AoL (Assurance of Learning)

“With the help of Assurance of Learning (AoL): Teaching, Assessment and Quality Assurance in Higher Education” – Evidence for accountability of courses and contribution to the continuous improvement of programs

Quality assurance is “the maintenance of a desired level of quality in a service or product, especially by means of attention to every stage of the process of delivery or production.” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2014). Educational institutions like the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (SBS-EM) are more and more challenged to determine how to identify and maintain the level of desired quality at every level of the education process, based on student learning outcomes and in a collective approach.

The learning outcomes define the specific levels of knowledge, skills, and abilities that students are able to achieve as a consequence of their engagement in a particular education program. It is and will increasingly be used to denote the practices whereby academic standards, i.e. the level of academic achievement attained by higher education graduates, are maintained and improved.

The Assurance of Learning (AoL) process supports quality assurance in the education process and focuses on two principles which are the foundation of quality assurance: accountability and continuous improvement, in a collective approach.

In terms of accountability, “…measures of learning can assure external constituents such as potential students, trustees, public officials, supporters, and accreditors, that the organization meets its goals” (AACSB 2007, p.60 and AACSB 2013, pgs. 28-29).

In terms of continuous improvement, “…by measuring learning the school can evaluate its students’ success at achieving learning goals, can use the measures to plan improvement efforts, and (depending on the type of measures) can provide feedback and guidance for individual students” (AACSB 2007, p.60).

The fundamental driver of this joint project was to showcase the accountability of courses and their contribution to the continuous improvement of programs with the help and implementation of the assurance of learning (AoL) process.