a creative approach to online excellence

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A Creative Approach to Online Excellence. Amy Jo Swing Online Faculty Development Coordinator. LSC’s Online Journey. First online class in 1996 Currently about 30% of credits are online (1995 FTE in FY2014, 4190 students unduplicated and 121 FTE hybrid) - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Quality Matters or Homegrown Peer Review:

Amy Jo SwingOnline Faculty Development Coordinator

A Creative Approach to Online Excellence

1LSCs Online JourneyFirst online class in 1996Currently about 30% of credits are online (1995 FTE in FY2014, 4190 students unduplicated and 121 FTE hybrid)Began LSC Online Peer Review in 2004 (based on FIPSE Maryland Online project) over 20 peer reviewers and 70+ course reviewed, did statewide workshops/trainingsCreated our Administrative Online Eval tool in 2010Joined QM in 2012Had first LSC course QM evaluated in 2013Decided to revise our current peer review process in 2013Have two QM peer reviewers on our faculty and have had 2 courses Qm certified

2Reviving Online Programs Takes a VillageIn 2013-2014, many faculty, staff, and administrators worked together to revitalize LSCs online programOPAC: Online Programs Advisory Committee and OPAC Subcommittee on Faculty DevelopmentAQIP team on Comprehensive Teacher TrainingOpen forums on Quality Matters and other online topicsOnline Peer Review WorkgroupeCampus team (faculty, administration, IT, student services)All these discussions and work led to a presentation to the AC (Administrative Council) in January 2014Dozens of faculty members (an some staff) have been involved in creating, revision, and implementing these ideaswell over 20 regular committee members on OPAC SC, Peer Review Work Group , and AQIP plus open OPAC meetings

3LSCs 3-part Quality PlanPart One: Administrative Tool for Evaluating Online Courses Developed by faculty and dean in 2010Implemented in 2011Part Two: Comprehensive Online Instructor TrainingIncludes online teaching pedagogy and specific IMS trainingEventually will be modular training, both hybrid and onlinePart Three: Online Peer Review For continuous quality control and improvementTo have instructors learn from each other while improving courses

Lake Superior College Program for Online Excellence in Teaching (POET).

4Research Based: Sloan Consortium:Sharing Effective PracticesA non-profit U.S. consortium of institutions and organizations committed to sharing effective e-learning practices:http://sloan-c.org/effective/browse.asp

2002 Report: Five Pillars of Quality Online Education - Research-based, 40 experts consulted

56Five Pillars of Quality Online Education

Adapted from Sloan-C effective practices: http://sloanconsortium.org/effective

Student satisfaction Scale (InstitutionalcostEffectiveness)

Learningeffectiveness AccessFacultysatisfaction QUALITYOur POET program focuses on lots of these: helping faculty (satisfaction), making courses and teaching better for students (satisfaction), cost effectiveness (so much less than QM), learning6Implementing Best Practices in Online Learning

Study from: Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness (A-HEC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to research into innovation, transformation, and effectiveness in higher education.Must have administrative and faculty leadership. Find one administrator to go to bat for youand then use data! Need leaders. Weve tried eLearning without a leader and it falls apart. The more people you get involved, the better We had a dean (who used to be online faculty), union support, faculty, etc. 7Online Administrative Evaluation

Lake Superior College full-time faculty evaluated every three years by deans (probationary and adjunct faculty evaluated every year)Evaluation process and rubric designed for on-ground classroom evaluationsMany deans had no experience teaching or taking online classesIn 2010, a team of online faculty led by the Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences revised the faculty evaluation rubric to fit online teaching and learning best practicesFaculty can choose an on-ground or online class for observationOnline Evaluation is simpler and more reflective of online teachingSee rubric at: http://www.lsc.edu/poet/online-administrative-evaluation-rubric/

8Online Teacher TrainingHistory of training for online instructors has varied greatly since 1997Did week long workshops in summer Did fully online trainingDid one-on-one training with Instructional Tech.Began comprehensive online training Summer 2012Started AQIP project on Comprehensive Teacher Training Fall 2012Recommending new model of training for online instructors both new and experiencedMuch research suggests student success is affected by both course design and the quality of instructionQuality Tied to Instructors

Slide 3 The best article I have found is Schwartzman and Tuttle, "What Can Online Course Components Teach About Improving Instruction and Learning?" 29 Journal of Instructional Psychology, No. 3, p. 179-188. The authors cite research that instructor immediacy (encouraging involvement and offering feedback) is linked to higher levels of cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning, not to mention student motivation. (p. 183-184).I found another article that listed the top reasons for student attrition (drop outs) in online courses. Five of the top eight reasons were lack of motivation (two categories), lack of support, lack of instructor involvement (called management oversight in the survey), and substandard/inexperienced teaching. Two other reasons were not related to the course or the instruction lack of time and learner preference. The final reason was course design. Berge and Huang, "A Model for Sustainable Student Retention," DEOS News, Vol. 13, Issue 5 (May, 2004).Both these articles provide ammunition for the argument that student success in online courses is affected by the quality of the teacher as much as the quality of the course design. The premise of our peer review is that neither can be successful without the other.

9Future for Online Teacher TrainingPre-beginning training: short workshops for faculty who have never taught online and are unsure of technology skillsBeginning training: comprehensive training, focusing on developing a hybrid or fully online class, includes online teaching pedagogy, best practices, planning, LSM training, and mentoringMay be done modular: one unit on teaching, unit on LMS, and then training specific to faculty/discipline needsAdvanced training: course remodelExperienced faculty working in hybrid cohort to redo their outdated online classes Semester or year long program Faculty may earn badges for completion of these levels of training: beginning, online instructor, master online teachers, etc. Ideas are still in process; AQIP team still meetinghttp://www.lsc.edu/poet/online-teacher-training/

10Online Peer ReviewRevising former peer review rubric and processWent from 8 sections to 6, 32 standards to 36 Changed points system to met/not met essential standards and other best practices (23 met/13 BP)Integrated best practices in online teaching with online course designLowered stipend for lead reviewer from $300 to $1505 reviews will be led by Peer Review Coordinator/semesterStill faculty led and driven, no administrative oversight The 3 Cs: Collegiality, Collaboration, Credibility

Before only 14 standards were considered essential11Online Peer ReviewMaterials and processes will be updated frequently Can access materials freely at:http://www.lsc.edu/poetWill be revising and changing continually If you use our materials, please just credit us (and Maryland Online FIPSE) and let us know!

12ConclusionsExcellence in a online program needs input from all: faculty, administration, IT, student services, studentsExcellence in online education means looking at both online teaching and technology/course design (research)Excellence includes creating a program that fits your institution's needs and is sustainableExcellence includes continuous improvement and sharing: http://www.lsc.edu/poet

13Amy Jo SwingEnglish Instructor and Online Faculty Development Coordinator

Lake Superior CollegeDuluth, [email protected]

Evaluation link: http://bit.ly/1x1lMB5

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