Course Quality Starts with Knowing Its C-Index

Abstract

Every university strives to provide high quality educational programs and ultimately to produce excellent graduates from those programs. In order to be confident that the programs are of an appropriate level, a substantial amount of effort is given to conducting quality assurance exercises that include an examination of course programs and assessments, student performances, industry consultation, and benchmarking against other similar institutions and courses. The processes involved are qualitative and judgmental in nature since there is currently no agreed metric that can contribute effectively to improving the assessment of quality in degree courses. This paper examines the use of an approach that is based on the analysis of learning outcome statements proposed for the subjects comprising degree programs. The analysis and subsequent calculations enable course profiles for those degrees to be determined. The resultant profiles allow quantitative comparisons to be made on the degree courses prior to any review of course output artifacts. The approach described uses the SOLO Taxonomy as an integral part of the determination of a value that is used as an indicator of the educational rigour or cognitive demands expected in the degree course. This is labelled the C-Index. The innovative concept of converting what were previously only qualitative assessments into quantitative metrics in this manner enables the expansion of our understanding of course quality approaches. The benefits of applying this approach are that it assists with the production of course profiles, facilitates the comparisons of courses, and therefore enhances benchmarking processes by potentially providing baseline data for course accreditations.