Shoes for the Shoemaker’s Children: Providing an Accreditation Process for Programs Offered by Educational Developers

• Main Authors: Celia Popovic, Mandy Frake Mistak, Alison Jeppesen, Cynthia Korpan, Suzanne Sheffield, Mark Weyers
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Windsor 2018-06-01
• Series: Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching
• Subjects: educational development; accreditation; quality assurance
• Online Access: https://celt.uwindsor.ca/index.php/CELT/article/view/4964

Educational developers in universities and colleges design, develop, and deliver courses and programs for professors and teaching assistants (TAs) to support teaching and learning in postsecondary institutions. While courses that professors and TAs teach are often accredited by the institution or a professional body, courses offered by educational developers are often not accredited at all. With this anomaly in mind, the Educational Developers Caucus (EDC) created a working group to first explore the appetite for a Canadian accreditation process, and then to design and implement a framework. This article describes the process and product of the accreditation working group and reports on an initial evaluation of its impact, arguing for its valuable contribution to enhancing the quality of faculty and TA development programs and courses and thereby of teaching and learning.