13th and 14th November 2008 Panel members: Dr Brian von Konsky (Chair)
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Accreditation – Macquarie University Faculty of Science Division of Information and Communication Sciences Department of Computing 13th and 14th November 2008 Panel members: Dr Brian von Konsky (Chair) Department of Computing Curtin University of Technology
Department of Computer Science and Computer Engineering La Trobe University
Department of Computer Science Australian National University
Technical Manager, Research and Development Asia Pacific AVAYA Australia Pty Ltd
Australian Computer Society Ms Penny Collings FACS PCP Australian Computer Society Ms Helen Martynyuk (observer) Australian Computer Society Programs Division of Information and Communication Sciences, Department of Computing All programs are offered at the North Ryde Campus; the PG Diploma in IT (and all streams) plus the MIT (and all streams) are also offered at the City Campus. For Professional LevelUndergraduate
For Associate Level Undergraduate
For Professional Level Graduate
For Associate Level Graduate
Preliminary Session on 13th November The Panel was given the opportunity of spending a day at Macquarie University to familiarise themselves with extensive supplementary material provided for their information. During that day (13th November) the Panel invited Associate Professor Bernard Mans (and colleagues) to present the Department’s understanding of the University’s proposed academic and curriculum restructure. The intention was that the Panel gain an understanding of this so that they could consider the implications for future accreditations. The presentation and discussion led the Panel to advise that, when the new degrees are documented, the Panel would consider them, if requested, possibly through a desk audit. This applies both to any new IT degrees and any proposed 11-unit major in IT offered through a more generic degree. The Panel was also given a demonstration of the new staff wiki facility on the staff intranet. The idea is that staff can record details of each unit they teach (each semester) to record reflections on the teaching of the unit, management techniques used (eg anti-plagiarism) and the general use of IT to improve learning and teaching, and any other information that would help the next staff member to deliver the unit. The Panel found this demonstration valuable as a way of developing a community of practice in the Department of Computing. Meeting with Senior University and Senior Faculty, Division and Departmental Staff Prof Jim Piper, DVC Research; Professor Stephen Thurgate, Dean of Division of ICS and Head of Faculty of Science (2009); Associate Professor Bernard Mans, Head of Department of Computing; Dr Michael Hitchens, Associate Dean Learning and Teaching, Division of ICS; Associate Professor Steve Cassidy, Associate Dean Learning and Teaching, Faculty of Science. The Panel thanked the senior staff for the presentations of the previous day and acknowledged the work of Dr Len Hamey for the high quality accreditation submission to the Australian Computer Society. The Panel thanked the Department for the material provided for the Panel’s use on the previous day. The Chair introduced the session and briefly explained the role of the ACS and the accreditation process. The process is essentially a QA framework for courses which have the principal objective of delivering ICT content. The Panel is looking for coherence between the stated objectives of the program and the curriculum and allocation of resources. Accreditation of courses at the Professional Level indicates to employers and the world at large that the graduates have met the knowledge requirements for professional membership of the Society. The ACS also recognises that the outcomes of this accreditation may also be valuable in marketing for the University internationally. ACS accredits courses at the invitation of the University. The process is conducted in a cooperative manner between the University and the Society (a community of interest) to achieve the accreditation. ACS welcomes the diversity of IT education available from Australia’s universities and accordingly the process is not one of judgement against a set curriculum as may have been the case in the past. Although reference is made to the ACS Core Body of Knowledge (CBOK) it is used as a scoping document rather than a prescription of course curricula. The Panel examines the courses for structure – looking for both breadth and depth of coverage of areas within the CBOK and that graduates are required to apply an intellectual rigour appropriate to a professional course. ACS accreditation requires that all professional courses cover three mandatory areas – in ethics/social implications and professional issues, interpersonal communications and project management/quality assurance – generic competencies that could be expected of all professionals regardless of discipline. Mr Hart then briefly reviewed the work that the ACS has undertaken in relation to accreditation and membership. This includes international recognition of the ACS’s process for members gaining Computing Professional status and for international recognition of accredited degrees (through the Seoul Accord). He also described the new ACS membership structure. He described the upcoming professional certification levels to be based on SFIA (Skills Framework for the Information Age), that is, technologists, professionals and specialists. He also noted that the ACS is setting up its own course advisory panel to perform QA on courses offered by the ACS itself, and discussed the role of the Compact available between the ACS and universities. The Chair then asked the senior staff to discuss University wide issues, especially the area of curriculum restructure. The Dean gave an overview of the restructure. The