Conestoga’s Velika Kitchen-Janzen won a provincial award of excellence for her leadership in overhauling the college’s annual program reflection process.
Velika Kitchen-Janzen
Kitchen-Janzen, director of Institutional Quality Management, was honoured by the Curriculum Developers Affinity Group (CDAG) at its November conference with the award recognizing excellence in the ongoing development and sustainability of curriculum/quality assurance/teaching and learning expertise in Ontario’s colleges.
CDAG facilitates collaboration and the exchange of best practices in all matters relating to curriculum across the Ontario college system. Just one person or team is awarded the distinction each year.
“This is a really nice recognition from colleagues for the efforts the college has undertaken,” Kitchen-Janzen said.
All programs at Conestoga undergo an annual review process, and Kitchen-Janzen wanted to make that as simple and straightforward as possible.
The solution was creating an online platform that’s intuitive and flexible. The homegrown and innovative system was embraced by deans and instructors who all work to foster Conestoga’s culture of continuous quality improvement.
“We are a really wonderful institution because we foster this type of innovation and we all work together to make it happen,” Kitchen-Janzen said.
The ultimate goal of this steadfast focus on quality is preparing the ideal graduate for the workplace.
The online application guides users through four steps: review, reflect, plan and submit. All the information needed is readily available right there on the platform, including data needed to make evidence-based decisions.
Review results “take the pulse of the college,” Kitchen-Janzen said, and comprehensive reports are generated as part of the process.
Annual reviews, along with major program reviews every five years, are vital to ensuring quality and Kitchen-Janzen is proud the Conestoga community is an avid adopter of that commitment to excellence.
Conestoga strives for excellence in the development and delivery of programs and services and has developed formalized processes to support the college’s ongoing commitment to quality and continuous improvement to ensure programs meet the needs of students and the workplace.
As a leader in polytechnic education, Conestoga provides a broad range of education and training opportunities, including graduate certificates, degrees and advanced diplomas, apprenticeships, Ontario College certificates and recognition for corporate training.