Educational program description grid

The grid should help you structure a description of an educational program, e.g. as a planning aid. You can add other criteria or adapt it to your context.

(Draft version)

Items | Project description

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Meta Data
Project name  |
Authors of this document  |
Author information  |
Status of the document (Version + date, draft, etc.)  |
Name of the project  |
Structural and organizational and economic aspects
Can you describe the history of the project ?

* When was it created and why?

In which structure is the project located?

* what dependencies with respect to these structures in terms of constraints, dynamics, etc.?
* A university, an inter-university network?
* Are there partnerships with actors from the economic and social world?
* Does the project rely on existing formal or non-formal, face-to-face or remote networks?

Who do you think are all the actors involved?

* What are their tasks, functions, roles? Do we have a clear definition of each of these roles and tasks?
* How are the relations between the different actors organised? Do these actors all work in the same structure? If not, in which structures?
* Can you provide a project organization chart and number of people by category?

How is the program managed?

* By whom?

* Can you provide an organigram ?

Financial aspects:

* What are the financing methods?
* What is its feasibility?

* is the project a response to market demands?
* What are the additional costs induced by the project (if it extends or transforms a current project) ?
* What is the breakdown between fixed and variable costs?
* Can the project ultimately be self-financing? If so, in what proportion?

Individual variables

* What are the major characteristics of the different actors, both individually and as a group?

* Are their expectations, needs, designs and project supported?

Certification

* What type of certification (or not) is used ?

Pedagogical aspects
Is there a vision statement ? Can you describe it ?

* Can you summarize it or reproduce it ?

What are the main learning objectives at the program level ?

* List the items
* Are they related to a vision statement ?

What is the type of program ?

* E.g. informal continuous training, formal continuous training, master program,

Is there as preferred pedagogic strategy, instructional design model (or least a preferred type of educational scenario) ? Or several ?

* E.g. Direct instruction, problem-based learning, project-based learning

Is there a preferred learning theory ? Or several ?

* E.g. Cognitivsm

Do learners have the opportunity to negotiate their training path?  |
How is the training organized over time? where is the training held?  |
What are the human and material resources used?

* E.g. teachers, tutors, advisors
* Are they regular staff or adjuncts / temporary.

* Where do they come from?

What types of learning materials exist ?

* Textbooks, online textbooks, online hypertext, video, multimedia presentations, interactive multimedia, ....
* Which are open ?
* Are textbook materials available in several formats, e.g. for offline reading

What is the nature of the tasks required from the learners?

* Assignements
* Other participation
* Classes, ....

Are learning activities defined as coherent scenarios ?

* If so, are you using some king of design language or templates/forms ?

How is collaborative work integrated into the system?

* Is group work present?
* Are there collective activities

How is learning assessed?

* If yes, are there general guidelines ?
* What is used in different classes ?

What type of learner support exists for courses ? (see also tutoring structure)

* Help Forums ?
* Guidelines ?
* On-boarding activities ?
* Community tools ?
* Instant messaging ?

What activities are carried out in presence and remotely?  |
What are the particularities related to the practices and culture of the particular subject areas of the program ?

* Tools, procedures, epistemologies, didactics?

Learning environment
List of the technical components (servers) and their version (E.g. Moodle 4.0, Mediawiki 1.35)  |
What features are used? These are of course related to pedagogic choice.

* spaces for communication and collaboration,
* resource tools;
* support tools for various types of activities (debates, projects, case studies, research, etc.);
* group work support tools;
* support tools for the active participation of learners (social presence, informal communication);
* reflexivity support tools.

What place is reserved for distance and how does this relate to presence?

* What are the different constraints due to organizational hybridization?
* What is the share of pedagogical and non-pedagogical tasks in the environment?
* How is the collaboration and division of labor between the actors organized?

Is there a formal tutoring structure and activities ?

* Is there a teacher ? If so, does he engage in tutoring and how much
* Are there tutors ? How much man power / participant ?
* Other ?

Quality assessment, innovation and change management |
Is there a global quality assessment and innovation strategy ?  |
Is internal program regulation (self-evaluation and action) formally provided for?

* How does it happen?
* According to what criteria? Is there a quality assessment manual ?
* What changes were already made in the past ?

Who participates in quality assessment cycles, in innovation and change processes ?

* Do learners participate ?
* Faculty
* Quality officer(s)
* External agency
* Other ?

How do you see the consistency (convergence) between objectives, means implemented through the program, design of the program and evaluation criteria?

* Also called alignment

How are the interactions between the different actors taken into account?

* Are there bodies where the program (or elements of it) are discussed
* Who takes decisions ?

Political, cultural, ideological and contextual aspects
Is the project wanted or supported by the political authorities? Institutional? Managers of your companies?

* In what way?
* Is it part of an explicit policy?
* Does it respond to a mandate emanating directly from political power?

Cultural factors

* Are there social or cultural practices that constrain program design ?
* What socio-linguistic practices does the program have to consider ?

Regulatory environment

* What are the factors that could enable or hinder program development and implementation ?

What values ​​does the program promote?

* what type of knowledge is promoted by the program?
* What type of citizen do we want to form?

<add specific HEiE variables here> |
To conclude…
How would you qualify your system and its role in your professional context?

* Does it correspond to what is being done in this context? Is it innovative? If so, in what aspects?
* What aspects are innovative for you in your role?

* * *