Academic Quality Enhancement at NIC

Post-secondary institutions provide access to and offer quality student learning experiences. Quality student learning contributes to social, cultural, and economic prosperity of the region, province, and country. Post-secondary education supports the growth and enhancement of the country’s workforce, drives creativity, innovation, and community engagement, and produces academic and applied research.

Reflective Practices

Discipline-educated and experienced instructors are hired to engage learners in rich and diverse learning opportunities while providing ongoing feedback on their progress and scaffolding ongoing learning. Instructors, along with supports from other departments and institutional leadership, continually engage in ongoing reflective practices to ensure the learning experiences are meeting the needs of the learners and their communities.

These reflective practices include, but are not limited to, the gathering of evidence of student success, obtaining student input on what is helping or hindering learning, scanning recent research literature and discipline-specific pedagogies, and reviewing information about how the program and/or courses are structured and delivered. These practices also include engaging in peer observations and dialogue, engaging with program advisory committees a few times a year, attending discipline articulation meetings, surveying, and conducting focus groups with current and past students, community members, employers, and current instructors.

Reflective practices help ensure all academic programs: a) align with the NIC’s mission, values, and strategic plans; b) remain coherent, rigorous, and relevant; c) are making the best use of resources available to them; d) engage in continuous improvement based on empirical evidence and collegial judgement and e) draw upon and enhance existing strengths at NIC. These reflective practices are part of ‘quality enhancement’.

Quality Enhancement

The term ‘quality enhancement’ is a preferred term over the term ‘quality assurance’ because it more accurately represents where the focus of reflective practices should be as situated. Quality enhancement sits between internal and external quality assurance (accountability) mechanisms (e.g., internal policies and program review process and external activities like the Quality Assurance Process Audit that are more focused on accountability and ensuring ongoing systematic reviews and reflections) and on-the-ground program and course-focused quality improvement actions done by faculty (e.g., improving courses, redesigning a program, enhancing student learning experiences). If the sole focus is on quality assurance mechanisms and summative / accountability approaches, then there is a disconnect and lack of buy-in from faculty as to how this impacts their courses, programs and the improvement of curricula and program components via a more formative approach.

The definition of quality and what academic quality programming looks like varies for disciplines, the context in which it is used and what phases or stages one is at in the quality enhancement process. In a nutshell, quality means student learning is current, relevant, timely, aligned with learning outcomes, community, and student needs, and produces meaningful engagements and demonstrations of learning that give students confidence and competencies to be successful beyond the classroom.

NIC takes a strengths-based, discipline-situated, reflective, and ground-up approach by advancing and strengthening the quality of teaching and learning across the institution while harmoniously integrating the required quality assurance and accountability pieces. This approach prevents a topdown, reactive, “we have to do this” culture, but rather create a forward-thinking, collaborative culture of ongoing enhancement of student learning experiences that builds awareness and competencies across the campus community.

NIC strives to use efficient and effective ways of engaging programs and program areas with curriculum mapping and analysis activities, program and course learning outcome updating, evidence gathering activities and reflections about pedagogical practices without always referencing, labelling, or referring to required quality assurance policies, processes, and reviews.

For a comprehensive look at  NIC’s quality assurance process, specifically Program Review, along with available completed reports for various departments, please visit:

• The Academic Quality Enhancement page on the NIC website
• The NIC Program Review Process SharePoint site.

Program Review

The program review process is authorized by the Vice-President, Academic, supported by the dean, managed by the director, Centre for Teaching and Learning Innovation, and undertaken and led by the faculty through a collaborative, evidence-based reflection of a program’s quality including teaching and assessment practices, content, student learning experiences, community relationships, etc. It is part of academic quality enhancement and the ongoing process of ensuring quality student learning experiences.

Program review is an ongoing and systematic inquiry process whereby departments and support areas reflect on the strengths of the educational programs and identify areas for enhancement. This process engages all participants in an evidence-based assessment of how well programs and departments are providing the best possible experiences for student learning. Program review is just one of many activities departments should be undertaking to ensure academic quality.

Program review is part of an ongoing curriculum renewal and review process whereby all learning experiences are continually assessed regarding how best to provide for the needs of learners, communities and align with the directions of the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills. More info

BEFORE PROGRAM REVIEW

Prior to beginning program review, a department must first complete several departmental identity activities. These are summarized in the graphic below:

WHY PROGRAM REVIEW

All credentialed programs at NIC will undergo a program review every 5-7 years and typically take 1-2 years to complete the review. Ultimately the goal is to identify areas of strength and areas of potential enhancement that leads to quality student learning.

The overall process of program review includes the following:

1. Identify what is working well in the program area
2. Outline what needs enhancement or improvement
3. Obtain feedback and gather data
4. Develop a set of action items
5. Undertake the work to complete those items
6. Report on the progress of the action items
7. Continue to gather feedback and reflect on the program

DURING PROGRAM REVIEW

There are 6 phases that programs will step through to complete program review. Each phase is faculty led with the guidance of the CTLI director and input from support areas.

The six phases include:

Each phase is detailed on the NIC Program Review Process SharePoint site.

To view the completed reports from departments that have gone through / are going through program review, visit the Completed Reports page of the SharePoint site.