How can you follow up in and assure that the students are taught what is given in the learning outcome? How can one ensure quality abilities in the learning outcome? Karlstad Business School proceeds to enlighten programmes and examination for main areas and to see, in what way, you can value and asses that the students take along the knowledge and abilities which is the aim of the programmes.
Marie-Therese Christianson, deputy head, is coordinating this project, which a step towards future accreditation according to AACSB standards:
-The big profit is that we jointly, within the entire Business School, develop a long-term quality system to follow up on that which is of use to know – what adds a value to us, our programmes and our students.
The startup meeting with the programme leaders took place during the fall with the support from the Educational unit at the University. The purpose was to give a background to the process, what the aim is and to concretely get started to systematically work with assessment criteria in the follow up. A forum for exchange in experience, joint teaching and support for programme leaders and teachers has also been established, both in digitally and physicllay.
Advantages with matrix
-We have embraced the structure that the AACSB is offering, define what it means for us and adjusting the working way so that it gives us the biggest possible use. We notice that we have a great advantage of having developed educational matrix for most of the programmes. We will proceed with developing course matric to be able to match the learning outcome to the course moment and examination. This is something that most teachers are already working with to get a view over each course that the different aims are being treated and examined.
Karlstads Business School's overall mission and motto has been turned in a number of abilities that the student is supposed to show when it is time for examination. These will go under to collective name Professional Skills that now will be more clearly implemented in all education at the Business School.
-We say that, for example, we are educating responsible leaders. With that we mean an individual that applies a leadership for their own part and others in profession and society, meaning not necessarily as a manager. Our values are about sustainable perspective for the society, economy and environment – something that need to be turned in concrete criteria that can be valued. Furthermore, we mean that the knowledge should be connected to the ability to be able to use it. All in all, we have turned the aim in different abilities, for instance critical thinking, leadership abilities and communicational skills, Marie-Therese Christiansson informs.
Programme leader council and section council
Co-workers in working groups have developed suggestions on the abilities as education at the Business School is to be characterized by. Programme leaders have handed in suggestions on which courses it is appropriate to follow up on the students results in the different abilities. At the starts of the semester the programme leaders gathered again for an exchange in experience and to take the next step.
-We tried to do oral presentation and test the student’s ability to communicate and present in a course in statistics. Many students have given us positive feedback and feel that it is good to get a clear feedback on that ability also, and not just the theoretical knowledge. That is also a common situation once they enter the working life – to be able to present statistics with credibility and comprehensibility, says Dan Larsson who together with the colleague Anders Walfridsson have chosen to apply the working way within statistics.
-Apart from being able to give the students feedback on practical moment and reach a clearer ground to communicate grade, it is also an advantage to get a foundation to consensus within the teaching team what the students should know within the course moment and examination, especially when it comes to transitioning between teachers and the introduction of new ones. The result of the measurement will give a concrete basis on what needs to be improved within a programme and also to lift those parts where we can work with overall institutional solutions, Marie-Therese Christiansson states.
Now during an implementation phase, the selected abilities are being tested along with the programme leaders, teachers, students and representative in economy and business.
