Quality Enhancement Plan
GOAL 1
GOAL 1: The Division of Academic Affairs and Student Services will ensure that every element of online instruction is of the highest quality for all parties involved.
The first goal of the Central Virginia Community College Quality Enhancement Plan serves as a succinct statement of purpose for the entire enterprise. The focus of CVCC's QEP is online courses, and the primary goal of this effort is to ensure that the institution establishes the necessary ways and means to validate the quality of our existing web-based classes, to see that these courses remain of the highest quality, and to establish the requisite policies and procedures to foster the same standard of quality in subsequent online course offerings.
The Division for Academic Affairs and Student Services is responsible for the delivery of all the credit courses the College offers including the online classes. The responsibility for the bulk of the QEP lies within this division. As the discussion below will illustrate, however, other areas of the College must also be involved as determined by their functions and the aims of this QEP.
Objective 1: Year One: Develop a clear organizational structure that governs how online courses are developed, delivered, and evaluated and communicate the structure to the college community.
This objective is first for very deliberate reasons. It was felt among the four subcommittees and agreed to by the Leadership Committee that one of the primary obstacles to the fulfillment of the College's QEP is the current rather diffuse organization regarding online classes. CVCC has in place most of the pieces to realize the goal of developing and delivering online courses of the highest quality, but these pieces are currently housed in various divisions of the institution and stand in need of some redefinition and/or realignment.
The following example illustrates this point. Each of the three academic divisions is responsible for the content of each online course just as each academic division is responsible for the content of courses taught in the traditional classroom. However, while each academic division is responsible for the assessment of all the traditional courses in its bailiwick, the assessment of online courses resided with the former Instructional Technologist who was part of the IT division. This objective has as its purpose to resolve matters like this one.
It may seem paradoxical when stated in this fashion, but the foundation of the QEP rests at the top. That is, the process of realizing the goals of the College regarding online instruction initially begins with a newly-articulated organizational structure. This structure needs to be in place first to make clear to everyone connected with online instruction where specific responsibilities lie and to define necessary lines of authority. As a result, this challenge is due to be completed in the first year of the project.
Objective 2: Year Three through Five: As a result of an annual review by the Director of Research Assessment and Planning and an appropriate advisory group, revise the organizational structure governing online courses as recommended and approved.
While the purpose of this objective is obvious on the face of it, its inclusion is important. Because the organizational structure of this project is essential to the implementation of the rest of the Quality Enhancement Plan and thus the continuing success of online instruction, the College realizes that adjustments to this organizational structure may be required to insure that online instruction and its associated processes and procedures remain of the highest quality. Equally important is how any necessary adjustments might be implemented. Involving the Director of Research Assessment and Planning insures that quantifiable data be a part of the process. Sometimes, it doesn't matter what the opinions are around the table; it's the data that matter. Involving the advisory group, however, insures that the human element is also included in the decision-making process.
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