our traditional learning environments. This may take the form of academic support, networking support, or the availability of learner resources. This will not only demonstrate our commitment to students, but it will also integrate us deeper into the fabric of the university. Rather than being a step on the way to a goal, AEI strives to be the handrail all the way up the staircase to success.

• AEI must improve in its operational efficiency. This may occur by taking better advantage of UO infrastructure (e.g. CRNs, Duckweb, course evaluations, billing, classroom scheduling, physical space, etc.), by improving its fiscal awareness, and/or evaluating the efficiency of its staff, administration, and operations.

• AEI must continue to improve institutional support for professional development among faculty and administrative success at all levels. Giving everyone opportunities to engage with their respective fields via conferences, coursework, publication and other forums will result in higher levels of professionalism and commitment.

• AEI must address consistent dissatisfaction among a significant portion of faculty and staff by identifying its shortcomings and implementing solutions.

• AEI must increase partnerships with the following groups: Departments and groups on UO’s campus, partners that lead to an increased diversity of students, partners that lead to greater diversification in funding, and its own alumni.

Internal Resources- Current Strengths

UO has several, strong internal resources as identified by the committee, including its people, relationships, financial strength and diversity of programming:

People- Faculty is exceptionally well trained, with MA or PhD degrees. The faculty are published, interested in research, belong to professional organizations (ORTESOL, TESOL), and/or have international experience in the field.

Relationships- Internationally recognized work in DE, with sponsors and professional affiliations and colleagues in 125+ countries.

• Support from and ongoing collaboration with Department of State.
• As an academic unit with in the Department of Linguistics, AEI benefits from our essential relationship and position within the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS).
• The AEI is increasingly called upon as a resource in the broader UO community.
• We benefit from the LTS program with highly qualified teachers coming into our program.

Financial- The AEI program is solvent at this time. Growth of revenue over the last 5 years....

Great grant writing team means funding from govt. organizations like DOS. Money available to stay technologically in the loop and expand staff. Also, funds set aside for professional development.

Diversity and credibility of programs- AEI has a solid reputation for quality academics and positive success rates. We offer innovative, intensive programs, tutoring, advising, and increased integration for students into the broader UO community. CEA accreditation. Innovative curriculum. Adaptable programming and flexible faculty/staff.

Internal Resources: Future Requirements

There are many complex issues that must be addressed in order to ensure the AEI program will have sufficient internal resources in the future. These issues can be divided into three categories: 1) those that address the needs of the AEI’s past, present, and future students, 2) those that address the needs of the AEI faculty and staff, and 3) those that address the needs of other UO departments, including the Department of Linguistics, and the university as a whole.

In order to ensure student success at the AEI, it is necessary to be able to quantify student success through the implementation of a comprehensive vertical and horizontal curriculum alignment, as well as a valid and reliable system of assessments.

The AEI must become a resource for students after they leave the IEP and AEIS by developing a strong outreach plan to aid students as they become fully matriculated. The AEI must also forge stronger ties with other UO departments and colleges in order to prepare students with the English skills necessary as they move out of the AEI, and provide continued language support in the form of additional classes and a fully staffed academic writing lab.

A centralized office area would allow faculty and staff to more efficiently carry out the mission of the AEI.

The AEI must diversify its student population demographics, reaching out to new regions by partnering with the department of international affairs and the office of admissions. The AEI must also reach out to alumni as a source for potential fundraising and outreach.

The AEI must also develop resources to support professional development of its faculty in the areas of teaching, research,a and scholarship.