Sustainable Program Assessment Practices: A Review of the ABET and NCAAA Computer Information Systems Accreditation Process

Program outcome assessment is a complex process that demands careful planning and resources in order to accurately assess higher-order thinking skills. A well-defined assessment approach provides detailed insights into program weaknesses and leads to continuous improvement. Whereas a poor assessment approach does not reflect the underlying weaknesses and may result in a useless effort. Furthermore, each accreditation body may have a different recommended outcome measurement approach. As a result, academic institutions may make adhoc choices just to satisfy accreditation requirements rather than designing a sustainable measurement approach. On the other hand, the magnitude of huge tasks for satisfying multiple accreditation bodies results in fatigue and mental stress for academic staff. ABET is a well-known international program accreditation body, and NCAAA is a local accreditation body for academic programs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In this paper, we have documented that how a sustainable outcome measurement mechanism can be designed to satisfy both ABET and NCAAA requirements. The core contribution of this paper is relevant specifically for academic programs in the Kingdom striving to meet both ABET and NCAAA requirements and is also relevant for all education programs to design an appropriate program assessment approach to ensure a sustainable process to foster better learning among students.

Effective Implementation of Outcome-based Education: The Role of Faculty Awareness

Accreditation of technical institutions is very important to guarantee the quality of technical education that is being offered. Outcome based education (OBE) is followed in the delivery of technical education across all Institutions in India and the National Board of Accreditation (NBA), which is the nodal accreditation body for technical institutions in India follows outcome based accreditation (OBA) in the accreditation of technical programs. In the OBE and OBA, faculty constitutes the most important component and plays an important role in facilitation of the same. In this regard, the authors felt that there is a need to understand the level of awareness of faculty about the same and accordingly a survey was conducted among the faculty of the authors’ institution, which is an autonomous Institution and comes under Tier I scheme of NBA accreditation process. From among 285 faculty members, about 96 participated in the survey. This paper discusses the significance of faculty’s awareness and involvement in the accreditation process and implementation of OBE. The results of the survey indicate some interesting findings, which is discussed in detail. Some suggestions and guidelines are given at the end to increase the level of awareness and their involvement in the OBE and OBA processes respectively.

Design, construction and implementation of relative humidity and temperature climatic chamber for metrology laboratory

For the calibration of thermohygrometers it is necessary to have a means of generating temperature and relative humidity for this reason in this development we will build a climatic chamber which will generate and control these two magnitudes. For the generation of temperature a thermoresistance was used and the decrease of relative humidity was done through a silica gel trap through which the air inside the chamber is recirculated with the use of a vacuum pump. On the other hand, an ultrasonic humidity generator also known as fogger was used to increase the relative humidity. For the construction of the chamber, acrylic was used as the main material, since it is translucent and facilitates the visualization of the thermohygrometers’ indications. For the control of the process variables such as temperature and relative humidity, an Arduino card was used, which through PWM pulse width modulation, the control was performed achieving a variation of 0.3 °C and 2 %RH, which will be evaluated by an accredited laboratory in the characterization of isothermal media certified by ONAC, since it is in this way that the inhomogeneity, stability and thermal load of the medium, components that affect the uncertainty of the instruments under calibration, are evaluated. It should be remembered that this development was carried out in order to create an air medium with which temperature and relative humidity measuring instruments can be calibrated in the metrology laboratory VALIDACIONES Y METROLOGIA LM S.A.S., since it is in the process of growth and one of its main objectives is to be accredited in the magnitudes of temperature and relative humidity before the accreditation body in Colombia (ONAC), which is the entity that will finally give the technical approval to release the chamber and put it into operation.