aim is to reduce rule complexity and return to more generalist degrees, with some professional majors and some professional degrees. A further aim is to enrich the student educational experience by offering some breadth through required units: PPP – people, planet and participation - and through a capstone unit (depth, synthesis). These required areas also emphasise the importance of graduate attributes that will be developed across all students. The Dean noted the importance of having higher degrees by research to underpin UG teaching – a fundamental dimension of quality. The Dean also noted that the Department of Computing has responded well to the changing needs of graduates over the last six years. The Dean emphasised the importance of sustaining professional accreditation in the new degree / major structure and stated that this is a reason for undertaking accreditation now so that the redesign process is informed by any recommendations made. On the matter of the MQ City campus, senior staff noted that the MIT and PGDIT will commence in 2009, using Macquarie academic staff for all teaching. The city location will suit many local and international students and the emphasis is on maintaining the University’s reputation for high quality. The Panel thanked the senior staff for their attendance and commitment to the accreditation process. Meeting with Senior Division and Departmental Staff Professor Stephen Thurgate, Dean of Division of ICS; Associate Professor Bernard Mans, Head of Department of Computing; Associate Professor Steve Cassidy, Associate Dean Learning and Teaching, Faculty of Science; Dr Christophe Doche, Acting Director of Teaching, Department of Computing; Dr Peter Busch, Director of Postgraduate Programs, Department of Computing; Professor Vijay Varadharajan, Microsoft Chair in Innovation in Computing. Dr von Konsky explained that the Panel had met on the previous day to determine what further information was required and which of the criteria for accreditation would not need further examination during the course of the day. The main areas of interest would be industry liaison, graduate attributes, and quality assurance in learning and teaching including its application at the city campus. Dr von Konsky gave an overview of the accreditation process to the senior Division and Departmental staff. The Panel asked about the opportunities for involvement with industry, given the proximity of the University to the nearby technology park. Staff stated that the involvement has been top down so far, that is, through prizes, scholarships and projects for students. The continuing emphasis will now include involvement in advice on course design and feedback on directions for the new degree structure. Local MIT students are typically from the technology park and they give valuable feedback on unit design. In relation to student liaison for feedback on units and teaching, staff stated that there are formal liaison committee meetings that can result in immediate action but also result in input to the unit review process. The unit outline now has a slot of “what has changed since last time”, a useful way to show that feedback is evaluated and acted on appropriately. The aim is to develop reflective practice in staff. The use of unit profile wikis to retain ideas on the delivery and effectiveness of each unit offering is another way of seeking quality. There are formal unit surveys after every third offering. Heads of Departments are required to act on these. There are also Divisional student focus groups and Departments are required to act on the ideas produced. In response to a question about the pre-requisite structures for UG degrees, staff stated that the aim is to simplify these by using a curriculum mapping tool that focuses on graduate attributes (technical and generic skills) to help define majors and ensure their integrity / profile degrees. The tool will also assist in considering advanced standing to ensure all graduate attributes are attained by students. The Panel asked about entry requirements for honours degrees. Staff replied that almost all honours students come from in-house UG students. For the MIT, students are carefully selected, especially international students. The Panel also asked about staff workloads. Staff described the workload model and emphasised that a lot of work is collaborative in relation to team teaching and reviewing colleagues’ assignments. The Panel thanked the senior staff for this discussion. Meeting with Departmental Teaching Staff Associate Professor Jian Yang; Dr Abhaya Nayak; Associate Professor Leszek Maciaszek; Associate Professor Annabelle McIver; Associate Professor Debbie Richards; Dr Rolf Schwitter; Dr Manolya Kavakli; Dr Len Hamey; Ms Roslyn Ballantyne; Dr Rajan Shankaran. The Chair welcomed the staff and asked them about the strengths of Macquarie’s IT courses. There was a discussion about this, staff emphasising the strength of the courses’ theory and practice components and describing how they keep track of industry trends through visiting speakers, consultancies, and research work with industry. Staff also stated that they are involved in the curriculum review and welcome this opportunity. When asked about ideas for change, staff focussed on innovative teaching ideas, ways to attract more students, including indigenous students, ways to strengthen research and ways for staff to undertake staff development in industry and students to gain some industry experience through vacation scholarships. Meeting with Students and Graduates Completed postgraduates Jason Price, MIT; Les Bell, MIT, now a PhD student in the Department; Graduates Matt Cabanag, BSc(Comp and Info Sys) 2007; Daniel Willis, BIT 2007; James Ballantine, BA (hons) in ICS 2004; Current undergraduate students Dhyana Scarano, BCS; Scott Buckley, BCS; Peter Schmidt, BIT; Giles Hamson-Smit, BIT; Daniel