Program Assessment Specialist

Overview:
Program Assessment Specialist (PAS) monitors the outcomes-based undergraduate and graduate program curriculum of the Systems Design Engineering (SYDE) department by collecting various sources of quantitative and qualitative data, facilitating faculty collaboration, and operating various online database systems for student use. The PAS serves the same functions as the Graduate Attribute Lecturers from other departments and coordinates with the Associate Dean’s office to represent the SYDE department in Faculty-wide accreditation. The PAS prepares the written reports, data and documentation for external evaluations. This position recommends improvements and changes for advancing curriculum and co-curricular activities including co-op. The PAS advises faculty on obtaining their licensure as a professional engineer. In addition to accreditation responsibilities, this position also oversees program scheduling for all SYDE undergraduate and graduate courses.

**Responsibilities**:
Development of graduate attributes and associated assessment
- Represents SYDE at all departmental and faculty level meetings related to outcome-based assessment and accreditation activities. Presents SYDE’s program assessments and activities and brings Faculty information back to department leadership
- Develops and applies tracking methodologies and systems to ensure accreditation compliance
- Maps graduate attributes across the curriculum to Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) report requirements through analyzing data, including preparing charts and graphs, and maps results
- Mentors faculty on graduate attributes and teaches new faculty how to measure graduate attributes in their courses
- Works with faculty and instructors to identify assessment opportunities and to recommend curriculum changes across multiple courses
- Reviews syllabi and advises faculty on required and outcome-based content for engineering courses. Maintains and updates department-wide standard syllabus content
- Establishes benchmarks and tools to measure performance against accreditation standards in partnership with the Associate Chair, Undergraduate Studies and BME Program Director
- Researches and produces meaningful data and supporting documentation to meet the decision-making needs of the academic unit
- Collects and critically analyzes data on student performance and presents recommendations for program improvement to the Department’s leadership and program committees (graduate and undergraduate)
- Develops and implements a variety of assessments for undergraduate and graduate programs, including student surveys, beginning of term and end of term surveys, analyzes data, ensures quality control, and reports results. This includes independent design and pretesting of survey instruments
- Teams with the graduate office staff to develop and assess components on the co-curricular professional development programs of the graduate programs (seminars, workshops, professional skills courses). Assesses student satisfaction and tracks data on graduate student performance
- Manages program specific resources used to collect information including SharePoint sites and databases
- Conducts statistical analysis of student learning outcomes with accuracy
- Creates new software tools with database and file management software to collect course outlines, samples, and final exams for accreditation from faculty

Coordination of accreditation process
- Manages planning and host responsibilities for external site visits for CEAB and IQAP. Presents program assessment to visitors for undergraduate program
- Collects and prepares all materials required for CEAB and IQAP submissions (electronic and paper) with the support of the Academic Services Coordinators
- Prepares the accreditation reports (Exhibit 1) for CEAB and IQAP
- Prepares the main report for accreditation (the Questionnaire) and IQAP self-study with the Associate Chair/Director

Scheduling
- Manages undergraduate schedule for up to 7 cohorts per term and graduate schedule taking into considerations class size, location, lecture style, instructor constraints and their multiple teaching tasks
- Acts as the main point of contact with other engineering departments for cross-listed/co-held with courses to ensure mínimal conflicts for upper-year offerings
- Liaise with instructors with special requests and notify them of changes
- Create undergraduate exam and mid-term schedules
- Advises and provides solution to course scheduling and exam conflicts
- Liaise with AccessAbility Services regarding special exam arrangements for students dealing with special circumstances
- Independently develops centralized schedule to be input into Registrar’s online scheduling system taking into account all the constraints (ie room availability, class size, conflicts between core courses and electives)
- Schedules alternative locations for hands-on active learning when activities cannot be undertaken in stan