When it comes to continuous improvement through professional development, QM is your institution’s partner, helping you achieve goals and find your own unique path to better learning for your students. One way QM can help you go further with your quality journey is through dedicated professional development.
Dedicated professional development helps institutions target their professional development to their needs, receiving personalized attention and focus on the issues that matters most to them. Here’s a look at how QM works to support an institution in developing a dedicated professional development strategy, seen through the lens of Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), whose plan is currently in progress.
Step 1: The Initial Conversation
The QM professional development team meets with the institution to help them get acquainted with QM’s professional development schedule, explain the format options for dedicated professional development, and get a sense of the institution’s current situation, goals, and budget. In LSTC’s case, the institution wanted to focus on course design improvement, learner engagement and accessibility.
Step 2: Developing a Plan
The team helps connect the institution’s strategic vision to specific dedicated professional development sessions with the aim of meeting faculty where they are, addressing specific needs and accomplishing the specified goals. Together, the institution and QM’s team work to refine the plan and maximize its effectiveness. For LSTC, the final plan included courses and workshops like Designing Your Online Course, Active Learning Strategies and Applying Universal Design for Learning. “We wanted to make sure the courses selected would support growth for LSTC’s faculty as well as translate to better student experiences,” said Nancy Ragias, Professional Development Registrar for QM.
Step 3: Following Up
As the professional development plan progresses, the QM PD team checks in continually with the institution’s outcomes, looking at course evaluations to verify that goals were met and adjusting the plan if needed to make sure it continues to serve the institution’s objectives.
Does your institution have a strategic plan or goals for online learning quality that could be supported by professional development? Reach out to us to explore your options.
