Quality assurance is one very important mechanism used by the UWI Open Campus in its offerings and practices, one such being the external peer review of new instructional content. This presentation will outline strategies used to overcome difficulties in recruitment, reviewer skill level in online pedagogy, uneven course quality and the ability to meet peer review deadlines. A qualitative research framework was chosen for this project since the intent is to describe online course review in its natural setting (Lowhorn, 2007). The research questions are of the how and why variety (Yin, 2008).
Quality assurance is one very important mechanism used by the UWI Open Campus in its offerings and practices, one such being the external peer review of new instructional content. However, during the completion of the development of a number of undergraduate programmes in our Course Development Department (CDD), difficulties were experienced with the review process undertaken by content experts such as in recruitment, reviewer skill level in online pedagogy, uneven course quality and the ability to meet peer review deadlines. These difficulties highlighted the need for the review and revision of the process of peer review.
Some revisions have already been made to the process and are currently being piloted but, in order to provide direction for more substantive changes across the department, the study is being undertaken to interrogate the strengths and shortcomings of the review process of at least 12 courses to ensure that the UWI’s quality standards are maintained and successful practices identified.
A qualitative research framework was chosen for this project since the intent is to describe online course review in its natural setting (Lowhorn, 2007) and the research questions are of the how and why variety (Yin, 2008). Six main research questions were developed to provide some background to the study, orient it in the literature and provide a rationale for the proposed changes to the course review process. The main data collection methods used included document reviews, online surveys and cognitive interviews.
Two key outcomes of this study has been the significant benefit accrued by UWIOC through the use of research data to improve quality assurance policies and procedures in the CDD as well as the opportunity to increase the production of related research in other areas of quality assurance.