Online Course Evaluations

One of the interesting and innovative uses of technology that I saw at our recent UMW Faculty Academy wasa combination of RSS feeds and Google Custom Search. I can’t remember who demonstrated this and I would surely love to give them credit – so please let me know, if you know.

So, I have experimented with this and offer this service to the community. I have created two pages here as follows:

• Online Course Evaluation Sites, and
• Online Course Evaluation Database Search

The first is a page containing a Delicious feed for sites containing course evaluation instruments, rubrics, or comprehensive information about course evaluations. The second is a search page which is constrained to just those sites listed. The site list is fairly shoprt right now and I would appreciate any forwarded links to evaluations or information about evaluations. Because the search is done on a page formed by dynamically generated list (via rss), the search becomes more exhaustive as more sites are tagged.

Considerations for Assessing Online Courses

Part of my raison d’être here at the University of Mary Washington is to assist the institution in formulating a set of guidelines and policies for distance and blended learning which apply here at UMW. This process is just beginning and will take some time to have a first draft and will become a continuing practice thereafter. Until that time, individual faculty have approached me asking for me to review what they are currently doing online. The following are bullet points I use in talking with faculty about their online courses until formal policies are reviewed, adopted, and published. This points (references at end of post) are from the Maryland Quality Matters web site and from research done by Chickering and Gamson. Additional points are added which we found useful in my previous career at the Tennessee Board of Regents Online Degree Program.

Quality Matters*

1. Course Overview and Introduction
2. Learning Objectives
3. Assessment and Measurement
4. Resources and Materials
5. Learner Engagement
6. Course Technology
7. Learner Support
8. Accessibility

Chickering & Gamson’s Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education** (sub-bullets possible applications to online teaching and learning, all may not apply in a graduate level course)

• encourages contact between students and faculty,
  • communication protocols established including appropriate venue (email, threaded discussion, telephone, fax, blog, wiki, etc.)
  • quantitative & qualitative expectations established for student AND professor
  • importance of communication and impact on grading established
• develops reciprocity and cooperation among students,
  • communication protocols established including appropriate venue (email, threaded discussions, blog, wiki, etc.)
  • incorporation of large or small group activities
  • quantitative & qualitative expectations established for student AND professor
  • importance of communication and impact on grading established
  • notice and expectation for professor participation and monitoring of student communication
• encourages active learning,
  • incorporation of student projects, presentations, demonstrations, or other authentic assessment activities
  • incorporation of peer review, critique, or other assessment activities
  • frequency and manner of student engagement with course content and impact on grading established
• gives prompt feedback,
  • professor indicates expectation to acknowledge student inquiries as recieved
  • professor indicates expectation to provide meaningful feedback to student inquires within 36-48 hours
  • professor indicates expected time lapse between student assessment activities and return of evaluative response from professor
  • professor indicates a commitment to provide the student with period performance reviews of overall course performance
• emphasizes time on task,
  • course content is clearly organized
  • professor presents a clear and reasonable timeline for course participation and successful completion of course activities
  • professor has used a calendaring system to publish course schedule
• communicates high expectations, and
  • syllabus is complete and consistent with departmental objectives and published student catalog
  • course objectives (learning outcomes) are the same as the same course taught in a traditional format
  • professor’s expectations for student performance are clearly stated and presented at the beginning of the term
  • professor indicates time commitment (in terms of both engagement directly with course materials as well as independent work) required for student success
  • time commitment is reasonable and consistent with the total time spent in a traditional course inside and outside the classroom
  • grading criteria are clearly stated
  • assessment activities are appropriate for an online course and require the same level of student achievement as traditional courses
• respects diverse talents and ways of learning.
  • professor provides opportunities for student choice in discussion topics, presentation or project topics, paper topics, etc. where appropriate
  • professor arranges for alternate textual presentation of materials for any student with a hearing or visual issue preventing consumption of material in a audio/visual format
  • professor presents content oriented to diverse learning styles where feasible and appropriate
  • professor applies technological resources appropriately with respect to student capabilities to receive and familiarity with such technologies without placing an undue burden
  • professor has appropriate level of expertise with technologies used in course
  • professor has incorporated supplemental and remedial materials as available including up-to-date web resources and learning objects in the public domain (or with permission of copyright holder)

* http://www.qualitymatters.org/Rubric.htm

** http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/7princip.htm