Education, quality, assurance

Here is a good article on the status of education and the need for broader quality assurance. The author is deficient in his focus on university education. Had author Ross Finnie bothered to look into colleges (other than to mention colleges in the opening statement) he would find out that there is a very robust and coordinated institutional research program at work that is driving system-wide improvement in the quality of teaching and learning. It's interesting to note that one of the viewer comments that "training in teaching is a voluntary activity for professors, which most avoid." This is not so for college professors who are dual professionals: industry experts, and expert teachers.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, commensurate with another Globe article ("Canadian innovation starts in the classroom"), colleges represent a key avenue for the integration of innovation literacy in our future (and present) work force. Our faculty are instrumental in our collective efforts to meet the educational needs brought on by the skills gap and skills shortage Canada is experiencing. Our institutional research focuses on promoting institutional effectiveness by providing data and information for planning, quality assurance and policy development. We link this to faculty development to ensure our students get a quality learning experience, grounded in industry reality, and oriented toward improving social, economic and cultural benefit.