Evaluation and Measurement Department

• Introduction
• Structure of the Department
• Department Vision
• Department Mission
• Department Objectives
• Department Strategic Plan

Introduction

Since evaluation plays a prominent role in measuring institutions’ fulfillment of quality academic standards system, it has become highly invaluable for the development of administrative and academic tracks. Evaluation is a continuous and progressive process closely related to learning and teaching from early stages. It is considered as the right indicator or tool that measures the success of institutions in providing societies with qualified and experienced people who actively manage to contribute to the development process and be powerfully flexible to meet the requirements of speed, knowledge variables and technology.

Al-Quds Open University (QOU) took a decision to establish a department for evaluation and measurement in 200/2001. This department has been established to form a baseline for building and developing evaluation and measurement instruments that cover all aspects of academic programs, and instruments which managed by QOU. Reasons that stand behind the philosophy of having such department include:

• QOU has many branches –academic regions and centers- scattered in different parts of the country.
• To meet the recent challenges at the regional and international levels. Particularly to cope with the emergence of globalization and flood of knowledge and information.
• Education becomes a sort of investment industry.
• Strong competition becomes obvious locally and world wide.
• Spread of distance learning system in a very dramatic speed. It becomes too difficult to follow its remarkable progress which mainly driven by sophisticated technology tools.

The Structure of the Department

The Council
It consists of nine members of distinguished internal and external academic supervisors and program coordinators to secure the development of both internal and external evaluation. Vice president for academic affairs shall be the chairman of this council.
It shall be established to carry out the following tasks or responsibilities:

• Determining priority of work in the future
• Supervising the work or activities of the department, following up its achievements and making sure that its recommendations are implemented with all pertaining or concerned parties.
• Presenting proposals or suggestions that secure effective work mechanism at the department.
• Approving the needs of department and make sure that these are available in accordance with the requirements of work and university interests.

Chairman of the council:
The person in charge of this position is responsible for managing, organizing the work and the realization of the department objectives that serve university interests and its future ambitions of modernization.

Job Description:
The chairman must be a PhD holder in evaluation and measurement or any other related field with at least five years of experience.

Responsibilities:

• Draft internal regulations and submit these to the university council for review and approval.
• Draft plans for department direct work and present them to the university council for review and approval.
• Work on a proposal for computerizing the process of assignments and exams production with close consultation with vice president for academic affairs.
• Follow up the field work and offer advice, suggestions, and consultations to researchers and administrative people who work in the field of evaluation.
• On periodical basis, provide the academic department with all proposals, recommendations, and achievements carried out in different fields.
• Establish communication channels with all proper departments and institutions to support and develop the work under academic directorate supervision.
• Facilitate or overcome technical or administrative obstacles that might face researchers or workers at the department and somewhere else.
• Presenting suggestions to form technical or academic field teams to carry out department’s tasks.

Units of the department:
Since the role of this department is so important in various fields, its development shall be a top priority in the future. The department is divided into three main units to ensure that work is scheduled and controlled properly, and responsibilities are clearly determined.
These are described below.

Unit of tests and measurements development:
Its major role shall be limited to tests and measurements preparation, building archives for education standards that researchers or department needs in their evaluation activities.

Unit of Research and Evaluation Studies:
It shall provide other university departments with proposed researches. File all researches and studies carried out at the university and analysis of their evaluative data shall be processed and managed at this unit.

Unit of Field Training:
It considers or determines academic and administrative personnel training needs in measurement and other various fields. It shall provide the academic department with suggestions and recommendations to organize and follow up training in field. Moreover, bulletins and pamphlets that contribute to the development of staff skills shall be prepared and published.

Department Vision:
It is anticipated that the department shall act as one of the most efficient bodies at the university through carefully and thoroughly programmed work to modernize strategies of evaluation tools in order to become more influential in serving university objectives and its future strategic plans. Furthermore, it shall take into consideration the peculiarities, philosophy, and scope of distance learning developments at local and international levels.

Department Mission:
In accordance with university objectives and its future ambitions, this department shall contribute to guarantee the quality of learning and teaching by adopting certain measures as:

• Training and research procedures.
• Designing appropriate evaluation tools.
• Computerizing assignments and exams according to scientific standards.
• Reinforcing scientific concepts of evaluation and measurement.
• Qualifying personnel work in this field.
• Establishing positive awareness of evaluation based on principles of knowledge and professional performance. This awareness shall be implemented and protected by all university concerned parties.

Department Objectives:
The department aims for achieving the following objectives.

• Training of academic supervisors to grasp strategies for constructing assignments and exams in accordance with quality standards.
• Establishing computerized bank of questions that match with relevant psychometric criteria.
• Carrying out scientific field studies to evaluate components of education process particularly assignments, exams, and results.
• Proposing suggestions and plans to eliminate weak points that might emerge in the previous item.
• Establishing library archives for tests and international measures.
• Publishing pamphlets and specialized bulletins in evaluation and measurement.
• Offering consulting services for evaluation centers at academic institutions and researchers.
• Establishing cooperative ties with similar institutions at the local and international levels.
• Organizing workshops and conferences pertaining to evaluation and measurement.
• Evaluating QOU graduates for the purpose of developing academic programs to meet the new demands of change.

Department Strategic Plan:
In harmony with the objectives and roles of this department the following framework constitutes its strategic work plan.

• Studying assignments and exams problems and finding training and remedial plans to overcome them.
• Constructing measurement tools to evaluate all aspects of evaluation process at the university and enable interested people to carry out studies related to evaluation.
• Establish bank for exams
• Developing sophisticated software that process assignments, marking them, and transferring the results to students’ files at registration office.
• Publishing bulletins and pamphlets on construction of exams, written feedback to students, and students’ strategies of handling term papers.
• Carrying out evaluation studies for all elements of education process.
• Organizing workshops, seminars, and participating in conferences on evaluation field.
• Establishing mutual and cooperative relations with similar Palestinian, Arab, and foreign institutions.
• Establishing electronic database through which the department could publish its studies, and activities.
• Reinforcing the tools and procedures of the department through cooperation with other departments at the university headquarter.