Focus on Assurance of Learning
The main focus of today's teaching and learning environment at Higher Education is on Assurance of Learning - Hence, Quality Assurance.
Everyone from students to lecturers to faculty to administrators, accreditation and institutional bodies as well as legislators has a major stake in accessing key information on a student’s, school's or University’s performance.
In this section you can find some background information on how Quality Assurance can be achieved through Assurance of Learning. Furthermore, you can learn how Micado and its tailored solutions can help your University or College to benefit of our advanced tracking and reporting solutions.
How can Micado help?
Higher Education Institutions can leverage Micado's expertise to measure their KPI performance but also provide to all stakeholders a vital information and knowledge sharing platform that allows both the operational and executive management to control and assure quality and communicate results.
In order to meet your assurance of learning requirements Micado will help you to:
1. Align curricula with identified learning goals
2. Identify instruments and measures to assess learning
3. Collect, analyse and disseminate assessment information
4. Use assessment information for continuous improvement
5. Ensure the assessment process is carried out in a systematic, ongoing manner
6. Create, disseminate and analyse course evaluation
7. Provide assignment scores online to faculties, lecturers, parents and students
8. Publish curriculum, course schedules and assignments online to students and faculties
9. Provide operational transparency to external stakeholders
Background
Continuous improvement and a well founded Assurance of Learning are not only requested by your own institution but also by all accrediting institutions such as AACSB International, EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) and Associattion of MBAs.
AACSB introduced the concept of “outcomes assessment” in its 1991 standards as a requirement for accredited institutions. The 2003 standards place emphasis on direct assessments of student learning. In mandating direct assessment, AACSB expects accredited institutions to formulate specific learning goals and conduct appropriate direct assessments of learning for purposes of improving curricula when deficiencies or opportunities for improvement are found. The AACSB standards 15, 16, 18, 19 and 21 deal with the requirements to establish learning goals in terms of required knowledge and skills for programmes at different levels.
A general assurance of the learning assessment process should answer the following questions:
1. What will our students learn in our programme?
2. What are our expectations?
3. How will they learn it?
4. How will we know they have learned it or not?
5. How do we measure learning outcomes?
6. What will we do if they have not learned it?