The authors propose that a professional learning community is a novel and meaningful perspective from which to approach program review, particularly when the community is embedded within a reliable infrastructure such as a course.

The Program Review Course described in this Handbook follows an interdisciplinary cohort- and team-based model that is faculty-led. The course offers a reliable institutional framework for learning through formalized structures and nested support services. The course is housed in the office of quality assurance and coordinated and maintained by a quality assurance practitioner. All aspects of the course are available through a learning management system, such as Moodle. Program review teams are automatically enrolled in the course where they have access to timelines, templates, a discussion forum, and a program review handbook. During the 14-month course, faculty engage in a comprehensive review of their program and/or department. The course includes eight modules: 1) orientation, 2) curriculum mapping, 3) SOAR analysis activity, 4) surveys, 5) self-study report, 6) external review, 7) action planning, and 8) reporting results to the university community.

This team-based course is designed to evaluate program performance in relation to student success, curriculum content, program viability and impact, and the program’s contribution to the university’s mission and vision. Program performance is measured through a combination of self- and external peer- evaluation. Through evidence-based inquiry and analyses, findings are documented in a comprehensive report leading to an action plan and goals for program improvement over the next five to seven years.

This Handbook describes an action research process for assessing student learning outcomes using faculty-led communities of practice.

Post-secondary institutions are often called to identify strengths and areas for improvement, to implement changes, and assess the impact of those changes — colloquially known as “closing the loop” or “closed-loop assessment”. While institutions aspire to close the loop, little evidence exists that their aspirations are fulfilled. Closing the loop requires a well-articulated, detailed, and reflexive process. If successfully implemented, this process can increase the likelihood of improved student outcomes. Post-secondary institutions collect a plethora of direct and indirect student learning data and are increasingly reporting out on assessment findings; however, they frequently stop short of acting on the results gathered and then evaluating interventions that are implemented.

SAIL responds to the call to “close the loop”.

The SAIL Practitioner Handbook is based on our experience at Thompson Rivers University—an open access, teaching and research university located in the interior of British Columbia. The methodology, process, and resources described in this Handbook are designed with the local context in mind. We encourage you to borrow and adapt our methodology to develop a process that best fits your institution’s needs. The primary audience for the SAIL Practitioner Handbook is quality assurance practitioners and educational developers.