Quality Assurance - to learn more see Quality Assure an Outline

QA Officer/s

The QA Officer/s responsible for an Outline will receive an email when the Outline becomes available to them for QA.  Please note that if there are multiple QA Officers assigned to the subject offering, all potential QAOs will receive an email when an Outline is first sent to QA by the Author.  Once there is a current QAO, only the current QAO will receive an email notifying that the Outline is ready for further QA (i.e. if the Outline is returned to the Author for revision and then returned to the QAO for their further review).

If an Outline requires revision and is therefore returned to the current QAO, the email will list the sections which have changed since the Outline's first Quality Assurance review to enable the QAO to target sections which have been revised.  That is, after the Outline is first reviewed, this list will accumulate throughout the Edit-QA-Edit cycles until the Outline is QA Approved (as opposed to listing sections which have been changed EACH individual Edit-QA-Edit cycle prior to obtaining QA approval).  The list accumulates in this manner so as to support the variations process; including the automated Announcement created for students once an Outline has been varied and re-published to the subject site. To learn more, please see Variations to Outlines - Head of School email below.  Authors and QA Officers are encouraged to use the commenting function to assist 2-way communication - particularly when multiple cycles of Edit-QA-Edit are required during Draft status.  To learn more see View QA Comments (help for Authors) and QA Outline screen (help for QA Officers).

Author

Once a QA Officer has completed a QA review by clicking QA Approved or Revision Required, the Author will receive an email notifying of the QA outcome.  If revision is required, the Author must enter the Subject Outlines tool to revise the Outline.  If revisions are not pre-approved, once they click 'Ready for QA' the Outline will be returned to the current QA Officer for their further review.  The current QAO will receive an email notifying that the Outline is again available for their review.

Authors and QA Officers are encouraged to use the commenting function to assist 2-way communication - particularly when multiple cycles of Edit-QA-Edit are required during Draft status.  To learn more see View QA Comments (help for Authors) and QA Outline screen (help for QA Officers).

Outlines not yet published - to learn more see Publish an Outline

Subject Coordinators and Authors

If Outlines are not yet published at various points leading up to session and upon session start, both the Subject Coordinator and Author (if different) will receive an email.  The purpose of the emails is to remind staff which Outlines need to be progressed to publication and also to indicate if certain Outline roles are not populated and therefore delaying progress, e.g. the Outline may be Awaiting QA - however a QA Officer may not be assigned to the subject offering within the SCMF.

Emails are customised for each staff member.  It will contain a list of unpublished Outlines for which the staff member is either the Subject Coordinator or Author (or both) plus the Outline status and names of staff responsible for the Outline, i.e. Subject Coordinator, Author and QA Officers. If there is a current QAO, their name will appear in bold text.  All potential QAOs will appear in normal text.

Subjects which have a 'closed' subject site at the time the email is sent, will not be included in the email list, i.e. if a subject has Head of School approval to close the site, it is assumed that the subject is not 'taught' and therefore a site for learning and teaching (including an Outline) is not required. NOTE: this does not include sites where cohorts have merged to another site, i.e. if the cohort is still active within a merged cohort site, an Outline must be published for the cohort.

An email is sent upon session start; as well as specific points prior to session start: 34 days prior, 24 days prior and 17 days prior. Email reminders will cease upon session start or when all Outlines for the staff member are published - whichever comes first.

Please be reminded that the Subject Outline policy requires all Outlines to be published no later than 14 days prior to session start.

Heads of School

If Outlines are not yet published at various points leading up to session and upon session start, the Head of School will receive an email.  The purpose of the emails is to inform the Head of School which Outlines need to be progressed to publication and also to indicate if certain Outline roles are not populated and therefore delaying progress, e.g. the Outline may be Awaiting QA - however a QA Officer may not be assigned to the subject offering within the SCMF.

Emails are customised for each Head of School.  It will contain a list of unpublished Outlines for the School plus the Outline status and names of staff responsible for the Outline, i.e. Subject Coordinator, Author and QA Officers. If there is a current QAO, their name will appear in bold text.  All potential QAOs will appear in normal text.

