Transcript Document

Supporting Faculty toward High-Quality Online Course Design
Boise State eCampus eQIP Program
Kenzen Chen, et. al., Boise State University eCampus Center
Research as the Protocol of Informed
Improvement
The eQIP Program at Boise State
In the eCampus Center, we respond to faculty needs by offering the
eCampus Quality Instruction Program (eQIP), a series of online faculty
development opportunities. This program consists of the following four
components:
1. eCampus Course Design and Development Seminar (eCD2S). This
seminar is an online 12-week course that focuses on designing and
developing online courses. The seminar is specifically designed for faculty
participants who have not had previous experience with online course
design.
2. eCampus Course Development Phase (eCD). This phase is designed
for faculty that have already completed the eCD2S and have had
experience using the course design process we use for developing online
courses at Boise State. During the 8-week construction phase, each faculty
works with an instructional designer and collaborates with colleagues to
produce a turnkey-ready online course.
3. Quality Matter Peer Review (QMPR). The course that is developed
under eCD2S and eCD is reviewed in-depth by a team of 3 faculty
colleagues who have been trained to apply the nationally recognized
Quality Matters® rubric.
4. eCampus Teaching Online Seminar (eTOS). A 6-week online
professional development course that provides an overview of the key
knowledge and skills faculty need to successfully teach an online course.
The course is for faculty who currently teach or are preparing to teach a
previously developed online course.
In the year of 2013, there were 21 eCD2S, 13 eCD, 33 eTOS, and 19
QMPR faculty participants. 34 online courses were created or re-designed
during the eQIP process.
Research Questions
•What are the professional development and support resource needs for
faculty who are designing and developing online courses?
•What are the professional development and support resource needs for
faculty who are teaching online courses?
•What are the faculty perceptions of the online teaching and learning
scholarship referenced by the eCampus Center?
•How do the professional development and support resources offered by
the eCampus Center improve participating faculty’s self-efficacy of
online course design and development?
•How do the professional development and support resources offered by
the eCampus Center improve participating faculty’s self-efficacy of
online teaching?
•What are faculty perceptions of the usefulness of the learning activities
and course development tools in the professional development sessions?
•How do eCampus consultations with faculty influence the online course
design and development process?
•How do eCampus consultations with faculty influence the online teaching
process?
•What components in the professional development sessions make
significant differences in faculty knowledge and skills in online course
design and development?
•What components in the professional development sessions make
significant differences in faculty knowledge and skills in online teaching?
RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2012
www.PosterPresentations.com
We applied a mixed-method approach of data collection to facilitate the
triangulation of data and help minimize risk to participants. The following
quantitative and qualitative empirical data: online fieldwork, web survey,
and user activities were collected to analyze faculty change and perception
of the program in 2013.
Faculty Engagement
Faculty participate in the seminars “as students” and experience an online
course from the student perspective. This allows online instructors to
anticipate a wide array of complications that may arise in online courses
including technical difficulties with Blackboard or other LMS software,
eBook issues, questions relating to academic honesty, accessibility issues,
copyright questions, student interaction issues, time management and
more. The experience is valuable once instructors jump into online course
development and teaching
we expected faculty to spend 8 hours weekly in eCD2S activities and 6
hours weekly in the eTOS. In spring and summer, faculty spent more
hours than we required completing the seminar. Once the blogging
assignment was set optional, the time eTOS fall cohort spent was relatively
manageable.
Multiple measures were used to analyze faculty change and perceptions. In
one area (student interaction), we tracked participants in the Fall 2013
iteration of the eTOS seminar to see what changes were taking place in
terms of participants’ interactions with each other and with faculty
moderators in course discussions.
Discussion tracking during the first weeks of the seminar show a high
dependence on faculty moderators with the moderator at the “center” of
the web both providing and receiving comments:
Weekly review meetings were scheduled during the offerings of seminars.
A weekly retention report with module satisfaction survey was provided to
the meeting. Seminar facilitators discussed faculty participants’ progress
issues, and concerns. Short-term revisions and action items were decided
according to facilitators’ mutual agreements and long-term revision
projects were noted to be changed during the break time. We also reviewed
participants’ online forum discussions and brainstormed a set-tone of
responses. When it came to the development phase, facilitators also shared
the progress of course development about paired faculty participants. An
external faculty reviewer from Department of Educational Technology was
invited to provide design feedback to the seminars.
Conclusions
In end-of –course survey (6-point scale) from the Spring, Summer, and
Fall 2013 iterations of the eTOS, participants felt that the seminar content
was well-presented, met their learning expectations, and helped them feel
an increased level of confidence as they went into their first online
teaching experience.
However, as participant confidence increased in the online environment,
we see a much more balanced web in which participants both received and
contributed equally:
Owing to continual improvement, the end-of-course survey also showed
increasing faculty satisfactory in eCD2S.
Seminar Topics
In eQIP, we focus on faculty competency in design, develop (eCD2S), and
teaching (eTOS) online courses. These topics were covered during the
seminars:
eCD2S
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Refining & Aligning Learning Objectives (week 1)
Designing Assessments (week 2)
Designing Learning Activities (week 3)
Fostering Community & Course Improvement (week 4)
Creating a High-Quality Online Course Site (week 5)
Developing Your Modules (week 6-11)
QM Progress Check and Wrap-up (week 12)
Transferability
In effective online courses, students will likely experience a similar
change in behavior. Teachers can therefore encourage this change by
working to “draw out” students during the first few weeks of the course
and then rely more heavily on student interaction and confidence in course
discussions once the online class is underway.
BSU’s eQIP Program provides a valuable peer community and
professional development opportunity for both new and experienced
instructors. In the seminar, faculty learn best practice strategies and
methodologies for teaching effectively in the online environment.
eTOS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Teaching & Learning Online
Setting Students Up to Succeed & Meeting Quality Standards
Conveying Teaching Presence & Communicating Online
Building Social Presence & an Online Learning Community
Establishing Cognitive Presence & Online Pedagogy
Support Resources & Professional Development
66% of Boise State University’s Academic Departments offer at least one
online course and 1 in 3 Boise State students is taking an online class each
semester (http://ecampus.boisestate.edu/center/snapshot/). With the
extremely rapid growth in demand for online courses and credit hours
produced, more and more instructors who have previously taught only in a
“face-to-face” classroom will teach online.
To advocate learner-centered interaction and instructor presence, we
managed balanced content, social, and managerial forum discussions. The
instructor contributed about ¼~⅕ of overall discussions while leaving
most spaces for participants in content discussion.
For more information about eQIP program offered by the eCampus Center,
please contact Crystal Nielsen, eQIP Coordinator, at
[email protected] or 208-426-5951. For the detailed research
study, please contact Ken-Zen Chen, Research Analyst, at
[email protected] or 208-426-5914.