A Grounded Theory Analysis of the Academic and Professional Roles in Assessing the University of Calgary’s Application to Offer a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program
Date
2015-09-21
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Abstract
Before a postsecondary provider advertises or offers a for-credit credential in Alberta, it must obtain government approval to offer the program. In the professions, programs are also accredited by the regulating body’s educational committee. This dual-assessment phenomenon was investigated by undertaking a thorough examination of a program assessment exercise in which one government regulatory agency (Campus Alberta Quality Council) and one professional accreditation body (American/Canadian Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education) concomitantly reviewed a proposal to offer a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Calgary. Based on data obtained from organizational documents and assessment reports, media accounts, informal conversations and nine interviews, the study inductively identified a basic social structural process in accordance with classic grounded theory methodology. This is one process that responds to the main concern of effectively assessing a program proposal. A highly iterative analysis identified seven themes which were most pronounced in the data. These categories: consistency, classification, interdependence and autonomy, new quality dimensions, culture, peers and personalities, and training were consolidated into four conceptual constructs: standardizing, relating, adapting, and socializing. From these, abstraction allowed for a constructed logic in which both replication and contextualization occur, to different degrees across a spectrum. The core variable, ‘blueprinting’, is enacted by the synergies resulting from replicating and contextualizing. Blueprinting allows for a relatively predictable experience while at the same time, accommodating differences as they arise as a result of the involvement of varying institutions and agencies, programs and participants.
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Education--Administration, Education--Higher, Education--Sociology of
Citation
O'Neill, K. (2015). A Grounded Theory Analysis of the Academic and Professional Roles in Assessing the University of Calgary’s Application to Offer a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/24751