Quality Assurance / Institutional Effectiveness and Course Syllabi Requirements of the Commission for Academic Accreditation UAE Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research Presented by Dr. Cindy Dutschke Director, Institutional Effectiveness and Planning

Quality Assurance / Institutional Effectiveness at AUS Annual cycle to be completed both at the academic program and the academic course level Submitted electronically via WEAVE Online, a software program that will be implemented in the Fall, 2011 at AUS.

Program-Level QA/ IE Allows tracking of the assessment of the student learning outcomes that have been developed by the program (and appear in the catalog) At the beginning of the year, it is determined what outcomes will be addressed during this academic year, how they will be assessed, and what criterion will be set, against which success will be measured At the end of the semester, each department head and/or coordinator will go back into Weave Online and enter the result of the assessment of each outcome and how those results will be used to make any changes necessary to the course for the future.

Course Level QA / IE Allows tracking of the assessment of the student learning outcomes that have been developed for the course (and that appear on the syllabus) At the beginning of the semester, three items will be entered into the WEAVE Online system: the outcomes as they appear on the syllabus, the method that will be used to assess those outcomes, and what has been determined to be the criterion for success. At the end of the semester, each instructor will go back into Weave Online and enter the result of the assessment of each outcome and how those results will be used to make any changes necessary to the course for the future.

Training on Weave Online Training will be held at the program level for all faculty in that program during the Fall of Beginning with the SPRING, 2012 semester, all course QA/IE Plans will be entered into the system at the beginning of the semester, and all assessment of each course at the end of the semester. This will occur each semester a course is taught.

Standards for Licensure and Accreditation 2011 Stipulation 5: Course Syllabi For each course offered, an institution must provide a syllabus, which is a comprehensive document containing sufficient information to ensure that:

1.Those involved in curriculum development understand any prerequisites or co-requisites and the learning outcomes of the course. 2.External reviewers understand the courses contribution to the program and its connection to other courses in the curriculum 3.Students who take the course understand what they need to have achieved in order to take the course, what will be expected of them during the course, and what they will have achieved having taken the course. 4.Any suitably qualified instructor could deliver the course satisfactorily within the curriculum 5.Sufficient information on the course is available for the purposes of course and program review (program effectiveness) For each course offered, an institution must provide a syllabus, which is a comprehensive document containing sufficient information to ensure that:

Stipulation 5 (continued) Each course syllabus should include: 1.Course title and course code/number, credit hours (or equivalent), prerequisites (if any), co-requisites (if any); 2.Name and contact information of instructor; 3.Brief course description (exactly as in the catalog); 4.Intended learning outcomes of the course; 5.Course topics and contents on a week-by-week basis; 6.Scheduling of laboratory and other non-lecture sessions, including online sessions, as appropriate. 7.Information on out-of-class assignments with due dates for submission; 8.Methods and dates of examinations and other student assessments, including the relative weight of various assessment elements in determining the course grade. 9.Teaching and learning methodologies, including any use of online instruction; 10.Course texts, recommended readings, instructional material and learning resources.

Syllabi Repository in Weave Online When Weave Online is fully implemented, a template for a syllabi for each course will be maintained so that there is only one official copy. Changes will be made in only this one place and therefore the copy found in the repository will always be current. The template will already be populated with the common elements for each course (# 1, 3, 4) and a space for all other elements that need to be included will be present.

Program Re-accreditation: 5-year cycle Each academic program undergoes an extensive program review that includes a visiting team from the CAA every five years. These reviews will rely heavily on the Program QA/IE Plans and Course QA/IE Plans as they appear in Weave Online.

Schedule Visiting Teams (Self-Study Completed): Environmental Sciences (October) All BBA majors (October) ESM and MTR (November) ABET (December) Self-Studies during : Urban Planning (Fall 2011) TESOL(Fall 2011) CEN Master Level programs (Spring 2012)