Creating an Online Course Development Process: Ensuring Quality at Tacoma Community College

1. Creating an Online Course Development Process: Ensuring Quality at Tacoma Community College Geoffrey B. Cain, Instructional Designer Charles Crawford, Dean, Student Services Introduction Tacoma Community College has created a unique, online course development process. This process is designed to support faculty and ensure online course quality. It also provides a discussion of what kind of training faculty will need to develop and teach online courses, the kind of support faculty will need, and online course development rubrics for a QA and peer review. 1. Course Proposal Approval Intent to teach form A course is proposed: an instructor decides to teach a course Dept. Chair Approves Dean Approves Distance Learning Coordinator Notified First PAF generated $ Creating the Process Our process needed to do three things; show faculty what support is available for creating courses, create a consistent online experience for students, and increase the online interactivity in our courses. The process is designed to support faculty by providing clear time lines, a discussion of faculty training, and an online course development rubric for a QA and peer review. An online course development guide can ensure quality across the online college, teach faculty about online learning, and maximize faculty buy-in. Online classes at any college can widely vary in levels of interactivity and academic rigor based on many factors. Additionally, research has shown that there is a correlation between levels of interactivity in an online course and student retention. 2. Course Creation 3. Course Review Course Review Form & Rubric Department Chair Meet with Instructional Designer Instructor Creates Content Instructional Designer Peer Review Meet with Multimedia Services Meet with Librarian Learning Management System The Rubric The course is reviewed by the instructional designer, a faculty peer, and the department chair all using the same rubric. This rubric was created based on research by the University of Illinois and Quality Matters (from their publicly-funded, public domain material). This rubric will be in constant re-writes based on the particular needs and requirements of the department and school. There are particular standards that all colleges would like to attain but there will never be a one-size-fits-all solution to attain those standards. 5. The Course is Taught 4. Final Sign-Off Approval Dev. Form The course is taught for one quarter Division Dean Approves Second PAF generated $