Assessment Committee Visit Guidelines for Higher Education Institutions

1. Reviewvisit Heli Mattisen 23.-24.02.2016

2. General • Visit to one HEI – 1-3 days • Committee has a working room where, among others, pre-requested documents/materials • Reflection slots between interviews (incl. lunch and coffee breaks) • Duration of interviews 30-60 min • Recommended: not to have more than 6 interviewees at a time • Final meeting to staff and students: presentation of preliminary conclusions (without questions/discussion)

3. Rightsoftheassessmentcommittee • access statutes and normative documents which provide for and govern the activities of the higher education institution and its structural units; • interview employees and students of the higher education institution at the choice of experts; • access information related to teaching, learning and students; educational materials; and the study information system; • access information related to the teaching staff concerning their CVs, work load, methodological work and research activities;

4. Rightsoftheassessmentcommittee (cont.) • examine the internal quality assurance system of teaching and learning; • examine the condition of the infrastructure of the higher education institution; • access subject syllabuses/programmes as well as instructional documents related to the content of teaching and learning; • access students’ final papers; • access information related to financial activities of the higher education institution; • visit any forms of contact learning (lectures, seminars, laboratory work, etc.).

5. Beforethevisit • examine documents regulating accreditation and completeassessment training provided; • review the self-evaluation report of HEI, pre-fill in the assessment reportaccording to the tasks divided between the committee members, andprepare and submit to the coordinator a list of topics/questions to befocused on in the course of assessment visit by assessment areas as well as a list of additional materials they would like toget from the institution.

6. Beforethevisit (cont.) • Agree among the committee what questions to ask from whom. Ask similar questions from different people (head of department, teachers, students, …) • Dividethequestionsamongthecommitteemembers • Decidewhochairstheinterviews • Decidehowtotakenotes • Adheretotheagreeddivisionoftasks and committeedeadlines

7. Drafting and asking questions Helka Kekäläinen 23.-24.2.2016 Baku

8. Sitevisitquestions Principal way of getting information - the teams are also encouraged to use other methods to complement the picture. Themes or prepared questions? Prepared questions / question lists, because: • To ensure that the different aspects related to the criteria are covered. • To create a common understanding within the team of the topics discussed during the site visit. • Provides support for the interviews, functions as a check list. • However, remember to use question lists flexibly. Give room for interview dynamics and follow-up questions.

9. How to askgoodquestions?

10. Formulation is everything

11. Open question With questionnairesaftereachcourse. Howdoyougather feedback fromstudents?

12. Direct question Yestheydo. Dostudentshaveaccess to the intranet?

13. Leadingquestion Absolutely. Doyouhave a system with whichyougather feedback, which is thenanalysed and used to improveoperations?

14. Two-partquestion Yes, theyarelinked to the strategy. Doyougather feedback fromstudents and areyourindicatorslinked to yourstrategy?

15. Badquestionscreateemptyanswers

16. Goodquestions – someexamples Pleaseassess… Pleaseprovideexamples of … How? Why?

17. Openinganinterview • (Introduceyourselves) and trytoreduce strain at the beginning of each interview! (We are hereto support your development etc.). NB! Veryimportantasithas a strongimpact on thesuccessorfailureofaninterview!

18. Coreofaninterview 1 • Pose short and easily understandable questions, one question ata time! • Use „quality-cycle“questions: What have you done? Why have youdone so? What are the results? Are they good or bad? Why doyou think so? How do you use them? What haveyou learned from the process? ... • Directing (advising) questions should be avoided (Wouldn’t it bebetter if you ...? Why don’t you ...?) • Let everyone talk. Address questions to specific persons ifnecessary. • Reduce domination. Interrupt if necessary.

19. Coreofaninterview2 • Reflectbackwhathasbeen said in order tomake sure thatyouhaveunderstoodthepoint • Alwaysrememberyourgoals (whatwewantdoknow and why)! • Keep theinterviewwithinthetimeframesyouset • Collectevidences! • Show yourinterestwithappropriatebody-language • Keep eye-contact • Listen! Avoidthetendencyoffillingtheinterviewwithyourownvoice • Itisnotpolitetoeator drink duringaninterview

20. Endinganinterview • Thankintervieweesfortheirresponses and time • If possible, leave 2-3 minutes for additional question „Is thereanything we did not ask but you would like to tell us“? • Avoidmakinganyprematureconclusions („Youhave a fabulous/horribleinstitution!“ • Ifyouthinkyoustill need furtherinformation, agree on nextsteps

21. Teamwork • Discuss and decidewhomyouwanttomeetduringaninterview (upto 2 people) and whichquestionstoask. Aninterviewlastsmax 10 minutes – please keep thetime! • Decidethestrategyofaninterveiw: whowillchairit, howyouwill start, howyougivewordtoeachother, howyouwill end theinterviewetc.

22. Examples of follow-upquestions That’s interesting. Can you tell me more about … We haven’t got a clarity about… Can you please explain? Can you give a practical example of how … works in practice? Is this a standard approach? How has this been carried forward/followed-up? What is the institution planning to do about this? How does this affect you/your department/student group…? How would you go about this?