This session presents a pilot study of the restructuring of our instructional design team to support the State of Florida’s initiative surrounding quality, access, and affordability for online learning. Participants will reflect on the successes and drawbacks of the pilot and evaluate possible implementation and level of impact within their institution.
Background:
As Miami's first and only public research university, offering bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees, FIU is worlds ahead in its service to the academic and local community. With a student body of nearly 54,000, we are among the top 10 largest universities in the nation and have collectively graduated more than 200,000 alumni, 115,000 of whom live and work in South Florida. The online division, FIU Online has over 100 fully-online degree programs and support over 20,000 students.
FIU Online’s goal is to ensure we provide the tools that supports instructors’ need to deliver an engaging and quality online learning experience for all learners. As a full-service instructional design department, faculty are designated an instructional designer to provide a la carte support for the design, development, and maintenance of their courses. It is an ongoing evaluation of existing courses for quality maintenance and enhancement, as well as, pedagogically-driven consultations for new course development.
In 2018, FIU Online increased its online course offerings from 1,200 to 1,600 with no change in the support model. The increase of course offerings coupled with the State of Florida’s initiative focus on quality, access, and affordability, challenged FIU Online to maintain the same quality of service to faculty and students.
In order to meet these initiatives, a pilot was launched restructuring one instructional design team into 3 groups (New Design, Quality Enhancement, and Course Maintenance), each with its own specific role and metrics.
Session Description
Attendees of this session will explore the:
- Structure of the FIU Online pilot study
- Professional development of the instructional design staff for their new roles
- Impact on instructional designers to enhance the quality of the courses using the Quality Matters rubric as the baseline metric
- Adaptations made during the pilot to meet quality initiatives
- Impact on faculty to the change in the support structure for their courses
- Lessons learned from pilot study; feedback from all stakeholders
Self-Reflection Questions
- Question 1 - What is your current pedagogy for developing a quality course?
- Question 2 - In your capacity as an administrator, faculty, and/or instructional designer, what role do you play in designing and supporting online courses?
Following the reflection, the presenters will lead attendees through a 10-minute Q & A group discussion on methods for engaging and supporting faculty through the development, design and maintenance of a quality course.
Group Q & A:
- Question 1 - What ways have you engaged faculty about the quality of their courses?
- Question 2 - What is your institution's service model for supporting faculty teaching online courses?
Participation Engagement
This session will have different opportunities for participation engagement. The presenters will poll to see if anyone has used the Quality Matters rubric in their courses. Attendees will have the opportunity to reflect on their own current practices for developing a quality course while examining the possibilities of conducting a similar pilot in their own institution.