The Accreditation Team -- You and the WIDS Software!
How WIDS Supports Accreditation and Programmatic Certification
Preparing for an accreditation review can take months. The documentation accreditors see may be on a shared drive, in file cabinets, and in database records -- not at the fingertips of college staff overseeing the accreditation process. Needless to say, evidence of curriculum quality, effectiveness, and continuous improvement requires a team: personnel overseeing accreditation, a curriculum management process and tool like WIDS!
Each accreditor or certifying body distributes the requirements for educational quality and continuous improveme
nt across criteria or core component categories. And while the titles of the categories and criteria and the exact distribution of the requirements within the categories vary by accreditor/certifying body, the evidence required to meet the requirements consistently centers around the answers to these questions:
- Do you have clearly identified learning outcomes?
- Is your curriculum transparent and easily accessible to all internal and external stakeholders?
- Is your core curriculum consistent across the institution?
- Can you document a continuous quality improvement approach to teaching and learning?
- Does your curriculum integrate institutional goals, program outcomes, external standards and course competencies?
- Do you have documented curriculum review cycles?
- Do you consistently evaluate learning outcomes?
- Do you document connections between learning outcomes and assessment results?
- What is your evidence of assessment data applied to programmatic and institutional improvement and planning?
- Are faculty involved in curriculum development, improvement and assessment planning?
How WIDS Helps You Meet the Requirements
Generating the documentation for an accreditation review is easy with WIDS. Develop and align curriculum, plan for curriculum review, and design and plan for outcomes assessment. Once all of your curriculum is in WIDS, you can print reports needed for reviewers. It’s an efficient way to meet the requirements and simultaneously generate the documentation you need. Here are some examples of the kinds of evidence WIDS generates:
Requirement
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WIDS Feature
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Accreditation Evidence
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Document Outcomes
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Define institution-wide, program and course outcomes using the performance-based learning design approach.
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Generate reports detailing program-level outcomes for internal and external stakeholders.
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Create Uniform Syllabi
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Create syllabi that contain consistent college-wide information as well as course-specific information.
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Document syllabus changes by using the syllabus archiving feature. Generate syllabus history reports.
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Align Outcomes and External Requirements
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Align program outcomes and external standards across the curriculum.
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Generate reports and matrices showing the relationship between outcomes and external standards.
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Map Outcomes
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Determine where outcomes are taught and assessed across a program or across the institution.
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Generate matrices detailing where outcomes are introduced, practiced, and assessed within a program and across an institution.
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Curriculum Review
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Retrieve versions of the curricula and record evidence of reviewer feedback.
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Document the curriculum review process and generate reports detailing the history (archive) and status of programs and courses including faculty feedback.
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Design Assessments
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Create rubrics that directly align to competencies, outcomes, and external standards.
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Generate reports detailing the specific link between the outcomes and the assessed learning.
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Plan Outcome Assessments
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Develop assessment plans and define standards for student success.
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Generate assessment result reports. Use the resulting data to apply continuous quality improvement practices to improving teaching and learning.
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Document Curriculum Improvement Projects
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Create program effectiveness and continuous improvement plans. Use curriculum mapping and assessment planning to determine where gaps in student learning exist.
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Use the Outcome Assessment Plan to document improvement strategies and close the assessment loop.
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WIDS will be exhibiting at the SACS Conference December 3-4, 2017. Stop by our booth for sample documentation and a tour of our software. Download our latest resource article too -- WIDS Software - A Solution for SACSCOC Accreditation.
For more information about how WIDS Curriculum Management System supports accreditation contact us for a free demonstration of our software.
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