November 30, 2007

What does PQAPA mean to me?

Durham College is participating in the Program Quality Assurance Process Audit ( PQAPA). The purpose of this communication is to begin the campus dialogue around quality concepts, to encourage individual and collective ownership of quality as a priority, and to provide you with an update on our PQAPA initiatives.

 

PQAPA and the Office of the Registrar

• At first glance, the PQAPA audit can be a scary prospect. Any time your organization comes under the scrutiny of an external body, the immediate reaction is one of feeling threatened. Once we all begin to understand the purpose of PQAPA, I believe we will see it as an opportunity to make an already great institution even better!
• In my time at DC, I have seen first hand the many great things that we are doing as an educational institution. Time and again, I have seen instances where we show that the success of out students truly does matter to us, and we should all be proud of this. As there is always room for improvement, the PQAPA audit will give us the chance to review and identify those areas where we can improve and will allow us to chart a course on making those improvements.
• From the perspective of the Office of the Registrar, we will be working hard to ensure that all students and staff can easily find policies and procedures related to our core functions: recruitment, admissions, registration and records.
• From now until the arrival of the audit team next spring, we will all be required to do a lot of work. If we make this a complete team effort though, we will achieve success. Let's make sure that we use the knowledge we gain to make Durham College the best college in the system!

Paul Bishop
Registrar
x3144 | Paul.Bishop@durhamcollege.ca

Paul Bishop is the Registrar at Durham College. After almost 25 years at Seneca College in Toronto, he made the leap to DC in January of 2006 and has never looked back. He sees his role within the Office of the Registrar as guiding his team to improve upon the great services that are currently being provided for our staff and students. His only wish is that the opportunity to join such a great organization had come many years sooner!

 

PQAPA and Student Affairs

The Program Quality Assurance Process Audit provides an opportunity for Student Affairs to demonstrate the multiple ways we inform students of our wide range of services to support academic success, retention, engagement and enjoyment during their college experience.

Through PQAPA we will also highlight how we inform students of the processes and procedures to access these services. In addition, we will demonstrate how we collect feedback on these services and evidence of further services to be developed.

We will show that our messages are clearly available to all students and that our services are appropriate to their needs; Financial Aid and Awards, Career Services, Student Life, Health, Counseling and Complementary Services, Athletics and Recreation, Student Rights and Responsibilities, Diversity, Learner Support and Disability Services

Willona Blanche
Director, Disability and Learning Services
x2364 | Willona.Blanche@dc-uoit.ca

Combining her background in Education and Nursing with her experience in Teaching and Disability Services, Willona supports two teams, in the LSC and the CSD, with their missions to support student success, retention and equal access to the education experience. Both teams are comprised of highly qualified and dedicated counsellors and staff who provide academic support services that encourage students to reach their full potential.

 

PQAPA and Continuing Education

• Rather than being fearful of the usually negative expectations of an audit; I have chosen to embrace the positive. This is a chance for Durham College to showcase and confirm what we all believe to be true; we offer quality education and provide excellent services to our students.
• Specifically for Continuing Education, the audit will confirm that a student is a student, no matter what time of the day they take a course. The audit will confirm that Con Ed has excellent faculty, a wide range of interesting courses and a strong commitment to our diverse student population.
• But are we perfect? No, there is always room for improvement and PQAPA means that the college will make the commitment to regularly take an in-depth look at our policies and procedures to ensure a consistent level of the highest quality in all areas.
• For Continuing Education, I look forward to strengthening the connections with the Schools to ensure we continue to offer the same high quality instruction in the evening as in the day. I look forward to ensuring our students and faculty have access to the same high level of services and professional development as those in the day. I look forward to being a more visible presence in the community and asking what they need from Continuing Education at Durham.
• Bring it on PQAPA! We have improvements to make, but we are proud of the wonderful things we do.

Nancy Martin
Director, School of Continuing Education
x2430 | Nancy.Martin@durhamcollege.ca

Nancy is a relative newcomer to the campus; she just passed the 2-year mark. She feels strongly that the School of Continuing Education is a hidden gem; and works to shine its light out into the college and community.

 

PQAPA and the Innovation Centre

• The PQAPA effort has the potential of being a confusing initiative for people within the college. This is because the connection between what is being asked of us and what goes on in the classroom is not readily apparent.
• At the risk of trivializing what we must do, I'd like to characterize this in a more direct manner. First, remember that PQAPA is not just the government but in effect includes all the other colleges in the system.
• What I see PQAPA as saying is: "Durham, so you think you deliver quality education? Prove it!" It isn't enough to think or feel that we are doing a great job of supporting and educating our students.
• We have to have the systems, processes, evidence, and documentation in place to back up our claims. All of this is part of the maturing process of Durham College and will help the College demonstrate that we have all the elements in place to deliver quality education.
  

Chris Hinton
Director, Innovation Centre
x2595 | Chris.Hinton@durhamcollege.ca

With a background in technology and teaching & learning, Chris has a passion for the appropriate use of technology. He works hard to support an excellent team and to connect with the needs of faculty. The Centre exists to empower faculty and Chris tries to keep his team focused on that mission.

 

PQAPA Task Group

The PQAPA process reaches across the college and thus, requires cross-college participation and communication. To carry out the work that must be done to prepare for the Spring audit, a cross-college PQAPA Task Group has been formed, composed of representatives including: VP academic, VP planning, student affairs representative, dean, associate dean, office of the registrar representative, academic council chair, faculty, human resources representative, campus services representative, innovation centre/curriculum representative, and a facilitator/writer. The committee meets every week and its mandate and purpose will be defined at the first couple of meetings. For more information about PQAPA, please visit the following website: www.ocqas.org/pqapa.html

Although PQAPA is ultimately an externally driven "review", it is an opportunity to meet our own goals for quality improvement, and to ultimately serve our objectives on behalf of the student experience at Durham College. Please stay tuned for updates and events related to this important initiative as we work to ensure a quality learning environment.

Don Lovisa, VP Academic and Martin Hicks, VP Priorities and Planning
Co-chairs, PQAPA Task Group.