Applying, Improving, Reviewing: A Three Step Plan for QM Implementation Dr. Roxann A. Humbert Statewide Director of Higher Education eLearning West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission Ms. Cindy Hart Director West Virginia University Dr. G. H. Budd Sapp Professor Fairmont State University

Background August 2011 – WVVLN/ITFORUM Voted to adopt QM September 2011 – Began talks with QM about implementation plan October 2011 – Began to secure funding for implementation and attended the QM Conference November 2011 WVNET – Statewide Subscription WVHEPC – $30,000 for training and course review January 2012 – Subscription began

Roll Out Buy-in: Preparation: Implementation: October, 2011 - Presentation at fall WVVLN/Meeting November, 2011 – Presentation at the Joint Academic Affairs Advisory Committee Meeting Preparation: October – December, 2011 - Statewide trainer completed training for f2f and online facilitation December, 12, 2011 - Call for Peer Reviewers 95 applications 67 complete (49 – 4 yr. 18 – CTCs) Implementation: January 2012 – Implementation began

Statewide Implementation Overview Train one support person from each campus as a means of buy-in Faculty Instructional Designers Dean of Extended Learning Train all faculty teaching on the WVROCKS portal Train cohort of peer reviewers Train cohort of master reviewers

Peer Reviewer Selection Process Call sent out by Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Application process: Survey in SurveyMonkey Demographic data Online teaching experience Technical and online learning skills Online teaching techniques Attempt to select two per campus from a range of disciplines

Statewide Training Schedule Online APPQMR Class for Support Personnel January 2012 Statewide Peer Reviewers Two APPQMR online classes March 2012 June 2012 Two APPQMR f2f classes One southern part of state – March 2012 One northern part of state – April 2012 PRC Online through QM F2f class for WVROCKS faculty

Online Course Quality Improvement Broadband Grant 2013 Sector – Education Barrier Lack of trained faculty to develop online courses Geographic Range Institutions – 15 counties Students – all 55 counties

Online Course Quality Improvement Broadband Grant 2013 Partnerships WVHEPC and WVNET WVNET and WVVLN Member Institutions Four year colleges and universities – 7 Two year community and technical colleges - 8

Online Course Quality Improvement Broadband Grant 2013 Project Goals Conduct fifteen one day training sessions for twenty-five faculty on the “Applying the Quality Matters Rubric”. Train thirty faculty members to be online course Peer Reviewers. Train fifteen faculty members statewide to become Master Online Course Peer Reviewers.

Online Course Quality Improvement Broadband Grant 2013 Number of faculty receiving the “Applying the Quality Matters Rubric” training. Number of additional Peer Reviewers Number of additional Master Reviewers Projected Actual 375 359 Projected Actual 30 38 Projected Actual 15 5

Online Course Quality Improvement Broadband Grant 2013 Comments from Faculty The entire QM Rubric is helpful in the creation of future courses and understanding some of the best practices for distance learning courses. This is a wonderful program and I think every instructor doing online courses should be required to participate! The course sessions "flew" by and were highly motivating even after teaching online since 2004. I’m looking forward to "tweaking" my two online courses.

Online Course Quality Improvement Broadband Grant 2013 Great workshop. I wish we could have worked on our own courses instead of the anthropology class.

Improving Your Online Course Broadband Grant 2014 Partnerships WVHEPC and WVNET WVNET and WVVLN Member Institutions Four year colleges and universities – 7 Two year community and technical colleges - 9

Improving Your Online Course Broadband Grant 2014 Project Goals Conduct ten “Improving your Online Course” half- day training sessions for twenty faculty. Conduct five “Improving your Online Course” online sessions for twenty faculty.

Improving Your Online Course Broadband Grant 2014 Number of faculty receiving the “Improving Your Online Course” f2f training. Number of faculty receiving the “Improving Your Online Course” online training. Projected Actual 200 177 Projected Actual 100 60

Improving Your Online Course Broadband Grant 2014 Comments from Faculty The Course Improvement Plan sheet was very beneficial and useful. It helped me focus on specific things that I want to change. This is a wonderful program and I think every instructor doing online courses should be required to participate! Thanks! This was a great, practical workshop that will improve my online class design and implementation.

Improving Your Online Course Broadband Grant 2014 Applying to a real class I am teaching was sooooooooo helpful

Numbers to Date APPQMR 984 Peer Reviewers 135 Master Reviewers 11 Internal Reviews 13

Institution Perspective Given the importance of institutional reputation and the competitive nature of the distance learning market, adoption of QM standards has enabled institutions to develop high quality online courses/programs.

Institution Perspective Implementation of Quality Matters standards Facilitates the development of a rich learning environment to actively engage students. Use audio to introduce modules and orient students to the topic. One concept which orients, accommodates different learning styles, provides for accessibility.

Institution Perspective Produces clear, measurable goals and objectives. Aligns objectives, assignments and assessments. Incorporates learning activities that engage students in active learning.

Institution Perspective Provides students with multiple learning paths to master the content.   “Interactive Introductions” for each module: visually reinforce objectives, engage, use css enhancements for accessibility. Connects to objectives, engages (student-content engagement), models legal copyright use and appropriate citation, accommodates different learning styles, provides accessible option.

Institution Perspective Provides ample opportunities for interaction and communication. Student student Student instructor Student content

Institution Perspective Provides opportunities for students to engage in higher-order thinking, critical-reasoning activities and thinking in increasingly complex ways.

Implementation of QM created Faculty Engagement Brown bag luncheons Course reviews Mentoring Peer to peer discussion Universal design Implementation of Quality Matters standards has advanced the quality of online courses/programs to a new level.

Faculty Perspective I feel very fortunate for the opportunity provided to have successfully completed: Applying the QM Rubric – 2011-2013 Rubric Peer Reviewer Course Master Reviewer Certification QM Rubric Update 2014 In addition – I have served as a Peer Reviewer for several courses and Master Reviewer for a course As a result of these trainings & experiences - I have been able develop an “expertise” related to online course design. Furthermore – I believe QM has provided me the opportunity to improve my overall teaching and to help others do the same.

Faculty Perspective I am not sure if I received student comments like the following prior to QM training – but I definitely receive them now: The qualities I look for in an online education course are communication, clarity, helpfulness, understanding; among other things. I think these are all very important because there is no face to face interaction. Everything must be understood from both parties in order for success. So far I believe this is the most in-depth, helpful outline of a course I have ever seen and I am very excited to be a part of this class!  This is only my second semester of taking online courses but I have already noticed there are some Blackboard setups I prefer better than others, for instance, your courses are set up wonderfully. You make it easy to find which assignments are due and everything is grouped in order together.

Faculty Perspective I am not sure if I received student comments like the following prior to QM training – but I definitely receive them now: Hello Dr. Sapp, I am extremely happy you are so thorough with your explanations and expectations. Last semester was my first semester to take online courses and I always had lots of questions because I never completely understood what my teacher wanted. I never realized how important it is for my learning style to see my teacher, and get to know them through body language, voice in fluctuation and so forth. Thank you for making this easier on me. Have a great day This, like the majority of my semester, represents my first excursion into the realm of online class learnin'. Surprisingly or not, one finds little uniformity in each online class's setup on blackboard. To what extent, if any, does some template or standard exist for the formation of online classes (regarding their aesthetics/organization)?

QUESTIONS?

Thank you! Dr. Roxann Humbert humbert@hepc.wvnet.edu Ms. Cindy Hart lucinda.hart@mail.wvu.edu Dr. G. H. Budd Sapp GHBudd.Sapp@fairmontstate.edu