Toyama, BIT; Colin Stephens, B e-Bus. The discussion with students revealed several highlights of their courses including opportunities to engage in competitions, discussions with other students from industry, well-rounded course design including the core and electives, and the theoretical computer science content. From the perspective of their development as IT professionals, students emphasised the project work offered, learning about group work and group dynamics, the coverage of ethics through case studies and the opportunities to develop communication and people skills. MIT-level teaching was particularly valued with its emphasis on collaborative learning. Students agreed that feedback to staff was generally acted upon and that the externally run focus group was valuable. The student-staff liaison committee was useful in so far as it documented issues. Problem areas included wireless access for computers and the lack, until recently, of secure, 24-hour access to labs for ICT students. Students felt that some subjects were not always integrated well into their course. They also felt that marketing could be improved to help attract more students. They would like to see more world-class staff who clearly love teaching. The students expressed an opinion that Moodle may be better than Blackboard as a way of supporting student learning. The Panel thanked the students for the lively discussion and for offering their time and ideas. Computing Facilities The Panel was made aware of the IT facilities and did not visit either the labs or the library, being satisfied that these facilities are appropriate infrastructure for the courses and students. Mr Bob Hart supported this as he had visited the IT labs a few weeks previous to this visit when on a Joint Engineers Australia/Australian Computer Society accreditation visit for the Macquarie University Software Engineering degree. Panel Findings and Recommendations The recommendations provided in this report do not affect the accreditation of the programs – rather they are provided by the Panel to assist the Faculty, Division, Department and the University based on the combined expertise and experiences of the individual Panel members. Overall, the Panel commends the Department on the high quality of the accreditation submission. Program content, design and management The Panel considers that the programs have the necessary breadth and depth of IT content for accreditation at the professional or associate level by the ACS as indicated below. The assessments are of high standards and hence, sufficient to meet ACS requirements. The Panel commends the focus in the programs on the development of IT professionals, especially through: the increasing emphasis on graduate attributes and the use of industry speakers in classes and the use of industry-based projects. The Panel commends the development of the unit profile wiki as a collaborative program review and management tool. The Panel affirms the work in progress on the mapping of graduate attributes to units as a basis for course redesign. The Panel recommends more clearly stated individual program objectives as part of the current curriculum review. Staffing and student matters The number of staff is sufficient for the programs and to assist in research led teaching. The Panel finds that the staff are of high quality, and commends them on their accessibility by students. The Panel commends staff and the Department on their articulate and loyal students. Infrastructure The Panel finds that the facilities are adequate for current levels of enrolment. Quality Assurance and Advisory Mechanisms The Panel considers that the Department, Division, Faculty and University have sound quality assurance mechanisms in place with considerable external input into program design. The Panel commends the use of an externally chaired student focus group as a QA mechanism and recommends that this continue on an annual basis. The Panel affirms the current QA processes and emphasises the need for their continued implementation. The Panel affirms the involvement of an external advisory group in the program review and design process and recommends regular interaction with industry and the profession through the Industry Advisory Board for continued input to course design and review. The Panel recommends that a copy of this report be given, by the Department, to the Industry Advisory Board. Panel Recommendation to the ACS Professional Standards Board The Panel's findings on the courses are presented below as a recommendation to the ACS Professional Standards Board. Accreditation as provided in this report applies to the North Ryde and City campuses of Macquarie University only. Should the University offer the program at other campuses/locations it will require a separate accreditation process. Accreditation of all MIT and PGDIT courses is provisional and in principle and requires a visit to the MQ City campus initially, and then at the time of the first graduations from each program. The Panel advises that, when the curriculum redesign and hence new degrees are documented, the Panel will consider them, if requested, possibly through a desk audit. This applies both to any new IT degrees and any proposed 11-unit major in IT offered through a more generic degree. The Panel has found that the following programs meet the requirements for Professional or Associate Level membership with the program structures and admission requirements as presented to the Panel and detailed below. Programs Division of Information and Communication Sciences, Department of Computing The named program is accredited (eg as in B e-Business) plus each stream. All programs are offered at the North Ryde Campus; the PG Diploma in IT (and all streams) plus the MIT (and all streams) are also offered at the City Campus. 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