Planning and Implementation of Faculty Online Course Training Nic Bongers, MFA - bongers@oakland.edu Oakland University - Rochester, Michigan

Quality Online Teaching Certification Course... Why do we need it? Faculty lack experience Every course on campus has a Moodle course Faculty self-develop courses Asking for help 100% voluntary OU has 1 instructional designer (enrollment 20,000+ students) and 12 online programs. Knowing Moodle is different than online course design. Consistency issues Course quality issues Faculty are hired without knowledge of instructional design/online pedagogy. Every course on campus has a Moodle course available for use. Faculty develop online course content on their own. Collaboration/consultation/help/training is 100% voluntary. Our campus instructional design team is 1 person (enrollment 20,000+ students) and 12 online programs. Faculty who know Moodle don’t always know how to design an online course. Online programs and courses lack consistency Course quality varies greatly, and new quality scorecard was developed for voluntary online course peer reviews “Graduates” of the course are put into a group used to conduct online course quality reviews.

Who is our audience? Our focus or target? Faculty must be scheduled to teach fully online within the next calendar year Faculty must already know how to use Moodle Accept both new and experienced online faculty Roster max is 20 faculty participants (student role) Faculty must be scheduled to teach fully online within the next calendar year. (Sign-up requirement) Faculty must already know how to use Moodle. (Sign-up requirement) All faculty will come into the course with a baseline or better Moodle technical aptitude. Must pass a prerequisite course before they can enroll in course. Prereq course has open enrollment, and includes all help docs and videos Prereq course contains Moodle aptitude quizzes - must earn 100% to continue Accept both new and experienced online faculty (constructivism) Cover things everyone can benefit from. Roster max is 20 faculty participants (student role) Cohorts (Summer ‘16 cohort, Fall ‘16 cohort, Winter ‘17 cohort, etc.) Waiting list created, cohorts fill up fast. Renamed “students” in Moodle to “Participants” and “Teacher” to “Course Facilitator”

What should this course “be?” What it IS: A living example that can be emulated or referenced. Fully 100% online A faculty incentive program ($1,000 incentive for passing) Discussions & Assigned project: Develop syllabus and 3 weeks of content Weekly topics: Online syllabi (best practices) Instructional design Online pedagogy & best teaching practices Online course quality (scorecard & peer reviews) What it is NOT: Work at your own pace (there are due dates) Required to take (100% voluntary - opt in) Moodle technical skills (this is a prerequisite) Face to Face meetings (course is 100% online)

Where does this “course” appear? New category (not semester specific) Participants have permanent access to the course Optional readings Discussions Quickmail contacts Can go back at any time to review No plan to delete past certification courses

When does the course run? What is the timing? Scheduling a course for faculty Due dates Hours per week Course open date, future weeks hidden Online training course must fit semester calendars 4 week course, once per semester (October, March, July) Course fills fast, schedules 3/year - first come first served Weekly readings and activities have concrete due dates: Forums throughout the week (asynchronous) Quizzes and Assignments due end of week (Sunday night) Grades posted by day 3 of next week Course load = roughly 10 hours of work per week. Course available the week before Day 1 of Week 1. Future weeks are hidden and opened Friday before the new week (for early birds)

The How’s... How do you get faculty to sign up for a 4 week online course? How do they know what good course design is? How could this student experience influence faculty? How do you get faculty to sign up for a 4 week online course? Offer incentives: $1,000 stipend upon successful completion (course total 80%+). Paper certificate of completion for professional development records (and Moodle badge). Post-course Luncheon - wrap-up face to face discussion (optional). Grads become e-LIS faculty online course reviewers ($50 stipends), another dept. service. How do they know what good course design is? Provide best examples of OU online course designs and best practices by OU faculty. Create a “practice course” in Moodle for them to start designing and developing their own fully online course. How could this student experience influence faculty? They will be immersed into the course as an online student (experience). Will participate in discussions that spark debate, info sharing, or past experiences.

So... what happened? Pilot (Summer 2014) Other cohorts (Fall/Winter/Summer) Pilot Known and trusted faculty/OU users (consult notes) Enjoyed the new e-LIS Quality Online Scorecard Identified with “student” habits and found empathy for the student online experience Other cohorts First time online student experience for many (empathy). Hours more than 10 for newer faculty... they underestimated how much work it would be. Online syllabi became “more bulletproof” and optimized for online students. Overall course navigation improved. Enjoyed “peer review” of a peer’s course to get new ideas, and apply scorecard assessments. Shared ideas and examples “opened eyes” to different possibilities previously unknown. Liked permanent access to the course for future reference. Buzz around campus about stipend and faculty “actually learning new stuff” Luncheon - people enjoyed meeting each other in-person after the course. Others attended the luncheon “virtually” via WebEx

What’s in the class? Faculty use this course design as a model for their courses if they wish. They borrow my good ideas, and learn strategies.... Course Questions and Answers Forum (keeps email clean, BUT I subscribe... and responses via email get posted in the forum also!) Participant Lounge (establish community) Syllabus Quiz

Week 1 - Online Syllabus Development Week 1 design: Course introduction video, Page Resource (pasted from syllabus) Book Resource (videos, links, images, etc) Icebreaker and week 1 activities Weekly flow established

Week 2 - Online Pedagogy / Best Practices Looks similar to week 1 no surprises. Mid Course survey as a best practice

Week 3 - Instructional Design Week 3... same design but with optional readings Pages of PDFs added to the file name of the PDFs so participants can read based on # of pages they want.

Week 4 - Course Quality Week 4 is the busiest They must have 3 weeks of content developed... this is harder if they are starting from scratch. They must peer review their partner’s practice course (separate group forum) by end of the week. End of course survey ADA compliance is covered this week, and it is shocking to faculty.

Course End / Luncheon/ Focus Group Free lunch Certificates Stipend info Focus group reflection questions Course reviewer program info This is usually a fun way to conclude the course.

What is on the Quality Scorecard? Sections: Online Syllabus (10 parts) Course Design (6 parts) Accessibility (2 parts) Pedagogy (6 parts) Engagement (3 parts) Faculty Planning/Compliance (3 parts) (Scorecard handouts) http://oakland.edu/elis I have this as a handout for anyone who wants a copy.

END Ask me about training online faculty Ask me about my doctoral research