Building a Digital Repository for Accreditation through Courseware

This chapter highlights how a graduate program in library science structured a university's course management system to address the data gathering and document demands of accreditation. While examples in the literature revealed creative uses of content and course management systems, none specifically demonstrated ways to build a digital repository of accreditation materials. Design features of the course management system were found similar to content management systems but with distinct advantages. While both types of programs could address document storage without having to create separate Websites and to acquire dedicated Web servers, the course management system offers a way to communicate with colleagues, presents a mechanism to integrate specialized surveys within selected courses, and provides a way to compile and to save results from any survey or assessment technique. Faculty note ongoing challenges stemming from the use of a course management system but acknowledge viable solutions.