Browsing by Subject "Universities and colleges--Accreditation--Iowa"

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Academic Quality Improvement Project (AQIP), a new form of accreditation at Eastern Iowa Community College District: a qualitative analysis
(2003) Brua-Behrens, Nicole Susan; Roueche, John E.
Statement of the Problem: Accreditation is an imperfect and evolving system of quality and assessment for higher education and has been the subject of federal investigation and ridicule. Thus the Higher Learning Commission responded by creating the Academic Quality Improvement Project (AQIP), a modern form of accreditation designed to assist higher education with the quality assessment of programs and services to ensure student success. In seeking to understand the impact of AQIP on higher education accreditation, the researcher will explore the following questions: • How do administration, faculty, and professional staff view AQIP as compared with previous traditional accreditation practices? • How do the two views compare? • Is the mission of the institution affirmed and advanced by AQIP’s Quality Criteria? • Is each AQIP activity clearly linked to teaching and learning and its impact realized? • Is the district making use of external feedback that goes beyond the confines of its own experience and faculty? Methodology: A qualitative research method, Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA), was used to investigate the applicability and usefulness of a modern accreditation process. An IQA researcher’s task is to understand what is happening with the participants through observation, conversation, and interview. The proposed study included three focus groups and interviews. Findings: Three focus groups including administrators, faculty, and professional staff generated findings in regard to accreditation and AQIP. Most agreed AQIP is a process that is better suited to the culture of the institution but there was some disagreement on the level of involvement when compared to traditional regional accreditation. The impact of the first three-year cycle is difficult to determine, however, most agree there are residual impacts within the college including cross-district teams, the creation of common assessment procedures across the three colleges, and more faculty involvement in assessment. Analysis and Recommendations: Both faculty and administrators agree that the mission of the institution drives the entire accreditation system at the college with the overall outcome being the impact of accreditation. There seems to be a weakness with participation and the researcher recommends an AQIP training program as a remedy.