Good Trouble Along the Winding Road: Disruption and Accomplishment

The establishment of a accreditation body for gerontology degree programs was seen as disruptive. Many key leaders were against creating such a body and wanted this to be delayed or to never happen. In 2012, the AGHE Accreditation Task Force was established with a Competency Work Group and an Organization Work Group..There have been 5 programs evaluated with a number of schools/university currently in process. The task force filed documents for creating a legal entity and obtaining non-profit status for the new Accreditation for Gerontology Education Council. The Task Force developed the dimensions for program evaluation based on the Competencies and shared information with AGHE members. The Task Force obtained start-up funding for the organization and identified the first programs for accreditation and has been providing outreach and guidance to new programs. There is continual refinement of the process.

Evaluating a collaborative and responsive project to develop language assessment literacy

We report on research conducted during a language assessment literacy (LAL) project set up for employees at a university language centre. Teachers, students and an external accreditation body requested a revision of the end-of-course exams to increase comparability, transparency and alignment to course aims. We used a collaborative approach where stakeholders involved in test development, quality control, use and interpretation brought their experiences, skills, knowledge and needs to the table, following Taylor’s (2013) view of differentiated LAL needs for different stakeholders. The project involves teachers (varying in numbers), five course/assessment coordinators and three researchers with a background in assessment (principal researcher, two research assistants, i.e. the authors). LAL training is needs-based, participant-driven, and evaluated in regular intervals. In response to these participant evaluations, delivery, content and focus of the training are adjusted. We present insights from five evaluation points gained during the first 3 years. We found that the collaborative and responsive LAL project was perceived as useful and effective by the participants, leading to learning gains and positive changes in assessment, teaching and coordination practices. Our insights contribute to a better understanding of the conditions that are conducive to designing and delivering effective LAL development projects.

Evaluating & Approving CMT Test Questions

Getting an ISO/IEC 17024 testing accreditation for a Certified Metrology Technician is no trivial matter. Much like a 17025 accreditation, which we are all familiar with, 17024 has a long list of requirements and procedures in place to get accredited. Not only do you need to create testing criteria, but the results also have to be statistically evaluated for reliability and validity. Creating a test that is both valid and reliable is an extensive and robust process. A valid and reliable test will certify that the education and training have properly prepared the technician to take the test and the test accurately measures the competencies and standards set forth by the accreditation body. More importantly passing the test will show that a certified technician has the required knowledge and capacity to enter the metrology field. Ensuring the process is robust has several significant components and procedures that must be followed. Psychometricians are trained professionals that ensure the efficacy and integrity of certified tests are met and maintained. Psychometricians use quantitative data and analysis procedures to determine the reliability, validity, and fairness of an assessment measure. This paper will cover the 17024 requirements and how psychometricians evaluate tests for reliability and validity. Additionally, this paper will discuss the process to follow for creating test questions, assessing their quality, and developing rigorous assessment methods that align with accreditation standards and education content.

QMS external quality auditors’ education framework: findings from an iterative Delphi study

PurposeThe paper aims to describe the development of an open curriculum framework of external quality auditors (EQAs) education. The study was commissioned by accreditation body JAS-ANZ, with the objective of improving EQA audit performance, resulting in more effective audits that can add value to client organisations.Design/methodology/approachThe key sets of knowledge, skills and attributes that auditors should possess were identified from the literature and an initial survey, and validated through several rounds of experts' opinion using the Delphi technique. The Delphi panel consisted of: top managers; quality practitioners; academicians; quality auditors, consultants and managers; a financial auditor and other managers. Kendall's coefficient of concordance (Kendall's W) was used to measure the level of agreement of the experts' ranking scores.FindingsPanelists believed there is a need for EQAs to be more broadly grounded in certain knowledge, skills, and attributes. The knowledge requirements for EQAs were: audit principles, process and methods; quality management principles, system, and standards; risk management; business process and operations management; applicable legal, regulatory and contractual requirements; strategic planning; and performance measurement. EQAs need strong skills in communication, auditing, people relations, critical thinking, report writing, leadership, coaching and coordination. The attributes considered essential are objectivity, integrity, ethics and professionalism; being observant, perceptive, articulate and confident; having good judgement; being flexible, adaptive, diplomatic, fair and open-minded. Based on these outcomes, the curriculum framework of EQAs was developed.Originality/valueThis study highlights the core elements required in a syllabus to prepare EQAs for value-added auditing in the present and future. The educational framework can be adopted by accreditation and certification bodies to evaluate and improve their auditors' audit performance.