Subjects which have a 'closed' subject site at the time the email is sent, will not be included in the email list, i.e. if a subject has Head of School approval to close the site, it is assumed that the subject is not 'taught' and therefore a site for learning and teaching (including an Outline) is not required. NOTE: this does not include sites where cohorts have merged to another site, i.e. if the cohort is still active within a merged cohort site, an Outline must be published for the cohort.

As mentioned as email is sent upon session start; as well as specific points prior to session start: 24 days prior, 17 days prior and 14 days prior. Email reminders will cease upon session start or when all Outlines for the School are published - whichever comes first.

Outline Status Report - to learn more see Outline Development Process

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)

Upon session start; as well as 14 days prior to session start, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor will receive an email containing an Outline status report.  For each School, the report will indicate:

Statistics will exclude subject offerings which cannot be associated with a valid AOU code.

Variations to Outlines - to learn more see Vary an Outline

Current QA Officer

If an Outline is varied after it is QA Approved but PRIOR to publication to students, it must be returned to the current QA Officer for review of the varied content. The current QA Officer will receive an email when the Outline becomes available to them for QA. NOTE: if only QA exempt sections are varied, further QA by the QAO will not be required.

To enable the QAO to target sections which have been varied, the email will list the sections which have changed since the Outline was previously QA approved.  That is, once the Outline is QA Approved then subsequently varied, the list of varied sections will accumulate throughout the Vary-QA-Vary cycles until the Outline is QA Approved once again (as opposed to listing sections which have been changed EACH individual Vary-QA-Vary cycle).  To learn more see Vary a QA Approved Outline.

The list accumulates in this manner so as to support the variations process; including the automated Announcement created for students once an Outline has been varied and re-published to the subject site. To learn more, please see the Head of School below.

Authors and QA Officers are encouraged to use the commenting function to assist 2-way communication - particularly when multiple cycles of Vary-QA-Vary are required during the revision of an Outline which has been previously QA Approved.  To learn more see View QA Comments (help for Authors) and QA Outline screen (help for QA Officers).

Head of School

If an Outline is varied after it has been published to students, the varied content must be reviewed by the HOS. The HOS will receive an email when the Outline becomes available to them for QA. NOTE: if only QA exempt sections are varied, QA by the HOS will not be required.

To enable the HOS to target sections which have been varied, the email will list the sections which have changed since the Outline's publication. That is, once the Outline is published, this list will accumulate throughout the Vary-QA-Vary cycles until the Outline is published once again (as opposed to listing sections which have been varied EACH individual Vary-QA-Vary cycle).  The list accumulates in this manner so as to enable the automated Announcement for students once the Outline has been re-published to the subject site.  The automated Announcement will list all sections which have been varied since it was last published. The Subject Coordinator must notify students as to the specific variations made to each section. To learn more see Vary a Published Outline.

Authors and Heads of School are encouraged to use the commenting function to assist 2-way communication - particularly when multiple cycles of Vary-QA-Vary are required during the revision of an Outline which has been previously Published.  To learn more see View QA Comments (help for Authors) and QA Outline screen (help for QA Officers/HOS).

Author

Once a QAO/HOS has completed a QA review by clicking QA Approved or Revision Required, the Author will receive an email notifying of the QA outcome.  If revision is required, the Author must again enter the Subject Outlines tool to revise the Outline. Once the Author clicks 'Ready for QA' the Outline will be returned to the current QA Officer for their further review.  The current QAO/HOS will receive an email notifying that the Outline is again available for their review.  If any additional sections were varied by the Author during their revision, those sections will too be listed within the QAO/HOS email.

Authors and Heads of School are encouraged to use the commenting function to assist 2-way communication - particularly when multiple cycles of Vary-QA-Vary are required during the variation of an Outline.  To learn more see View QA Comments (help for Authors) and QA Outline screen (help for QA Officers/HOS).