Conference Presentations

Courses become journeys into content for many learners.  Come experience how to map out and align their journey through your course by using a course mapping strategy!  Tools and explanations will be provided for participants to create a course map.

Often, faculty are unfamiliar with instructional design principles and at the same time instructional designers are unfamiliar with course subject matter. As for the students, their question is, “Why am I doing this?”  This session will discuss using course maps to help faculty and designers work together to conceptualize goals for instruction, to help students understand the purpose of course goals and instructional materials, and to design instruction that satisfies QM alignment standards (2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, and 6.1).

 

If you have been involved in a Quality Matters (QM) review, you know how detailed and thorough these need to be. During our reviews, we started to notice that "course alignment" is probably the predominant aspect of most of the essential standards that the QM rubric measures, and that it is not always easy inferring the intentions of the course designer or subject matter expert (SME), when designing the course materials and assessments. In other words, the journey of mapping the alignment between course objectives, modular objectives, course materials and assessments is not an easy one.

Any QM expert knows alignment can be a bumpy road! Sometimes we come across potholes like unclear objectives and unaligned activities and assessments. In this presentation, the speaker will distill how the nouns (the what) of a standard and the verbs (the how) form a foundation for alignment.

Any QM expert knows alignment can be a bumpy road! Sometimes we come across potholes like unclear objectives and unaligned activities and assessments. In this presentation, the speaker will distill how the nouns (the what) of a standard and the verbs (the how) form a foundation for alignment. During this 50-minute road trip, we’ll make pit stops using tools like polls and small group activities to better understand how to reach our alignment destination.

Have you ever felt powerless or creatively paralyzed when it comes to incorporating the QM Standards in your course design? In this dynamic, practical, and powerful session, you will learn how to develop a functional Master Course Template that will address 26 of the 43 Quality Matters Standards.

Developing an effective online course can be challenging and requires a more than average score on the instructional materials and resources Quality Matters Rubric.

Join us as we share our adventures as a faculty group of digital immigrants who collaboratively designed five core courses in an education Master’s program. Based on Best Practices in faculty development, our session will provide insight into working as a team to meet QM principles. We will outline tips  that can be used as you transition to online learning, you will reflect on how a collaborative program development process could work for you. 

Online faculty development programs have become critical for academic staff in higher education. The Pathway to Master Online Instructor Program was created to meet faculty's needs in course design, delivery, and course improvement. A study,based on Phase 1 of the program, examined the design of an online teaching certificate course developed according to QM standards. The presentation reports the results of the study and provides opportunities for participants to explore the relationship between QM essential Standards and faculty-perceived learning.

Do you have a theory of action?  What guiding principles and strategies do you find essential to plan and deliver synchronous instruction online?  Join us for this interactive and dynamic exploration of best practices in synchronous instruction, where you'll have the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with fellow leaders. Together, we'll uncover strategies that lead to highly effective synchronous sessions, transforming your online teaching game for the better!

Handouts

While a successful QM review is the ultimate goal, there are many ways to embed quality along the way and maximize "met" objectives. A multi-state panel representing several K-12 programs will discuss how QM principles can be included in all aspects of online education.

Improve learning by using visual elements strategically. The visual elements in a course play an important role in course design and affect course usability.  The poster will show tips on how to create a visually balanced course so that visual elements are not in the way of content (Quality Matters General Standard 8). 

Transitioning faculty to a new online environment can present many challenges. At UA Little Rock we leveraged this opportunity to ensure quality while enhancing student retention and success efforts. In this session, you’ll hear strategies the Office of eLearning utilized to help implement wide-spread change on campus as we transition to a new LMS. Participants will leave with fresh ideas for engaging faculty and have the opportunity to share what has worked at their institution.

For years, faculty have relied on simple voice over PowerPoint to deliver lecture content. However, this method has repeatedly fallen short on engagement and interaction, especially for today's online learner. How do we get learners to actually watch our lectures? Additionally, what strategies can we use to encourage learners to keep going and focus on key pieces of information? At the University of Akron, we'll share the innovative ways faculty have elevated their lectures with interactivity, thoughtful questions, and powerful visuals to get learners to actually watch and engage.

Join us for an insightful presentation focused on how to improve the quality of your online program to optimize student success. This session will explore an early warning intervention and monitoring system aimed at improving the process and procedures used when providing student support. Discover how to create the conditions for success to increase student achievement and elevate the quality of your online program simply by making changes in what you do!