Applying Quality Function Deployment to the Design of Engineering Programs: Approaches, Insights and Benefits

Tertiary programs in a discipline such as engineering must balance the competing needs and requirements of two key stakeholders: the university that designs and delivers the program, and the professional body that accredits the program. Program and curriculum design in universities is traditionally rather bottom-up in nature, with courses designed by individual academics, and assembled into cognate programs. Graduate qualities and accreditation criteria are typically mapped retrospectively onto the program structure. Designing such programs from the top down, driven by the needs of the university and the accreditation body, is a desirable goal. However, without proper support tools, such a top-down design process, balancing competing needs across multiple courses and year levels, is a complex and rarely smooth task. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) was created, in the domain of product and system design, for this precise purpose. Treating the design of a tertiary program the same as the design of a system suggests that QFD, and the implementation tool known as the House of Quality (HoQ), should be ideally suited to this purpose. The aim of this paper is to show how QFD and the HoQ can be applied to the design of an engineering program, creating a specification that accurately reflects the voices of stakeholders, and serves as a benchmark for validating that these needs have been met in the implemented design.

Developing a hospital accreditation model: a Delphi study

Background Hospital accreditation (HA) is an external evaluation of a hospital’s structures, processes and results by an independent professional accreditation body using pre-established optimum standards. The Iranian hospital accreditation system faces several challenges. The overall aim of this study was to develop a model for Iran national hospital accreditation program. Methods This research uses the modified Delphi technique to develop and verify a model of hospital accreditation. The first draft of the HA model was introduced through a critical review of 20 pioneer accreditation models and semi-structured interviews with 151 key informants from Public, private, semi-public, charity and military hospitals in Iran. Three rounds of Delphi were conducted with 28 experts of hospital accreditation to verify the proposed model. Panel members were selected from authors of research articles and key speakers in the area of hospital accreditation, senior managers of the country’s health system, university professors in the fields of health policy and management across the country. Results A comprehensive model for hospital accreditation was introduced and verified in this study. The HA model has ten constructs of which seven are enablers (“Management and leadership”, “Planning”, “Education and Research”, “employee management”, “patient management”, “resource management”, and “process management”) and three are the results (“employee results”, “patient and society results” and “hospital results”). These constructs were further broken into 43 sub-constructs. The enablers and results scored 65 and 35% of the model’s total scores respectively. Then, about 150 accreditation standards were written and verified. Conclusions A comprehensive hospital accreditation model was developed and verified. Proper attention to structures, processes and outcomes and systemic thinking during the development of the model is one of the advantages of the hospital accreditation model developed in this study. Hospital accreditation bodies can use this model to develop or revise their hospital accreditation models.

THE SCOPE OF ACCREDITATION OF THE FORENSIC LABORATORY: THE CONCEPT AND PATTERNS OF CHANGE

The purpose of the research work is to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the «flexible» field of accreditation of forensic laboratories and the field of accreditation that has a rigid range. The development of standardization in forensic science, including the expansion of the number of forensic laboratories that build their activities in accordance with the requirements of the international standard GOST ISO/IEC 17025-2019 «General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories», encourages us to pay attention to this issue again. In the course of the study, the following conclusions were formulated. Insufficient clarity in defining the «flexible» scope of accreditation and differences in the understanding of its boundaries by the accreditation body, the forensic laboratory and the customer can lead to abuse by individual laboratories and the development of unfair competition. This argument in favor of abandoning the «flexible» field of accreditation for forensic laboratories seems to be much more weighty than the listed advantages of its practical application.