Course and program review

An integral part of the planning, accreditation and review process for academic programs is the Course and Program Review (CPR) process. USQ Policy Section 7.5.1 makes specific reference to each course being evaluated/monitored once each year it is offered, along with program mid-cycle reviews, i.e. a review midway through the program accreditation life-span.

The CPR is a diagnostic tool for continuous quality improvement of courses and programs purposes.   It aims to:

• Promote reflection on teaching and learning practice
• Identify and share good practice
• Trace trend data about student load, retention, progression, student satisfaction, student results
• Identify areas for improvement in program design, delivery and evaluation
• Facilitate the continuous monitoring of program quality as well as viability and sustainability

Course Quality Review

It is expected that each course is reviewed annually after its main semester of offer. 

1. Course Examiner meets with course team within approximately three weeks of release of grades (i.e. post Board of Examiners)
   
2. Course team as part of the (end part of the) moderation process uses the course review template, which is pre-populated by PQO with data about student grade distribution and student satisfaction with the course. This is to add qualitative commentary about: student performance, satisfaction, learning and teaching and moderation practices; along with examples of good practice and suggested actions for improving learning experiences.
   
3. Program Coordinator/Head of School/Discipline receives and provides a brief overall summary for all courses reviewed in a given semester commenting inter alia on:
   • anomalies in different student cohorts¹ grade distribution
   • percentage of passes and fails overall
   • student satisfaction overall
   • good teaching practices
   • issues/areas for improvement 
     
4. Semester reviews are provided as relevant to Associate Dean L & T and Associate Dean Academic for attention by Faculty Teaching Committee through to Faculty Board. 

Program Quality Review

It is expected that each program is reviewed at minimum every three years. Program reviews may be conducted more frequently at the request of the Dean.

1. Program Coordinator/Head of School/Discipline meets with program/discipline/major team and uses the program review template pre-populated by PQO with data about student retention, progression and satisfaction. This is to add qualitative commentary about the latter as well as teaching and learning practices and benchmarking activities.
   
2. The action plans from the course reviews are also used to inform actions needed to enhance program design and delivery; and monitor the viability and sustainability of the program.
   
3. Program reviews are provided as relevant to the Associate Dean Learning and Teaching and the Associate Dean Academic for attention by the Faculty Teaching Committee and the Faculty Academic Committee; through to Faculty Board, relevant Academic Board sub-committees and Academic Board.

Course and program review templates

• Course review template (PDF* 93kb)
• Program review template (PDF* 108kb)

*This file is in Portable Document Format (PDF) which requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader. A free copy of Acrobat Reader may be obtained from Adobe .