Conference Presentations

Providing professional development for blended and online learning that creates the opportunity for connection and personalization is our goal. We recently launched our professional development model called Coffee and Course Design. In this session will share how our newest endeavor of providing an active learning space that enables the participants to connect, share, and design for their online or blended learning environment using Quality Matters as our framework while having coffee, donuts, and conversation with their colleagues.

Please see attached powerpoint for the poster session.

Learn how to initiate a collaborative self-evaluation process based on Quality Matters and accreditation standards that can result in the development of tools that form the basis for policies, procedures, and new online program development.

This session will engage participants to discuss and discover: 1) how QM implementation activities are aligned with best practices in quality assurance and accreditation goals; 2) what QM activity data can be used as evidence to address accreditation requirements; and 3) how to collect such data to support accreditation needs. Participants will have opportunities to share their own experiences and support each other via Q&A.

Aristotle once said, “Quality is not an act; it’s a habit.” The Ambassador, Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship, has made quality a habit by prioritizing student feedback to deliver high-quality online courses and programs. ACCBE utilizes a collaborative, open-communication approach to set the stage for creating a culture of quality focused on continuous improvement and student success.

How many roadblocks have your students encountered? In our session, you will get to collaborate with your peers on common accessibility challenges and we will show you how ReadSpeaker's TTS solutions can assist with breaking thru these roadblocks.

This presentation will examine faculty satisfaction and perceived benefits of participation in communities of practice (CoP) for supporting online faculty. Faculty isolation and navigating the transition from face-to-face  to online teaching will be discussed. A brief presentation will be followed by a community brainstorming session to explore ways to sustain faculty buy-in, promote online pedagogical excellence, foster peer-to-peer community, and encourage continued improvement in online instruction.

Student's grades on assignment for an undergraduate nursing research course the academic year before QM certification were compared to grades the academic year after QM certification. Significant improvement was found in grades for research papers and posters. Changes made to the course will be described, study findings presented, and implications discussed.

Nursing faculty responsible for the Quality Assurance (QA) of one of our state’s largest online nursing programs will present a Quality Talk. Our question is “What is the difference in students’ scores before and after QM certification for the eight core courses of an online Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program?” We will use story-telling technique to share transformation of online courses into a complete QM certified program for registered nurses (RNs) earning a BSN.

This session focused on courses where the curriculum is mandated, either by state licensing requirements, testing requirements, or industry standards. It can be difficult to keep learners interested when course material must be geared to a test or licensing requirement - but it can be done! Methods for keeping learners engaged, encouraging learning, and achieving the results that learners want are the focus of this session.

Competency-based education (CBE) is getting a lot of attention. Defined by personalized learning and "authentic" assessment, advocates position CBE as a powerful toolkit to address some of higher education's biggest challenges- namely, high tuition, low completion and vague/uneven student outcomes. It could be argued that these challenges are relevant for "traditional" online learning, too. Amid the hype, what is truly distinctive about the new generation of CBE programs, and is CBE really a mainstream solution or a more specialized one?

In the last eighteen months, the number of higher education institutions publicly committed to competency-based education (CBE) has risen from 24 to over 225. Undersecretary Ted Mitchell said, “CBE is...the single most promising set of innovations we have to make improvements against the challenges facing our education system today.” (Competency-Based Education Network convening July 22, 2014). The marked increase in interest and commitment to CBE presents significant challenges for instructional design professionals.

Building buy-in from faculty during the course audit process is paramount for the successful improvement of an academic program. Traditional recommendations for successful audits include openness, with timely and relevant feedback, as well as clear expectations. An innovative, collaborative approach towards course auditing can incorporate these recommendations, and create an audit process that fosters success within an academic program. Using the acronym, BUY-IN, peer auditing practices can produce results that motivate and empower faculty to achieve QM Certification.

This session will provide a Course Developer's Guide with information on applying best practice, a checklist, and basic templates for online course design following Quality Matters Standards in an easy-to-use format.

Do you lead a QM initiative, the accreditation process, or oversee quality assurance at your institution? If you answered yes, this session could assist with tying all of these initiatives together in a way that saves time in the long run while maximizing the institutional reward.

During this session, participants will review and develop course activities that allow students to actively engage with content and with each other. In addition, issues and strategies related to facilitation of student-to-student activities and group work will be presented and discussed.

As those of us well versed in QM know, the primary focus of the rubric is design. While quality design is an essential component of a quality online program, it is not the only component required to achieve overall quality assurance. Those of us who have taken the APPQMR would also recognize the pie image that is a trademark training piece of this workshop. While participants of the APPQMR are made aware of the fact that QM does not try to address all pieces of the pie, they are often hear about how the other pieces could be effectively addressed.

This session explores how aligning UDL Perception guidelines with Quality Matters (QM) Standards enhances accessibility and engagement in online courses. It emphasizes designing with accessibility from the start. Attendees will learn practical strategies like using captions, alt text, and multiple content formats. Key takeaways include tools to create inclusive learning environments that support all students' success.