Conference Presentations

Several years ago when we first decided to adopt Quality Matters (QM) on our campus we encountered a problem of buy-in from administration and faculty.  They did not know what QM was all about and did not want to invest the time, energy or money into an unknown. We started a grassroots effort to spread the word about QM through those wonderful early adopters, but we were still missing people. We found there were opportunities at events on campus to prompt QM, but did not have a formal presentation.

Our teams use the QM Rubric as a valuable tool to build and review online courses. Now, we want to advance our faculty development initiatives to include a tool to review online teaching. This session will share an instrument, based on the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, faculty can use to review their online teaching and will describe the study that was conducted to refine this instrument for further use.

This hands-on session will explore strategies that can be used by faculty leaders, instructional designers and trainers when working alongside faculty members to assist in
formulating course- and module-level learning objectives that are measurable, observable, attainable and appropriate for online and hybrid environments in higher education.

URL to access to the hands-on scenarios: https://www.dropbox.com/s/13fvpyj3pxbxi1y/QM%20Hands-On.docx

If you have ever tried to tie your course competencies to specific pages and paragraphs in a required textbook, you know it is not a quick task. Once you have accomplished the task, it becomes even more difficult to motivate students when you ask them to read the first three paragraphs on page 12 and the last paragraph on page 14. This poster session is based on my solution to this cumbersome problem.

The poster session will demonstrate:

 An instructional designer and Quality Matters (QM) Institutional Representative noticed an increase in the number of requests for several types of assistance with online courses across campus that tended to fall into one of four categories:

Instructional design coaching is at the heart of a partnership between Gateway Community and Technical College and TiER1 Performance Solutions. Through this coaching model, Gateway faculty have received not only formal professional development but individualized coaching to guide them in the design of high quality online courses. The instructional design coaching model ensures faculty are applying foundational principles as well as incorporating problem-based learning into their course content.

Please see attached powerpoint for the poster session.

This presentation will examine faculty satisfaction and perceived benefits of participation in communities of practice (CoP) for supporting online faculty. Faculty isolation and navigating the transition from face-to-face  to online teaching will be discussed. A brief presentation will be followed by a community brainstorming session to explore ways to sustain faculty buy-in, promote online pedagogical excellence, foster peer-to-peer community, and encourage continued improvement in online instruction.

Faculty at our institution are interested in improving their courses but were overwhelmed by the expectations of the QM rubric and the formal peer review process.  Our institution has created an online training course, an intermediate level Quality Assurance Checklist, and an internal peer review process to help raise the quality of online and blended courses, creating a more gradual pathway to meeting the QM standards.

How can you create a culture of Quality Matters in online instructional design at your college? This presentation describes the steps being taken at one New Mexico community college to change the culture while implementing a systematic approach to internal peer reviews of online courses based on the Quality Matters Rubric.  At Central New Mexico College in Albuquerque, NM, instructional designers and faculty are involved in this effort as the college prepares to offer a fully online Liberal Arts degree. 

In this roundtable session we review our college's evolution from individual faculty implementation of DL courses to college-wide development of policies for DL course design assessment. We highlight key points from our policies and some of the challenges we encountered.  Participants discuss ideas for their own colleges, in cluding the integration of QM standards in college policies and implications for related faculty development programs.  The Pdfs included here are the handout for the session as well as the Scribe Sheet that recorded participant commentary.    

Gender Through Comics, a Super MOOC delivered in Spring 2013 by Ball State University, examined how comic books explore questions of gender identity, stereotypes and roles. This engaging learning experience was designed for college-age and lifelong learners with enrollment exceeding 7,000 participants.

In this session, the presenters will discuss how one historically black university (HBCU) sought to overcome skepticism by engaging science faculty in their area of expertise: research.  Preliminary results from research conducted on flipped classroom methodology will be discussed along with their implications.  Additionally, presenters will discuss efforts to develop a Community of Practice (CoP) on campus.   The session will conclude with some hands-on exploration of different tools and techniques for creating flipped classroom vide

An overview of the Drexel University Online Fellows program will provide insights into methods of improving the quality of online courses, mentoring online faculty and enhancing the learning experience of online students. A description of the key role of institutional support in this effort will offer an understanding of how this program has been successful in beginning to change the culture of online teaching and learning at the University.

Three presenters analalyzed two MOOCs on the same topic and used an adapted QM rubric to review. Strengths and weaknesses are identified. Possible solutions/recommendations for more more positive MOOC experiences are provided for designers, facilitators and students.