This presentation will cover the strategic approach employed by a teaching and learning team for planning and implementing holistic improvements for a catalog of over 100 online courses. Participants will acquire the building blocks of a scalable framework for remaining adaptable and efficient in delivering relevant and high-quality online learning.
Predictions of online learning growth continue to suggest a need for higher education institutions to scale up their online course offerings. Keeping in line with previous growth estimates, 77 – 89% of online learning leaders and administrators anticipate that student interest in online learning will increase by 2025 (Garrett, et al., 2022). To meet this demand across various institutions, online course design and development processes require the commitment of considerable resources in the form of personnel and funding. This combination of collaborative effort, time, technology (and other resources) invested by course development teams, as well as theory and best practices in instruction and learning design, is essential for high-quality online courses and learning experiences that support students’ attainment of target knowledge, skills and competencies.
Quality is an ongoing effort to enhance student learning outcomes and faculty development. It is not synonymous with perfection, but rather a way to evaluate the fulfillment of specific standards and criteria. This process is ongoing, as stated in studies by Sârbu et al. (2009) and Schindler et al. (2015) who describe it as "a never-ending journey." Additionally, the fast-paced, ever-evolving nature of knowledge and learning in various disciplines poses a unique challenge for keeping course content relevant and suitable for equipping students with skills that are current and reflective of real-world demands. All these drive higher education institutions to exhaust every means to maintain quality while embarking on a continuous improvement journey, requiring a proven systematic management approach. Although well-grounded online course quality frameworks and guidelines exist, best practices for maintaining and improving are somewhat ambiguous and there are limited studies on how resources and management play a role in maintaining online course quality in higher education.
This presentation will detail the strategic approach employed by a teaching and learning team for planning and implementing large-scale and in-depth online course revamps. While routine improvements and revisions are a common approach for maintaining learning content and technologies in courses, over time and without a well-grounded methodology, routine revisions can be fragmented and superficial without the coordinated improvements and outcomes that holistic course redesigns, revamps, and program reviews can deliver. Having a strategic plan in place for allocating resources and implementing comprehensive course improvements enables higher education institutions to be nimble and efficient in delivering online learning experiences that remain relevant and valuable.
In this session, we will:
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Establish the value of an integrated approach for maintaining and enhancing online course quality.
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Highlight a scalable framework for planning and managing online course improvements (course revamps).
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Engage participants in a planning process for developing a custom strategy and roadmap for their own institution.
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Discuss considerations for securing leadership buy-in and building a culture of continuous course quality improvement among online faculty.
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Identify opportunities and challenges that attendees may face in their institutions.
During the session, attendees will participate in two – three polls. After the presenters have provided an overview of their approach, participants will be engaged in a small group activity during which they will discuss and draft an action plan for scaling their online course improvements while taking into consideration their growth strategy, current or intended course and program quality review processes, available resources and key stakeholders. A debrief and general discussion will follow during which the participants will have the opportunity to ask questions.
References
Garrett, R., Simunich, B., Legon, R., & Fredericksen, E. E. (2022). CHLOE 7: Tracking Online Learning from Mainstream Acceptance to Universal Adoption, The Changing Landscape of Online Education, 2022.
Sârbu, R., Ilie, A. G., Enache, A. C., & Dumitriu, D. (2009). The quality of educational services in Higher Education – Assurance, management or excellence? Amfiteatru Economic, 8 (26), 383-392.
Schindler, L., Puls-Elvidge, S., Welzant, H., & Crawford, L. (2015). Definitions of quality in higher education: A synthesis of the literature. Higher Learning Research Communications, 5(3), 3-13.