The Archive

As a foundation for the instruction loop of its continuous-improvement process, the Department will design, implement, and deploy a system, called ``The Archive'', to capture, retain, and facilitate access to course materials including:^2.1

• Student work. We can insist that the work be submitted to a CVS repository periodically. That way actual work can be tracked.
• Grading of student work (i.e., feedback comments and scores) down to the problem/question level.
• Records of course mailing lists and newsgroups.
• e-mail between students and the instructor, TA, and grader. (These will be in the corresponding accounts for each offering.)
• PowerPoint slides.
• Keys to asignments.^2.2
• Handouts and web pages, including course syllabi.
• Exam questions.
• A copy of the relevant information from the Registrar's Focus/SIS+ database: transcripts and all other student- and course-related information.
• The results of surveys conducted by the Department's faculty and staff.
• The results of math and chemistry placement exams, if possible.
• SATs and high-school GPAs, including which high school.^2.3
• Records of cheating incidents.

All of these can easily be captured, since most of them originate on-line and the rest can be scanned in.^2.4 The Blackboard course-management system facilitates the automatic capture and archiving of much of this information.