Concentrations

Select the concentration headings below to see descriptions.

• Research in Practice

  Share how you are reframing your research to meet the need for research-supported best practices and information on emerging topics such as HyFlex courses. How is the pandemic affecting the questions you are asking, the data you are collecting, and the research you are conducting and/or applying? Submissions in this concentration could include:

  • Research on different modalities
  • Using research-based approaches to engage students
  • Analyzing institutional efforts to support students and faculty 

  • Instructional design approaches used to create quality courses at scale
  • Original research, including SoTL research, examining student satisfaction
  • Applying foundational theories, frameworks and research to address pandemic-related needs

   

  Those new to online/hybrid education are encouraged to introduce any new research related to this crossover environment.

• Managing Quality Assurance

  Showcase your quality assurance efforts and how you are using QM to transform your campus. From implementation ideas to sustaining initiatives underway, proposals in this concentration should examine how you are creating, growing and maintaining a culture of quality. Topics may include: 

  • Increasing buy-in
  • Managing multiple course reviews
  • Communication strategies
  • Academic continuity plans
  • Implementing QM/QA on your campus
  • Maintaining Reviews after certification

  • QMC roles and responsibilities, including managing Reviewers
  • The certification process
  • Professional development
  • Faculty/instructor involvement
  • Promoting quality assurance at your institution
  • Collaborative initiatives
• Applying Best Practices: Did it Work?

  Shine the spotlight on your successes — and challenges — when it comes to applying principles and concepts of quality design and teaching. Submissions in this concentration should examine best practices, innovative ideas and transformative approaches used in courses, especially in relation to QM Standards. Focuses for your presentation may include:

  • How QM Standards changed the way you design or teach 
  • Specific examples of lessons learned 
  • Quantitative analysis of best practices in use
  • Learner outcome success 

  • Tangible results of implementing a QM Standard
  • Courageous reinventions you or your institution have made
  • Discussion board alternatives
  • Innovative introductions
• Foreseeing the Future

  Channel your inner clairvoyant and foretell the future. What challenges, trends, opportunities, and paradigm shifts do you see when you look ahead? Share where your quality assurance program is going next. Or, present the issues you see on the horizon as well as potential solutions. Bring your vision for:

  • The leadership process in quality assurance
  • Forward-looking implementation plans
  • The future of online student services
  • Gaining institutional support
  • Tomorrow’s professional development needs

  • How marketing institutions is changing
  • The professionalization of instructional designers
  • Collaborations between institutions/programs
  • Pandemics and other crises
• Transforming Teaching

  Dive into the scholarship of teaching and pedagogical practice. Share the ways your teaching has been transmogrified — transformed in a surprising way. Proposals in this concentration can address:

  • Practical tips
  • Strategies to improve student learning
  • Incorporating critical thinking
  • Alternative assessments

  • Student-centered design
  • Evaluation of teaching
  • Signature assessments
  • Academic rigor
• Tools and Techniques 

  Highlight how you are using tools to reshape the learning experience for your students. Submissions should focus on identified needs, solutions and techniques, as opposed to promoting a particular tool. Share your practical approaches to tools, including:

  • Employing tools to create equitable learning experiences
  • Incorporating tools in your course
  • Using tools to meet QM Standards

  • Creating policies around tool choice
  • Harnessing the power of the cloud
• Approaches to Equity

  Help others tackle the challenging issues around equity, including overcoming the digital divide, accessibility and cultural responsiveness. Showcase your successes and provide insight into how practices you implemented led to change. You may also share how you — or your institution — are currently addressing one or more of the following:

  • Accessibility
  • Universal Design for Learners
  • Culturally responsive teaching

  • Technology access 
  • The digital divide
  • Trauma-informed teaching

Presentation Formats

Select the format name to see the definition.

Evaluation Criteria