Continuous Quality Improvement: State Legislation

Beginning in 2013-14, the three universities governed by the Board of Regents are directed by the Legislature to implement continuous quality improvement in all courses with annual enrollments of greater than 300 students in one or multiple sections and to provide documentation of continuous improvement efforts. The legislation can be found at this link (2013 Iowa Code​, Item #36).

Note that in additional years, courses with an enrollment of 200 (Fall 2014) or more and then of 100 or more (Fall 2015) will be added to the reporting list. In Fall 2016, all courses with enrollments of 100 students or more will require the annual reporting of improvement strategies.

Based on 2012-13 enrollments, courses in the College that fall under this legislation have been identified for the 2013 report.

A spreadsheet provides this list of courses under the Courses tab, with most departments having one to six courses on the list. Simply check the strategy chosen by the department for each course with its administrative home in the corresponding department. Strategies to be selected from include the following but others may be added to the list:

  • Faculty review of student work during the course
  • Faculty evaluation of student performance in subsequent courses
  • Faculty review of student cohort in multiple courses
  • Faculty review of student ratings items related to course outcomes
  • Faculty Course Assessment Report
  • Faculty review of midterm and final grade distribution
  • Department monitoring of DFW rates

The Strategies tab on the spreadsheet provides brief definitions of these strategies as identified on the checklist.​ There is also an Instructions tab with guidelines for completing the checklist.

Each department and the appropriate instructors or the department's curriculum committee must choose one or more strategies for courses on the list. Those choices should be marked on the checklist and emailed to the office of Associate Dean Cornelia Lang by the deadline of October 15. The file title must include the departmental name and the acronym CQI.

In addition to documentation of strategies for each course, the College must annually provide 2-4 brief narrative examples of ways that information collected through continuous improvement has been used to make revisions in a course. These examples will be included in the UI Report to the Board of Regents, along with the summary of continuous improvement strategies that are in use.

If you have a narrative example that you would like the College to include in its report, please add it to the email that you send to the College. Narratives should be no longer than a very short paragraph.

At the end of the academic year, The University of Iowa will provide the Board of Regents with an aggregate summary of continuous improvement strategies in use, along with examples of ways the information has been put to use. The attached form shows how the Regents will view this aggregate information. (Please use the above spreadsheet for your department's report to the College.)

Questions may be addressed to Associate Dean Cornelia Lang, CLAS Undergraduate Programs, or Wayne Jacobson, Director, Assessment.

 

 

 

 

 

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