The University Board has stipulated that all courses and programs at the University of Oslo shall have a quality assurance system which promotes and ensures high quality in the programs/courses that are offered. The quality system for assessment of studies shall contribute to the realization of goals for the educational activities and learning environment.
Work with quality assurance at IPED includes course evaluations, program evaluations and work with following-up on feedback received in connection with running the courses. Courses are to be evaluated each time they are held.
The head of studies, administrative manager and the person in charge of quality assurance administration at IPED work closely together following up on maintaining the quality of studies throughout the year.
Roles and responsibilities in the quality assurance system
Here you will find an overview of roles and responsibilities in the quality assurance system at IPED, which is based on the routines UV faculty has for quality assurance (in Norwegian). In addition, IPED has a supplementary overview of the departmental bodies that are involved in managing and administrating the department.
Department head
As described by the faculty, responsibilities for the department head regarding working with the quality of studies are as follows (in Norwegian).
Head of studies
IPED has described the role of head of studies as follows (in Norwegian). This is in addition to what you will find in UiO's system description.
Program council
In addition to the faculty's description of the program council (in Norwegian), the program council for studies at IPED deals with the academic framework, important priorities and arrangements for quality assurance and development of the programs.
As described in UIO?s system description, the role of program manager at IPED is divided between the head of studies and the level coordinator.
Level coordinator - master
IPED describes the role and responsibilities of a level coordinator as follows (in Norwegian). The level coordinator plays an important role in working with program evaluations at IPED. The head of studies is in charge of the evaluation work and involves the level coordinator in the process.
As mentioned above, the role of program manager, as described in the system description, is divided between the head of studies and the level coordinator.
Course coordinator
In addition to the items listed in UiO's system description, IPED has described the course coordinators' role in connection with quality assurance of the courses offered as follows.
Student administration
The department assigns the role of quality assurance administration at IPED to a member of the student administration. This person plays an important role in the practical implementation and facilitation of collaborative work regarding upholding quality assurance of courses being held. This person works closely with the head of studies and the administrative Manager.
The person in charge of quality assurance administration at IPED holds an important coordinating role in regards to implementing and following up course and program evaluations.
After the program council has reviewed the course evaluations, the student administration consultants will familiarize themselves with these and assist course managers with necessary changes in line with current routines and deadlines.
All course evaluations are published on UV's local web solution, making them easily accessible to students, applicants, course coordinators and other interested parties.
Student representative
IPED has student representatives in the following forums
- The elections committee (IPED)
- The program council
- The department board
- Admissions committees
In addition to this, the academic committee at IPED (in Norwegian) meets regularly with the departmental management group.
The purpose is to promote students' joint participation.
Implementation
Quality assessment is addressed as a separate topic In the extended meeting of the faculty`s academic affairs committee (in Norwegian). The head of studies at IPED participates in the meeting, informing the committee about our work with quality assurance of the programs/courses offered, what steps have been taken, and plans for the future.
Course evaluation
The purpose of the evaluation is to allow students to provide feedback on course information, teaching activities and learning processes as well as assessing the need for adjustments during the duration of the course. In line with UiO's quality system, the course coordinator is responsible for following up feedback in the evaluations. Course coordinators must adapt the time for the evaluation so that ongoing dialogue and feedback along the way are possible.
All course evaluations must be summarized in a short report. If you wish to include statistics of attendance, grades etc, you can find them in IPED`s internal web page (in Norwegian), or in Tableau (in Norwegian) if you want to find the information yourself. I
The summary is sent to the Program Council for review. If the summary cannot be published online in its entirety, it is possible to add custom text for online publication.
See UIO`s internal web page for course evaluation and toolbox for student evaluation (in Norwegian).
Suggestions for conducting course evaluations
- Preparation
- First lecture: Prepare the students to take responsibility for their own learning by e.g. evaluating and providing feedback in terms of teaching. Evaluating courses each semester may be new to the students!
- Ensure dialogue and feedback during the semester
- Example: Dialogue and clarification of expectations. Include the main features of this in the summary. See the toolbox for student evaluation (in Norwegian).
- Need for additional feedback?
- Assess whether there is a need to include additional waypoints (e.g. conversations, evaluations, clarifications of expectations) during the semester. Do the student representatives have anything to report back on behalf of the students?
- Course evaluation
- The course coordinator is responsible for the course evaluation and writing a summary. Important aspects: assessment of the correlation between the course's learning outcomes, teaching methods and organization, learning environment, work effort, activation and the course coordinator's own reflections.
- Brief summary
- The course coordinator writes a brief summary (in Norwegian). The administrative contact person informs about the deadline. See IPED's internal web page for subject statistics (in Norwegian) or Tableau (in Norwegian).
- Lastly
- The summary is reviewed in the program council meeting. It is then published on UV's collection page for course evaluations. Changes are followed up by the course coordinator.
Program evaluation
Within a six-year period, an evaluation of the entirety of each program shall be carried out. IPED aims to start the evaluation work four years after the previous evaluation so that the evaluation is completed within six years.
Below is an overview of completed, ongoing and future program evaluations.
Bachelor in Pedagogy | Master in Pedagogy | Master in Education |
---|---|---|
2021 (in Norwegian) | 2022 | 2025 - 2027 |
2025 - 2027 | 2026 - 2028 | |
2031 - 2033 | 2032 - 2034 |
For information about requirements and guidelines regarding UIO?s periodical program evaluation, click here (in Norwegian):
Previous program evaluations
Bachelor in Pedagogy: 2006 (in Norwegian) (self-evaluation), 2007 (in Norwegian) (external evaluation), 2011 (in Norwegian), 2020 (in Norwegian) (self-evaluation)
Useful websites
- Quality assurance system for the educational activities at the University of Oslo
- UiO's Quality System for educational activities (internal web page) (in Norwegian)
- The UV faculty's strategy and plans (in Norwegian)
- UV's strategy and plans with additions for IPED (in Norwegian)
- Toolbox for student evaluations (in Norwegian)
- Publish online form on Canvas (in Norwegian)
- Course evaluation system CES (in Norwegian)