Web-based course information system supporting accreditation

An outcome-based assessment process has become a critical aspect of accreditation and program evolution in many universities. Transitioning to outcome- based processes pushes universities to document, coordinate, and maintain additional information. While these processes can improve course and program offerings, the added burden of managing the process and maintaining additional documentation stresses resources in most departments. This paper discusses a web-based database driven software system called Course Information System supporting Accreditation (CISA) developed for the Division of Computing Studies at Arizona State University to facilitate accreditation process by maintaining course and program objective/outcome information together with relationships among this descriptive information. Web pages provide public and password-protected user interfaces for viewing and maintaining course information, program information and the relationships among this information. The paper does not presume specific measures, but it does suggest an approach that works well with typical academic roles and responsibilities. The paper also describes the software design of our system, together with the technologies used in its implementation, in a manner supporting others who wish to adopt the system.