ACCREDITATION AND MODERATION ACTION PLAN (AMAP)

for NACCQ Modules and Qualifications contained in the NZ Institutes of Technology and Polytechnic Qualifications in Information and Communications Technology (Blue Book) October 2004

Accreditation

Accreditation involves an evaluation by the Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics Quality (ITPQ) (Formerly NZ Polytechnics Programmes Committee (NZPPC)) of the capacity of an Institute of Technology and Polytechnic (ITP) to offer programmes and/or qualifications as specified in the NZ Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics Qualifications in Information and Communications Technology (Blue Book) publication, owned by the Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics of New Zealand (ITP NZ) (Formerly Association of Polytechnics NZ (APNZ)), approved by the NZ Qualifications Authority (NZQA) and available from the National Advisory Committee on Computing Qualifications (NACCQ). The qualifications are registered on the NZ Register of Quality Assured Qualifications ( http://www.kiwiquals.govt.nz/publications/index.html).

Accreditation is required for the delivery of:

• Any module from the Blue Book for which student achievement is to be assessed and recorded by the ITP.
• Any qualification derived from the Blue Book for which student achievement is to be assessed and recorded by the ITP.

Accreditation for delivery of these modules and qualifications requires a coherent and extensive quality management system of policies and procedures, with mechanisms for evaluation of the scope of the accreditation.

The process of accreditation will encompass the following:

Development and evaluation of teaching programmes

Development of a system for ensuring coherent teaching programmes and for their evaluation, including consultation with regional industry representatives and evaluation by students/learners.

Financial, administrative and physical resources

Provision of adequate and appropriate financial and administrative resources by ITPs offering these modules/programmes. They will have systems enabling support of all necessary activities and will provide adequate, appropriate and accessible physical resources enabling students to meet the required standards.

Staff selection, appraisal and development

Teaching staff with the necessary academic and/or industry qualifications will be recruited. The required knowledge and skills will be maintained through the selection process and the regular appraisal and ongoing development of staff.

Student entry

Establishing and publishing requirements that include no unreasonable barriers for student entry and meet the stated academic entry requirements for the qualifications.

Student guidance/support systems

Systems to ensure that students have adequate access to appropriate guidance and support.

Off-site practical/work-based components

Development of systems that ensure any off-site practical/work-based components are fully integrated into the relevant programmes.

Assessment

Systems for ensuring that assessment is fair, valid and nationally consistent.

Reporting

Systems will be established to provide students with fair and regular feedback on their progress and to ensure fair reporting on final achievements. An associated appeals procedure will be established. ITPs will provide a reliable system for archiving information on final student achievement.

Academic Audit

ITPQ will conduct regular academic audits of ITPs to verify that the quality management systems, which each ITP has established, are functioning correctly. ITPQ requires relevant and current information to enable objective judgements to be made on the continuing capability of ITPs to assess to the standards within the scope of the accreditation. If an academic audit reveals that an ITP’s assessment is substandard, and where there is no evidence of a strategy to improve the situation, action to remove accreditation may be initiated by ITPQ.

MODERATION

Moderation for Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) offering modules and qualifications derived from the NZ Qualifications in Information and Communications Technology (Blue Book) publication consists of both external and internal processes.

External moderation for all ITPs covered by this plan will be managed by NACCQ.

Contact Executive Officer

NACCQ
PO Box 11-050
HAMILTON
Telephone: 07 8561916
Fax: 07 8561912

Internal moderation will be managed by ITPs and monitored by ITP Quality and will provide for:

• Student/learner evaluation of programme content and delivery.
• Regional Industry input into programme content

Moderation Processes

Moderation is to ensure the validity and reliability of assessment and to ensure reasonable consistency of standard and quality of graduates with the qualifications.

NACCQ will establish a centrally directed national external moderation scheme .

Refer web site: http://www.naccq.ac.nz/nmmr/index.php

ITPs will establish internal moderation processes, monitored by ITP Quality, which will provide for student/learner evaluation of the content and delivery of programmes derived from the Blue Book.

ITPs will convene Local Advisory Committees comprised of Industry and ITP representatives, in keeping with the ITP mandate on having a regional focus and with the Blue Book philosophies, to enable industry to contribute to NACCQ programmes.

Purpose of Moderation

Moderation is to ensure the validity and reliability of assessment and to ensure reasonable consistency of standard and quality of graduates with the qualifications.

External moderation will promote national consistency of assessment standards by:

• Comparing each submission with the requirements of the module/prescription content
• Comparing all submissions from ITPs for consistency of standards

Internal moderation will ensure that the needs of regional industry and student/learners are met.

Management of the Moderation Process

Management of moderation involves processes for both external and internal moderation.

External Moderation

NACCQ ensures that consistent standards are maintained through an external moderation process undertaken for ITPs. This involves consideration of all assessments for a selection of modules contained in the NZ Qualifications in Information and Communications Technology publication, according to a cyclic moderation schedule maintained by NACCQ (Refer Appendix A).

The National Moderator will produce a report that is sent to the CEO of all participating ITPs and that will be published on the NACCQ web site. Moderated assessment material, together with an individual and a summarized report, is returned to the ITP for action and archiving. ITP Quality has the right to view the results of such moderation at any time for any module ( Details of these processes are contained in the Blue Book regulations and are available from the NACCQ Executive and on the web site; http://www.naccq.ac.nz/nmmr/index.php).

NACCQ has a procedure for resolving any disputes that may arise from the moderation process.

NACCQ reports annually to ITP NZ on the moderation system it manages.

Internal Moderation

ITPs will have consistent and transparent processes enabling student/learner evaluation of the content and delivery of programmes. A record of the outcomes of the evaluation process will be kept by the ITP to be produced on request by ITP Quality.

ITPs will establish an annual schedule for meetings of the Local Advisory Committee and will record minutes for each meeting, which ITP Quality may request at any time.

Appendix A CIC & Diploma Moderation Schedule 2001 -2005