5.3 Program review
During
the team review of a program, between six and seven hours have been allocated
for time to spend with the program. This
time occurs in the afternoon of Day 1 and the morning of Day 2.
Before
the team arrives, the program head should
plan a schedule which gives an allocation of time to the activities
described below.
During
lunch on Day 1 of the visit, the program head and team member assigned to that
program will meet to review the proposed
schedule. The team member must ensure that all relevant activities have been
scheduled appropriately. If there are changes to be made, it is up to the
program head to re-arrange the schedule.
During
the six hours, the team visitor should accomplish the following activities.
Some activities may take longer than others.
|
Activity |
Notes |
1 Meet with program head |
The purpose of meeting with
the program head is for the team member to understand
the program and how well it meets the standards. (See suggested
questions in section 5.11. The
team member may also have some follow-up questions from the
self-evaluation.) The team member should meet
alone with the program head twice if possible: once near the beginning of
this session and again, briefly, at the end of this session or later in
the visit in case there are follow-up questions. |
2 See facilities and equipment |
The visit should include classrooms used by the program,
computer laboratories, special teaching facilities (such as
laboratories and studios) and offices. While it is important to see
the facilities, care should be taken that this portion of the visit does
not take too much time. |
3 Meet
with faculty staff |
If possible, the team member
should meet with all faculty staff involved in the program, perhaps
through an open meeting. In large programs meeting
with lecturers can be done separately from titled staff. Smaller meetings may also be
arranged. It is important
that the team member has enough time with enough staff in small
groups to gather their perspectives. |
4 Visiting classes |
In general, visits
to two classes (taught by two different people) should be arranged.
The classes should illustrate different aspects of the program. The team member will begin the visit when the class starts but will not stay throughout
the class. The team member will observe the class and not use
the time to talk with the staff member or students. |
5 Meet with research assistants |
This should happen as a separate group. |
|
6 Meet
with students |
Two separate meetings should
be held with small groups of
students. Students should be selected to be representative of the
students in the program. It would be useful to
schedule one group of students in their final year and another group in
their third year. |
7 Other |
The program head, or program
head and team member, may decide that there are other
components needed to determine if the standards are being met.
Program head should include those elements in the proposed
schedule. Similarly, the team member should be free to request additional
meetings. The program head will want to
let people know as far ahead of time as possible when they are to be at a
meeting. Thus, any changes requested by the team chair may necessitate
re-arranging the time of staff and students. |