This note is not about the per term planning, monitoring, review, and adjustment activities associated with a course. It is also not about the big program level reviews that might touch a course. This is about a serious, in-depth review of a course, every three to four years.
A course sits within a program or set of course offerings. Just like we assume that all students can get an A in our course until they prove otherwise, we make similar assumptions about a course.
We assume that...
Lots of assumptions, but that is the starting point. This covers most of the who, what, where, when, why, and how dimensions. When looking at a course holistically. Because it is in a program framework, there are also implicit assumptions about appropriate vertical and horizontal integration; when feasible and reasonable. There are other implied assumptions as well, the overall design of a course covers material, assessments, tutorials, labs, etc. Lots and lots of moving pieces and assumptions.
For each assumption, there are attributes and qualities that can be delved into, possibly measured, and possibly used in a comparative analysis. The big question of course: “is the course fulfilling its ‘contract’ and delivering what is required in an acceptable way?”. Having reviews and being accountable is all part of being professional and responsible for delivering what you are being paid to deliver.
It does not mean that everything is standardized, turned into a bureaucratic mess, etc. There is usually not one right way to do something. However, there is a solid body of work about mistakes and what should not be done and these should be the focus of the review; not fitting into a box. It should be about delivering the goods to the desired level. It should be about using the science of learning, education, and cognitive skill and expertise acquisition. It is not about ‘I think xxx is better’; unless you can back xxx up with science. These factors do not infringe on academic freedom or your individual choices. However, these factors do impact if your are an amateur or if you are a professsional (Zimmerman 2020).